ROME - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he and US President Donald Trump discussed the possibility of an “unconditional ceasefire” with Russia during a meeting prior to the funeral for Pope Francis on Saturday morning.
The meeting in a room at the Vatican came a day after the White House said Kyiv and Moscow were “very close to a deal”.
Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said Trump and Zelensky “met privately today and had a very productive discussion”.
“More details about the meeting will follow,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer later joined Trump and Zelensky for a brief conversation, the French presidency said on Saturday.
Zelensky said later on social media that he discussed a possible unconditional ceasefire with Russia at the meeting with Trump.
“We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump!” Zelensky wrote on X.
Saturday’s meeting was the first encounter between the two leaders since a disastrous visit by Zelensky to the White House on Feb 28.
Both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin are under increasing pressure to reach a peace agreement. US officials say Trump is prepared to walk away if he does not see some results from mediation efforts soon.
US envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in the Kremlin on Friday to tout Washington’s plan to settle the conflict.
Trump has been trying to broker a truce between Moscow and Kyiv to end three years of fighting, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin despite several rounds of negotiation.
The United States has not revealed the details of its peace plan, but has suggested freezing the front line and accepting Russian control of Crimea — a peninsula annexed by the Kremlin in 2014 — in exchange for peace.
Trump was quoted as saying in a Time magazine interview published on Friday: “Crimea will stay with Russia. And Zelensky understands that.”
Ukraine has rejected ceding ground to Moscow, and says it will not accept Russian control of Crimea.
But Zelensky has in recent months accepted that he might have to try to secure the return of some land captured by Russia through diplomacy once a ceasefire is in place.