Trump, Zelenskiy Meeting In Rome Productive – U.S. Officials

U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy had a “very productive” meeting on Saturday in Rome, a White House official said, as both leaders attended the funeral of Pope Francis.

A spokesman for Zelenskiy’s office said the two leaders, in an encounter in St. Peter’s Basilica that lasted about 15 minutes, had agreed to have a second meeting later on Saturday, and that their teams were working on arrangements for that.

The meeting at the Vatican, their first since an angry encounter in the Oval Office in Washington in February, comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to fighting between Ukraine and Russia.

“President Trump and President Zelenskyy met privately today and had a very productive discussion. More details about the meeting will follow,” said Steven Cheung, White House communications director.

Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, described the meeting as “constructive” in a post on social media.

Zelenskiy’s office released photographs of the Rome meeting. In one, the Ukrainian and U.S. leaders sat opposite each other in a large marble-lined hall, around two feet apart, and were leaning in towards each other in conversation. No aides could be seen in the image.

Trump, who has been pressing both sides to agree a ceasefire, said on Friday that there had been productive talks between his envoy and the Russian leadership, and called for a high-level meeting between Kyiv and Moscow to close a deal.

Trump had previously warned his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.

Differences Over Territory

After a round of shuttle diplomacy this week, differences have emerged between the position of the Trump White House on peace talks and the stance of Ukraine and its European allies, according to documents from the talks obtained by Reuters.

Washington is proposing a legal recognition that Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, is Russian territory, something that Kyiv and its allies in Europe say is a red line they will not cross.

Trump and Zelenskiy have had a rocky personal relationship. At their Oval Office meeting, Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of “gambling with World War Three”.

Since then, Kyiv has tried to repair relations, but the barbs have continued. Zelenskiy has said Trump was trapped in a “disinformation bubble” that favoured Moscow, while the U.S. leader accused Zelenskiy of foot-dragging on a peace deal and making “inflammatory” statements.

But the two men need each other. Trump requires Zelenskiy’s buy-in to achieve his stated ambition of bringing a swift peace between Russia and Ukraine, while Kyiv needs Trump to pressure Moscow into diluting some of the more onerous conditions it has set for a truce.

Reuters/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma