Trump changes tone on Putin after impromptu meeting with Zelensky

Times

26-04-2025

President Trump has said he suspects Putin 'doesn't want to stop the war' in Ukraine following an extraordinary one-to-one meeting at the Pope's funeral.
Despite advice from the Italian foreign minister to avoid funeral diplomacy, Trump and Zelensky were handed two chairs to hold a 15-minute meeting on the marble floor of St Peter's Basilica just yards from Francis's coffin.
This time there were none of the raised voices heard in their last, angry encounter at the White House in February.
Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said the pair had a 'very productive discussion', while Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's chief of staff, called the meeting 'constructive'.
The first signs of a breakthrough became apparent in a rambling post on Truth Social by the US president on his way back to the airport following the ceremony.
'There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,' Trump wrote. '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, through 'Banking' or 'Secondary Sanctions?' Too many people are dying!!!'
The tough language towards Moscow will raise hopes for Kyiv after reports that Trump's plan to let Russia keep occupied territory in Ukraine is 'set in stone'.
The US president believes that the Ukrainian leader 'really has no choice' but to sign up to the proposal, according to a source close to his special envoy Steve Witkoff. Trump has threatened to pull out of the peace process next week unless a deal is agreed.
' Trump 's view is that this land has been seized and it is not going back,' a source close to Witkoff said. 'The deal on the table is that the Russian-occupied territory is going to remain occupied. Russia's not pulling it out of it. That part is set in stone.'
Zelensky took an unexpected place in the front row of the group of world leaders and monarchs assembled on the steps of St Peter's Basilica for the funeral, bucking the seating order that would have placed him and his wife somewhere near the rear. Before the event the Vatican explained it would seat leaders by alphabetical order according to how their country was spelt in French, the old-fashioned language of diplomacy.
That should have put Ukraine next to Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the Union Européenne, at the back and far from the president of the États-Unis. Zelensky's appearance up front was attributed to empty seats, the Vatican said.
Referring to Zelensky and his wife, a spokesman said: 'I believed they filled a vacant place.'
No explanation was given as to who failed to turn up, suggesting Zelensky may have received a generous upgrade from a friendly seat planner.
In moments that Trump may have bristled at, Zelensky received a round of applause as he took his seat and there was more clapping from the 40,000-strong crowd in St Peter's Square when Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, reading the homily, recalled the Pope's trip to the Mexican border in 2016, the year Francis claimed Trump was 'not Christian' because of his border wall-building fervour.
Before the service the US president worked the crowd of world leaders, greeting von der Leyen, whom he has blacklisted from the White House, according to reports. He also huddled inside the basilica with Sir Keir Starmer and Zelensky alongside President Macron of France, who put a protective hand on the shoulder of the Ukrainian.
There were no indications as to whether either leader had commented on the other's choice of funeral attire, two months after Trump, a habitual suit wearer, greeted the more informally attired Zelensky at the White House by saying: 'You're all dressed up today.' For Saturday's ceremony, Trump wore his usual blue suit paired with a blue tie, breaking the Vatican's dress code which stipulated that men should wear a dark suit and a black tie, while Zelensky wore black, albeit with no tie.
Outside on the steps after the funeral Olga Lyubimova, the Russian culture minister, joined the VIPs, while in the crowd Julian Assange was spotted, wearing a tie.
As Francis's coffin was placed in a 'popemobile' and sent off in a motorcade to St Mary Major church in Rome for burial, Trump and his wife, Melania, the only Catholic first lady since Jacqueline Kennedy, sped off to the airport.