Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his US counterpart Donald Trump met on Saturday in Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral, after the White House said Kyiv and Moscow were “very close to a deal”, the Ukrainian presidency announced.
“The meeting took place and is already over,” Zelensky’s spokesman Sergiy Nykyforov told journalists.
This is their first in-person meeting since their clash in the Oval Office in February. The two leaders were not seated close to one another, per the New York Post, as the Vatican had seated delegations at the funeral in French alphabetical order.
In February, the ugly clash blew up in the Oval Office where Trump and Vice President JD Vance shouted at Zelensky, accusing him of not being “thankful” for US help in the three-year war.
Trump and Zelensky were both seen accompanied by their wives, and sat in the front row of the funeral in St Peter’s Square, but were separated by other leaders.
The White House said Saturday that US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky had a “very productive” meeting ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis.Â
“President Trump and President Zelensky met privately today and had a very productive discussion,” said White House communications director Steven Cheung.
