Trump and Zelensky hold ‘very productive’ talks in Rome ahead of pope’s funeral

US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met for “very productive” talks shortly before the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome on Saturday, the White House has said.

“President Trump and President Zelensky met privately today and had a very productive discussion”, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said, adding that more details of the meeting would be made public later.

Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak shared an image of the two presidents seated face to face inside St. Peter’s Basilica during the ad hoc meeting, which he described as “constructive”. According to Sky News, the pair agreed to reconvene for further talks after the funeral service.

Zelensky was greeted with applause by the crowd as he joined other world leaders on St. Peter’s Square for the funeral of Francis, to whom he paid tribute earlier this week.

“He knew how to give hope, ease suffering through prayer, and foster unity. He prayed for peace in Ukraine and for Ukrainians. We grieve together with Catholics and all Christians who looked to Pope Francis for spiritual support,” Zelensky wrote after the Pope’s death was announced by the Vatican on Monday.

The encounter between Trump and Zelensky marks the first time the two have met in person since the Ukrainian president’s ill-fated visit to the White House in February, which ended with Trump dressing him down and accusing him of “gambling with World War III” in front of the White House Press Corps and Zelensky being asked to leave.

The meeting comes at a pivotal time for the future of Ukraine, with Trump saying upon his arrival in Rome that Russia and Ukraine were “very close to a deal” to end the war after a “good day” of talks on Friday.

“Most of the major points are agreed to”, Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that “the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off’”.

On Friday, Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow for a fourth round of talks, which the Kremlin called “constructive and important”.

According to Putin aide Yury Ushakov, Putin and Witkoff discussed the possibility of Russia and Ukraine resuming direct negotiations, which were abandoned in early 2022.

Fears remain in Kyiv, however, that a US-brokered peace settlement would force Ukraine into significant territorial concessions to Russia, and could even lead to Washington formally recognising Moscow’s sovereignty over Crimea, which it illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

On Friday, after Trump said in an interview with Time magazine that Crimea would “stay with Russia” after the war ended, Zelensky told reporters that Kyiv’s position on the issue was “unchanged” and that the peninsula, as well as other Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine, “belong to Ukraine” and the Ukrainian people.