Volodymyr Zelensky has broken his silence on his meeting with Donald Trump today, saying their conversation on the sidelines of the Pope’s funeral was “potentially historic”.
The two sat together in St Peter’s Basilica this morning for an intimate talk in grand surroundings to speak about the incoming potential peace deal with Vladimir Putin. The two, who were reportedly set to meet later today before Ukrainian officials doused rumours, had spoken in a hushed tones on the sidelies as other world leaders watched on. Mr Zelensky has now broken his silence on the meet in a post on Telegram, writing that the two had a “symbolic” meeting that could “become historic”.
He wrote on Telegram: “Good meeting. One-on-one, we managed to discuss a lot. We hope for a result from all the things that were said. Protection of the lives of our people. Complete and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent a recurrence of war.
“A very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump!”
The statement followed a comparatively lukewarm early assessment from the White House, with representatives for President Trump saying the talks were “very productive”. And they came two months after President Trump and Zelensky’s tempestuous Oval Office encounter in which the Commander-in-Chief claimed his counterpart had “no cards” in negotiations, a phrase he repeated last week ahead of a US-Russia meeting in Moscow.
The two had met for around 15 minutes, according to Ukrainian Presidential spokesperson Serhii Nykyforov who took a dramatic picture of the two sitting just a foot apart from one another on the Vatican floor.
The meeting followed assurances from President Trump that Russia and Ukraine are “very close” to a peace deal, with US envoy Steve Witkoff having travelled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
The Moscow talks – which did not involve a representative from Ukraine – came not long after Mr Trump suggested Ukraine held “no cards” in negotiations, with the US seeking to persuade Zelensky’s administration to make massive territorial concessions to Putin’s invaders.
Conditions included recognising historically Ukrainian Crimea as Russian, something Mr Zelensky has said he could not accept, and goes against his country’s constitution.
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