Trump met in the Vatican with Zelanski

US President Donald Trump met with his Ukrainian equivalent of Volodymyr Zelnski before the funeral of Pope Francis and he conducted a very productive conversation with him – said a representative of the White House on Saturday, quoted by the Reuters agency.

Both leaders came to the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis.

Steven Cheung, Director of Communication of the White House, informed that the presidents “met privately and had a very productive conversation today.” He announced that more details about the meeting would be announced later. It is not known how much their meeting lasted.

Sky News, citing sources, said that the leaders were to meet again after the funeral ceremony was completed.

Trump threatens to withdraw from the peace process next week if there is no agreement on the war in Ukraine – wrote the British Times. At the same time, pressure on President Zelanski is growing to accept the peace conditions proposed by the American leader.

The US proposal, presented by the US envoy Steve Witkoff Moscow and Kiev, according to the media includes the US official recognition of Russian control over the annexed Crimea and de facto recognition of Russian control over areas of areas in the east and south of Ukraine, occupied by Russian troops.

The counter -proposal of Europeans and Ukrainians assumes that talks about control over the territory are to depend on the suspension of weapons.

In Friday's conversation with the magazine “Time” Trump said that “Crimea would stay with Russia” and blamed Kiev again for bringing war on the beginning. Zelanski rejects the possibility of legal recognition of the occupation of Crimea, emphasizing that this would be contrary to the constitution of Ukraine. (PAP)

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