Trump and Zelenskiy meet one-on-one in Vatican basilica to seek Ukraine peace ... The Missteps That Led to a Fatal Plane Crash at Reagan National Airport - The New York Times - Articles and Tweets
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- Summary
- Meeting was before the funeral of Pope Francis
- Zelenskiy says discussion could prove historic
- It was their first encounter since Oval Office shouting match
- After meeting, Trump takes tough tone in post about Putin
- Ceasefire talks in the Russian war in Ukraine at critical phase
VATICAN CITY, April 26 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, met one-on-one in a marble-lined Vatican basilica on Saturday to try to revive faltering efforts to end Russia's war with Ukraine.
Zelenskiy said the meeting could prove historic if it delivers the kind of peace he is hoping for, and a White House spokesman called it "very productive".
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The two leaders, leaning in close to each other with no aides around them while seated in St Peter's Basilica, spoke for about 15 minutes, according to Zelenskiy's office, and images of the meeting released by Kyiv and Washington.
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.
After Pope Francis's funeral service, Trump boarded Air Force One and departed Rome. While in the air he published a social media post in which he took a tough tone on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days," Trump posted on Truth Social. Twelve people were killed on Thursday when a missile fired by Russia hit a Kyiv apartment block.
"It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through 'Banking' or 'Secondary Sanctions?' Too many people are dying!!!" Trump wrote.
Trump's post was a departure from his usual rhetoric which has seen the toughest criticism directed at Zelenskiy, while he has spoken positively about Putin.
In a post on social media platform Telegram, Zelenskiy wrote: "Good meeting. One-on-one, we managed to discuss a lot. We hope for a result from all the things that were spoken about."
He said those topics included: "The protection of the lives of our people. A complete and unconditional ceasefire. A reliable and lasting peace that will prevent a recurrence of war."
Zelenskiy added: "It was a very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump!"
NO AIDES IN SIGHT
In one photograph released by Zelenskiy's office, the Ukrainian and U.S. leaders sat opposite each other in a hall of the basilica, around two feet apart, and were leaning in towards each other in conversation. No aides could be seen in the image.
In a second photograph, from the same location, Zelenskiy, Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were shown standing in a tight huddle. Macron had his hand on Zelenskiy's shoulder.
After Trump and Zelenskiy met in the basilica, the two men joined other world leaders outside in Saint Peter's Square at the funeral service for Pope Francis, who made the pursuit of peace, including in Ukraine, a motif of his papacy.
Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who gave the sermon at the funeral service, recalled how Pope Francis did not stop raising his voice to call for negotiations to end conflicts.
"War always leaves the world worse than it was before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone," the cardinal said.
DIFFERENCES OVER TERRITORY
Trump has been pressing both Moscow and Kyiv to agree a ceasefire and peace deal. He 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.
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.
There are also differences on how quickly sanctions on Russia would be lifted if a peace deal was signed, what kind of security guarantees Ukraine would have, and how Ukraine would be financially compensated.
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.
At the Oval Office meeting in February, a reporter who was present from a conservative U.S. news network accused Zelenskiy of disrespecting the occasion by not wearing a suit.
Zelenskiy, since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, has eschewed suits in favour of military-style attire, saying it is his way of showing solidarity with his countryman fighting to defend Ukraine.
In Rome on Saturday, Zelenskiy again decided against a suit, and instead wore a dark shirt, buttoned up to the neck with no tie, and wore a dark military-style jacket over the top of that.
Reporting by Steve Holland and Angelo Amante; Additional reporting by Christian Lowe and Andrii Pryimachenko in Kyiv and Alistair Smout in London; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Alexandra Hudson
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CNN —
Moscow has inflicted another round of deadly strikes on Ukraine despite US President Donald Trump’s plea for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “STOP!” attacking its neighbor.
At least eight people were killed in drone strikes across the country, a night after Russia launched its deadliest bombardment of Ukraine since the middle of last year.
A drone attack on the eastern city of Pavlohrad on Friday killed three people, including a 76-year-old woman and a child, and injured 10 others, Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysak said.
In southern Ukraine, two people were also killed in strikes on Kherson, the region’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said, adding the strikes targeted critical infrastructure and residential buildings. Two more people died in attacks on Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, and one person was killed in Kharkiv in the northeast of the country, regional leaders said.
Ukraine’s capital Kyiv was the main target of Russia’s massive bombardment on Thursday, which hit several locations across the city, killing 12 people and wounding 87 others. Ukraine’s emergency services said on Friday that it had completed the search for survivors in the rubble of one residential block, hit by what Ukrainian authorities said was a North Korean ballistic missile.
The fresh round of attacks come after President Trump vented his frustration over the lack of progress on a peace deal on Thursday, saying he is “not happy” and urging Putin to “STOP!” the attacks, in a post on his Truth Social platform. Hours later, however, Trump said he believed both Russia and Ukraine want peace.
On Friday, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive in Moscow for further talks with Putin on reaching an agreement.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow was “ready to reach a deal,” in an interview with CBS News on Thursday, but added that there were still some specific points that needed to be “fine-tuned.”
Earlier this week, Trump launched a new tirade against Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing him of harming peace negotiations, after Zelensky said it was against his country’s constitution to recognize Russian control of Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
Any move to recognize Russia’s control of Crimea would reverse a decade of US policy and could upset the widely held post-World War Two consensus that international borders should not be changed by force.
As part of its mission to seal a peace deal to end the three-year war, the US administration has proposed recognizing Crimea as part of Russia, a move which diplomatic sources have told CNN has highly alarmed US allies in Europe.
The spat over Crimea is the latest in a series of very public disagreements between Trump and Zelensky.
Trump has insisted he has been equally as tough on Putin, but got defensive on Thursday when asked by White House reporters what concessions Russia had made in the conflict.
“Stopping the war, stopping taking the whole country. Pretty big concession,” Trump said.
“We’re putting a lot of pressure on Russia, and Russia knows that, and some people that are close to it know or he wouldn’t be talking right now.”
Jennifer Hansler, Alex Marquardt and Kylie Atwood contributed reporting
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