The meeting took place in the Basilica of St. Piotr, where the leaders were due to the farewell ceremony of the Pope. Although Zelanski had previously been informed about a possible conversation with Trump, the meeting was not planned, and the leaders “came up” in the basilica.
The media circulated photos that show Trump and Zełenski talking to each other, but it was not clear what topics were raised and what resulted from this conversation. According to Axios, the President of Ukraine decided to take the opportunity to convince Trump in a more direct way to change the strategy towards the Russian president.
“Zelanski's advisers were divided as to whether he should risk a conversation after the scenes in the oval office at the beginning of the year. But Zelanski felt that it was his chance to change the perception of the situation by Trump,” one of the sources of the portal revealed.
Zelnski asked for strengthening sanctions
During the conversation, the President of Ukraine pressed on Trump to think about his approach to Putin, emphasizing the need for greater pressure, including the use of financial sanctions. Axios's reports are credited with the fact that the US leader in his later post on Truth Social suggested that is considering changing the approach to the dictator. “Perhaps a secondary sanctions or a banking system should be used towards Putin,” Trump said on Saturday.
Zelanski also pointed to the growing risk of further escalation of the conflict if none of the parties undertakes effective action to end it. One of the sources said that Trump seemed to agree with the arguments of the Ukrainian leader.
The conversation also focused on the issue of Crimea. Zelanski was to persist that his country would not recognize the annexation of the peninsula by Russia. The President of Ukraine also emphasized that although he is ready for compromises, needs strong security guarantees. Trump in turn He pressed the signing of a mineral agreement. The latest reports in this matter indicate that this may occur within a dozen or so hours.
Sources say that the relatively positive results of the Ukrainian-American meeting were also related to the absence of JD Vance Vice President and the Middle East Steve Witkoff. Ukrainian advisers perceive them as people supporting pro -Russian policy. Both the American and Ukrainian sides did not refer to the reports.
