(Bloomberg) — US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will talk again on Saturday after speaking at the Vatican as the US leader presses for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
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“Teams are working to organize the continuation of the meeting,” said a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Presidential Office, who added that the pair met for about 15 minutes ahead of Pope Francis’ funeral.
Their encounter came as Trump dials up pressure to reach a peace accord that critics fear may favor Russia. Separately, the White House said Trump and Zelenskiy had a “productive discussion.”
Saturday’s meeting — the first since contentious talks in the Oval Office in late February — comes at a crucial time. Trump, who said often on the campaign trail that he could engineer a ceasefire within days, hits the 100-day mark of his second White House term on April 30.
Francis’s funeral was attended by dozens of international delegations, many of whom were hopeful of getting access to the US leader, who’s making his first overseas trip since taking office in January.
Zelenskiy’s trip to the Vatican followed a massive Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and eastern city of Kharkiv, killing at least 12 people. Thursday’s attack, Russia’s largest airstrike on Ukraine this year so far, prompted the Ukrainian leader to return early from a visit to South Africa.
Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday for the fourth time since the inauguration. On the same day, Zelenskiy appeared to make an overture to Trump when he acknowledged that Ukrainian forces would be unable to regain control over Crimea, saying the US won’t have to commit troops as part of security guarantees but could instead provide intelligence and anti-air capabilities.
Washington’s proposals include the recognition of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and freezing the conflict largely along existing battle lines, leaving Putin in control of large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported. Kyiv would also be required to abandon its goal of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Trump said Thursday that he’s “using a lot of pressure on both” sides in the war. He said he thinks Putin “wants to make a deal. We’re going to find out very soon.” Asked what concessions Russia has offered, Trump said, “Stopping the war, stopping taking the whole country — pretty big concession.”
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