Zelensky and Trump had a very productive meeting in the Vatican

U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a brief meeting at the Vatican on Saturday ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis. Zelensky’s office confirmed the meeting, which comes as Trump steps up his push for a peace deal that critics fear could favor Moscow. White House officials said the two leaders had a “very productive discussion” and said more details about the meeting would be released later. The meeting lasted about 15 minutes inside St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican before the two men sat down for an outdoor funeral ceremony. Zelensky said after the meeting on social media platform X: “It was a good meeting. We discussed a lot of issues one-on-one. I hope that all the issues we discussed will yield results. Protect the lives of our people. A comprehensive and unconditional ceasefire. A reliable and lasting peace to prevent another war. This is a very symbolic meeting and it will be historic if we can achieve common results.” The Ukrainian president also thanked Trump. The Rome meeting was the first face-to-face contact between Trump and Zelensky since their unpleasant Oval Office meeting in February turned into a fierce standoff. Zelensky’s trip to the Vatican comes after Russian forces launched a massive attack on the Ukrainian capital of Kiev and the cities of Kharkiv, prompting him to end his visit to South Africa early. Trump’s special envoy Witkov held his fourth meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday. On the same day, Zelensky admitted that the Ukrainian army currently does not have enough weapons to regain control of the temporarily occupied Crimea. But he stressed that there are various tools in the world that can be used to pressure Russia to resolve the territorial issue. “What President Trump said is true. I agree with him that we currently do not have enough weapons. Especially weapons, not personnel. Because our people are more important, the most important thing. But it is not right to say that we have no army,” Zelensky said. Regarding Trump’s statement in the interview that Ukraine “lost” Crimea, Zelensky said: “Our position has not changed: only the Ukrainian people have the right to decide which territories belong to Ukraine. The Ukrainian Constitution determines: all temporarily occupied territories – they are all temporarily occupied territories, they all belong to Ukraine and to the Ukrainian people. Ukraine does not legally recognize any temporarily occupied territories.”