US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held crunch war talks in the heart of the Vatican minutes before the start of the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, as the White House mounts an increasingly urgent push to strike a peace deal in Ukraine.
Photographs released by the Ukrainian presidency showed the two leaders huddled in close discussion without aides in the ornate surroundings of St. Peter’s Basilica.
A White House spokesman accompanying Trump said that the two leaders “met privately today and had a very productive discussion.” A spokesman for Zelensky said the meeting lasted for about 15 minutes, and the leaders agreed to continue talks, possibly later Saturday.
It was the first face-to-face encounter between Trump and Zelensky since a disastrous White House meeting in February, when the President and other US officials publicly berated Zelensky for being insufficiently grateful for US support and briefly suspended arms shipments and intelligence sharing.
US involvement in talks
The US has been applying more pressure on Ukraine after threatening last week it could walk away from the talks “within days” if it becomes clear a deal cannot be reached.
Trump said Friday that Russia and Ukraine are “very close to a deal” that would end the conflict, which Russia launched in 2014 and escalated with its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022.
“A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine. They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social after landing in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for three hours on Friday, according to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, who said the talks were “constructive and very useful.”
Before leaving Kyiv for Rome on Friday, Zelensky suggested a number of compromises with the goal of advancing peace talks.
“In the coming days, very significant meetings may take place — meetings that should bring us closer to silence for Ukraine,” he said.
“We are ready for dialogue, I emphasize again, in any format with anyone,” he said, but “only after a real signal that Russia is ready to end the war. Such a signal is a complete and unconditional ceasefire.”
Kyiv and Moscow have not met directly since the early weeks of Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of its smaller neighbor. Any direct talks would likely require further discussion and add delay to the diplomacy the Trump administration has hoped will yield results in a matter of days.
Accepting that Ukraine would not join NATO in the foreseeable future, he said: “I think we have to be pragmatic. We have to understand what security guarantees Ukraine needs.”
Zelensky said those guarantees might include a military contingent from Europe and what he called a “backstop” from the United States.
“For us, the backstop does not necessarily have to be boots on the ground in Ukraine,” Zelensky said, but could include cyber defense “and above all Patriot air defense systems.”
On Thursday, Kyiv was hit by the largest wave of Russian missile strikes since July last year. Twelve people were killed.
‘Ukraine Deal Framework’ still faces hurdles
Zelensky also spoke Friday of what he called “constructive” proposals drawn up in London this week between Ukrainian and European officials.
A copy of those proposals was obtained by Reuters. Titled “Ukraine Deal Framework,” it proposes a full and unconditional ceasefire in the sky, on land and at sea, as Ukraine has previously agreed to.
The draft proposed Ukraine would receive “robust security guarantees including from the US … while there is no consensus among Allies on NATO membership.” Those would be similar to those in NATO’s Article 5, under which all members are obliged to assist an attacked nation.
One part of the draft that is likely to be opposed by Moscow says that “the guarantor states will be an ad hoc group of European countries and willing non-European countries.” There would be “no restrictions on the presence, weapons and operations of friendly foreign forces on the territory of Ukraine,” nor on the size of the Ukrainian military.
The draft says negotiations on territory would begin after the ceasefire comes into effect, and their starting point would be the current frontlines. But it adds that Ukraine would regain control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been occupied by Russian forces since March 2022.
On the proposed minerals agreement between the US and Ukraine, which would give the US access to billions of dollars-worth of rare metals, the draft says Ukraine will be fully compensated financially, including through Russian assets that will remain frozen until Russia compensates damage to Ukraine.
Moscow is also likely to oppose that.
The draft obtained by Reuters does not mention specifically mention Crimea. Witkoff’s plan proposed the US recognize Crimea as part of Russia, but did not suggest that Ukraine also had to. Recognizing Russian control of Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, would cross a major red line for Ukraine and its European allies, and would be in breach of established international law.
Zelensky rejected the idea, saying there was “nothing to talk about” as such a recognition would be against Ukraine’s constitution. He told reporters Friday: “I agree with President Trump that Ukraine does not have enough weapons to regain control of the Crimean peninsula by force of arms. But the world has sanctions opportunities, other economic pressure.”