Donald Trump has publicly criticized Vladimir Putin, accusing the Russian leader of misleading him over negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict following a private meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the Pope’s funeral.
The US President has grown increasingly impatient with Moscow’s lack of urgency in reaching a ceasefire and now believes Putin may have no real intention of ending the fighting.
Trump also condemned Russia’s latest and deadliest air assault on Kyiv in nearly a year, an attack that left 12 dead and more than 100 wounded on Friday.
“There was absolutely no justification for Putin’s forces to bombard civilian neighbourhoods, towns, and cities over the past few days,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.
Missile wreckage and devastation in Kyiv
(AP)
“It’s starting to seem like he’s just playing games with me, not serious about ending this conflict. Maybe it’s time to consider tougher moves like ‘Banking Restrictions’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions’?” he added.
Trump’s stinging comments came shortly after he held talks with Zelensky inside St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, just steps from Pope Francis’s casket.
Sources within the Vatican, cited by Sky News, confirmed the two leaders agreed to continue private discussions after the funeral services concluded.
Following the event, Zelensky described the meeting as “positive”—their first direct encounter since a heated exchange at the White House earlier this year.
Steven Cheung, the White House communications chief, stated that the two had a “highly productive conversation.”
Previous Meeting: Trump and Zelensky in Washington
(AFP)
Meanwhile, Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, called the unexpected sit-down “constructive and necessary.”
The Trump administration maintains that Ukraine may have no viable option but to accept Washington’s ceasefire plan, which would permit Russia to retain control over some of the territories it currently occupies.
However, Trump’s sharper rhetoric against the Kremlin is likely to reassure European diplomats, many of whom were hoping that Trump’s visit to Rome could inject new momentum into efforts to break the diplomatic stalemate over Ukraine’s future.