With a view to the fatal attacks on the Russian side, Trump continued to highlight: “There was no reason for Putin to fire rockets to civilian areas, cities and places in the past few days.” Possibly further sanctions “in the ‘banking'” or “secondary sanctions” are necessary: ”Too many people die !!!”.
Trump and Selenskyj met on Saturday on the sidelines of the funeral service for Pope Francis in Rome for a conversation. Both sat in face to face in a corner of the St. Peter’s Basilica. It was the first meeting of the two since the scandal in the White House in February, in which Trump had accused the Ukrainian president in front of ongoing cameras for a lack of gratitude for US support.
During their four-eye conversation, they had spoken about an unconditional ceasefire with Russia, Selenskyj then said. He hoped for “results” of the symbolic meeting “that has the potential to become historical”. According to Selenskyj, the topics of conversation included “a comprehensive and unconditional ceasefire” and a “reliable and permanent peace that prevents the outbreak of a further war”.
A Selenskyj employee described the meeting with Trump in Rome as “constructive”, the white house spoke of a “very productive discussion”. Trump flew back to the USA immediately after the funeral service for the Pope, and further discussions did not take place. However, he and Selenskyj met with France’s President Emmanuel Macron and the British Premier Keir Strandmer.
Selenskyj also met the Italian head of government Giorgia Meloni and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Afterwards X wrote from the Leyen that Ukraine could always rely on Europeans during the peace efforts. According to the EU, Trump also agreed to meet from Leyen in Rome.
On Friday evening, Trump had shown himself confidently with a view of a ceasefire in Ukraine and explained that both sides were “close to an agreement”. Now representatives of both parties to the conflict should meet to “finish it”.
The US specialist Steve Witkoff met with Kremlin boss Putin on Friday. Putin had confirmed his willingness to have talks with Ukraine “without preconditions”, his spokesman Dmitri Peskow explained on Saturday.
In fact, Putin has regularly confirmed his maximum demands with a view to Ukraine: control over the criminic peninsula and four other Ukrainian regions, the waiver of Ukraine on NATO accession and its demilitarization. Most recently, Trump had also urged Selenskyj to make extensive concessions such as the task of the Crimea.
The Russian army meanwhile reported the full reconquest of the border region of Kursk from the Ukrainian armed forces on Saturday. Ukraine immediately rejected this information. As the last settlement, the place Gornal was “liberated”, said Russian chief of staff Waleri Gerassimow at a video conference with Putin. The Ukrainian general staff described the Russian statements as “propaganda tricks” and emphasized that the fights in the border region continued.
The Ukrainian army had started an offensive in the Russian region last summer and initially brought more than a thousand square kilometer territory under its control.
In Russia, a suspect was arrested after the fatal attack on a high -ranking Russian general. It was an agent of the Ukrainian secret service, said domestic intelligence.
