A day after NATO officials in Washington and Kyiv discussed Russia's war in Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met briefly at the Vatican before Pope Francis’ funeral.
Zelenskyy called their one-on-one meeting – which lasted for about 15 minutes on Saturday morning in simple chairs beneath the rare fragment of an iconic 8th-century mosaic, the Epiphany, at St. Peter’s Basilica – "a symbolic meeting with the potential to become historic if joint results are achieved," and pointedly said he had "expressed gratitude" to Trump.
It was their first meeting since their near-shouting match at the Oval Office in late February, when Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance accused Zelenskyy of being ungrateful for American military aid.
"Ukraine is counting on results regarding the matters raised: protecting lives of Ukrainians, a full and unconditional ceasefire, a reliable and lasting peace that will safeguard against a repeat of the war," Zelenskyy said. White House communications director Steven Cheung said the two leaders "had a very productive discussion" and promised more details later.
Trump said after the meeting that he questioned whether Russia's President Vladimir Putin wants to end the war in Ukraine; Russia's attack on Thursday with missiles and drones killed at least 12 people in Kyiv.
"There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days," Trump said on social media. "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."
Making NATO 'more lethal'
Trump, who has been pushing to reach a peace deal within the first 100 days of his second term in office, said he would consider imposing additional U.S. economic sanctions against Russia.
He also had warned that his administration might give up efforts to stop the war if the two sides do not soon agree to stop the fighting – and suggested Ukraine might have to make territorial concessions.
"Crimea will stay with Russia," Trump told Time magazine. "Zelenskyy understands that and everybody understands that."
Before their meeting at the Vatican, however, Zelenskyy made clear he cannot and will not give up Crimea: "There's nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution." Only a national referendum, approved by parliament, can make a change in Ukraine's territory, per article 2 of its constitution that says its sovereignty "extends throughout its entire territory" and its "present border is indivisible and inviolable."
On Friday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte wrapped up a U.S. visit with senior U.S. officials, including a meeting with Trump at the White House. Rutte also met with Trump's top diplomatic, defense and security officials and took part in a conservative think tank's roundtable discussion.
In Washington, he said, there was consensus that the miliary alliance must spend significantly more for defense to ensure that NATO is "more lethal in terms of being able to defend NATO territory."
While he visited Washington the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training and Education Center, or JATEC, met in Kyiv, where members agreed to provide combat lessons and strengthen civilian-military cooperation.
