President Donald Trump and the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, met privately in Rome on Saturday before attending the funeral for Pope Francis.
The White House communications director Steven Cheung told the press pool that he was traveling with Trump that the two men had a “very productive session.” More details about the meeting “will continue,” he said.
This was the first meeting between the two men since their contentious meeting at the Oval Office of the White House at the end of February.
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, meets President Donald Trump outside Pope Francis’s funeral in the Basilica of San Pedro in the Vatican, on April 26, 2025.
@ERMAKA2022/AFP through Getty Images
On Friday night, after the meeting of the special envoy Steve Witkoff with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier in the day, Trump published that it was “a good day in conversations and meetings with Russia and Ukraine”, and suggested that it is time for the two parties to meet at “very high levels.”
“They are very close to an agreement, and the two parties should now meet, at very high levels, to” finish it, “he wrote in his social media site.
President Donald Trump and the first lady Melania Trump are next to the leaders while attending the funeral ceremony of the late Pope Francis in the Plaza de San Pedro in the Vatican, on April 26, 2025.
Mandel and/AFP
“Most of the main points are agreed. Trump added in the publication, but did not provide additional information about apparent progress.
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, attends the funeral mass of Pope Francis, in the Vatican, on April 26, 2025.
Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
President Zelenskyy and his wife, Olena Zelenska, sat about seven people from Trump and the first lady Melania Trump, according to the press pool.
Former President Biden and former First Lady Jill Biden were about four rows behind them.
