Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with the US President Donald Trump before the funeral of Pope Francis, which is currently taking place in the Vatican.
Sky News reports this, citing sources.
The presidents agreed to hold further talks after the ceremony. They are now both present at the farewell to Pope Francis.
Details of the meeting and what the leaders discussed are still unknown, but it is the first time Zelensky and Trump have met since a meeting at the White House in late February 2025, when they publicly clashed.
What is happening between Ukraine and the USA?
The last few months have been turbulent for relations between Ukraine and the United States. After a high-profile dispute between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House, the United States suspended arms supplies and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. Intelligence sharing was later resumed when Ukraine immediately agreed to a temporary ceasefire.
Since then, Washington has been actively negotiating with Russia and Ukraine to end the war, but a true full ceasefire is still in sight. Kyiv has already agreed to stop fighting in the Black Sea and not to attack Russian energy facilities during a 30-day truce. Moscow, in turn, has only promised not to attack energy facilities and said it would implement the Black Sea agreements only after Western sanctions are lifted.
Western media often write about the peace plan currently being developed by the United States, Ukraine, European allies, and Russia.
According to Bloomberg, the American side in Paris presented to the allies a proposal for a settlement in Ukraine, which includes conditions for the cessation of hostilities and the easing of sanctions against Russia. This proposal will effectively freeze the war, and the Ukrainian territories currently occupied by Russia will remain under Moscowʼs control, the publicationʼs sources say. Various foreign media outlets have written that the US will propose recognizing Crimea as Russian.
It was expected that Washington would propose recognizing illegally annexed Crimea as part of the Russian Federation and freezing the front line as part of a peace agreement as early as April 23, as reported by The Washington Post.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to these media reports about the alleged American plan on April 22. According to him, Ukraine had not received any official proposals to give up the territories. He stressed that Kyiv does not legally recognize Russiaʼs annexation of Crimea, because it is outside the Ukrainian Constitution. Before that, on April 17, he said that Ukraine was discussing a ceasefire with the United States, but without the issue of territories. Zelensky constantly notes that Ukraine will not recognize any of its occupied territories as Russian — these are red lines.
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