Understand how the Pope’s funeral allowed the conversation between Trump and Zelensky

US President Donald Trump wondered if Russian President Vladimir Putin wishes a peace agreement shortly after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican minutes before Pope Francis’ funeral began on Saturday (26).

The event marked the first face -to -face meeting between Trump and Zelensky since the White House meeting in February, when the president and other US officials publicly criticized Zelensky for not being grateful enough for American support and briefly suspended the sending of weapons and sharing intelligence information.

Since then, the White House has been increasingly struggling to reach a peace agreement in Ukraine.

Photos released by the Ukrainian presidency showed the two leaders gathered in a fierce discussion, without advisers, in the ornate surroundings of the São Pedro Basilica.

Zelensky thanked Trump for the “good meeting” in a publication on social networks.

“We discussed a lot individually. Waiting results in everything we approach,” wrote Zelensky. Protecting the lives of our people. Total and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent the outbreak of another war. A very symbolic encounter with the potential to become historical if we achieve joint results.

A White House spokesman who accompanied Trump said the two leaders “met in particular today and had a very productive discussion.” Both Zelensky’s and Trump’s team officials said the meeting lasted about 15 minutes and that the leaders agreed to continue negotiations.

In a publication on the Social Truth, sent upon returning from Rome after the meeting, Trump raised the possibility of applying new sanctions to Russia after the attack on Kiev last week, wondering if Putin would be interested in peace.

“There was no reason for Putin to be firing missiles against civil areas, cities and villages in recent days,” Trump wrote. “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop war, he’s just encouraging me and needs to be treated differently through ‘bank sanctions’ or ‘secondary sanctions’? Many people are dying !!!”

As the Pope’s funeral format allowed the conversation between Trump and Zelensky

The meeting took place in front of the Baptistery Chapel, which is inside the St. Peter’s Basilica, near the entrance, and the conversation had not been awarded in advance.

Prior to the president’s brief visit to Rome, authorities minimized the possibility of him meeting Zelensky or any other world leader, pointing to the reduced schedule of the trip and his solemn purpose of honoring the late Pope.

Trump had initially chosen Saudi Arabia for his first stop abroad in his new term and will visit the country next month. But with the death of Francis, these plans have changed, and instead Trump made his first stop abroad in Europe, a continent against which he often manifests himself.

The seat map and the multitude of other leaders have enabled brief interactions, including leaders that Trump had apparently avoided since taking office. He had a brief meeting with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with whom he had not spoken since returning to office amidst commercial and defending disputes with the European Union.

The seat protocol – organized by country name in French – dictated Trump’s position alongside Estonian and Finnish leaders, with whom he briefly interacted.

In other cases, Trump has exchanged kindness with other leaders who have been working on parallel efforts to help solve the war in Ukraine. He squeezed the hand of French President Emmanuel Macron during the peace sign of Funeral Mass (Ukraine Foreign Minister also published a photo of the Macron and Zelensky meeting on Saturday).

US involvement in negotiations

The US has been pressing more to Ukraine after threatening, last week, leaving negotiations “in a few days” if it is clear that an agreement cannot be achieved.

Trump said on Friday that Russia and Ukraine are “very close to an agreement” that would end the conflict, started by Russia in 2014 and intensified with the vaunter invasion of the neighbor in 2022.

“A good day for conversations and meetings with Russia and Ukraine. They are very close to an agreement, and both sides should now meet at high levels to” end the conflict, “Trump wrote on Truth Social after landing in Rome to Pope Francis’s funeral.

Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for three hours on Friday, according to Russian presidential advisor Yuri Ushakov, who said conversations were “constructive and very useful.”

Before leaving Kiev to Rome on Friday, Zelensky suggested a series of commitments to advance in peace negotiations.

“In the coming days, very significant meetings can occur – meetings that should approach silence through Ukraine,” he said.

“We are ready for dialogue, I emphasize again, in any format with anyone,” he said, but “only after a real sign that Russia is ready to end the war. Such a sign is a complete and unconditional ceasefire.”

Kiev and Moscow have not met directly since the first weeks of the Moscow invasion of his minor neighbor in February 2022. Any direct conversation would probably require further discussions and delay the diplomacy that the Trump government expected to produce results in a matter of days.

Accepting that Ukraine would not join NATO in the near future, he said, “I think we need to be pragmatic. We need to understand what safety guarantees Ukraine needs.”

Zelensky said these guarantees may include a military contingent from Europe and what he called backstop from the United States.

“For us, backstop does not necessarily have to be troops on Ukrainian soil,” said Zelensky, but may include cyber defense “and, above all, Patriot Air Defense Systems.”

On Thursday, Kiev was hit by the biggest wave of russian missile attacks since July last year. Twelve people died.

“Framework of the Agreement with Ukraine” still faces obstacles

Zelensky also spoke on Friday about what he called “constructive” proposals prepared in London this week among Ukrainian and European authorities.

A copy of these proposals was obtained by Reuters. Titled “Staff of the Agreement with Ukraine”, she proposes a total and unconditional ceasefire in the air, on land and in the sea, as previously agreed by Ukraine.

Monitoring of ceasefire would be led by the US and supported by third countries, according to the draft obtained by Reuters. THE CNN confirmed its content.

The draft proposed that Ukraine would receive “guarantees of robust safety, including the US … until there is consensus among the allies about adherence to NATO.” These would be similar to those of NATO Article 5, according to which all members are required to assist a nation attacked.

Part of the draft that will probably be contested by Moscow states that “the guarantee states will be an ad hoc group of European countries and non-European countries willing to do so.” There would be “no restriction on the presence, weapons and operations of friendly foreign forces in the territory of Ukraine”, nor to the size of the Ukrainian armed forces.

The draft states that negotiations about the territory would begin after the ceasefire’s entry into force, and their starting point would be the current lines. But he adds that Ukraine would resume control of the Zaporizehzia nuclear plant, occupied by Russian forces since March 2022.

Regarding the proposed mineral agreement between the US and Ukraine, which would give the US access to billions of dollars in rare metals, the draft states that Ukraine will be fully financially compensated, including through Russian assets that will remain frozen until Russia compensates damage caused to Ukraine.

Moscow will probably probably oppose this.

The draft obtained by Reuters does not specifically mention Crimea. Witkoff’s plan proposed that the US recognize Crimea as part of Russia, but it did not suggest that Ukraine also needed to do so. Recognizing Russian control of Crimea, illegally attached by Moscow in 2014, would cross an important red line for Ukraine and its European allies, and violate established international law.

Zelensky rejected the idea, stating that “there was nothing to argue”, because such recognition would be against the constitution of Ukraine. He said to reporters on Friday: “I agree with President Trump that Ukraine does not have enough weapons to resume control of the Crime Peninsula for the force of arms. But the world has opportunities for sanctions and other economic pressures.”

THE CNN This week reported that Trump was getting frustrated by stopping negotiations and told advisers to mediate an agreement has been harder than he predicted.

Saturday’s negotiations occurred after Putin announced that Russia had resumed control of Kursk, the border region where Ukraine launched a surprise offensive last year.

“The adventure of the Kiev regime failed completely,” Putin said, congratulating the Russian forces that he said defeated the Ukrainian military in the region.

There was no immediate reaction from Kiev to Putin’s allegation and the CNN could not independently verify the reports of the battlefield.

This content was originally published in Understand how the Pope’s funeral allowed the conversation between Trump and Zelensky on CNN Brazil.

Source: CNN Brasil