Trump continued in his post in his online service Truth Social that he would speak to Putin with Selenskyj and NATO representatives after the phone call. The US President also expressed the hope that “a ceasefire came about and this very violent war (…) will be ended”.
Chancellor Merz said on the sidelines of the official inauguration of Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican, the heads of state and government of Germany, France and Great Britain had agreed to speak to Trump in preparation for the conversation between the US President and the Kremlin boss.
Vance, meanwhile, met in Rome for the first time since the scandal in the White House at the end of February with Selenskyj, as a spokesman for Vance said. According to a Ukrainian government representative, the approximately half -hour conversation was about the phone call between Trump and Putin. Previously, both of them had briefly gave their hands when the Pope was inaugurated.
After the meeting in the residence of the US ambassador in Rome in the online service Telegram, Selensky wrote: “We talked about the conversations in Istanbul where the Russians made a delegation without decision-making powers”.
Other topics discussed with Vance were the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, the cooperation in defense, the situation on the front and the prisoner exchange agreed at the meeting in Istanbul, added Selenskyj. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Selenskyj’s consultant Andrij Jermak were also present at the meeting.
The new head of the Catholic Church also met with Selenskyj on Sunday. After the audience, in which Selenskyj’s wife Olena also took part, the Ukrainian president wrote: “We thank the Vatican for his willingness to offer a platform for direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia”.
Previously, the Pope had pointed out the suffering of the Ukraine attacked by Russia at the end of the fair. “The marted Ukraine is waiting for negotiations to take place for a fair and permanent peace,” he said.
In the afternoon, Vance also met EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the Italian head of government Giorgia Meloni. At the meeting, the topic of tariffs was on the agenda. According to Meloni’s office, in addition to relationships between the European Union and the USA, “the most important topics of the international agenda” should also be discussed.
Russia and Ukraine had held direct discussions for the first time in more than three years on Friday. The meeting in Istanbul ended without approaching in the question of a ceasefire. The parties to the conflict agreed on a prisoner exchange and discussed a possible meeting between Putin and Selenskyj – but there were hardly any signs of progress in the end of the war.
The Kremlin made a meeting between Putin and Selenskyj to the condition that both countries previously achieved an “agreement”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskow said on Saturday that Moscow considered a meeting between Putin and Selenskyj to be “possible” – but only as a “result of the work” of both sides and after completing an “agreement”. Ukraine had gone to the talks in Istanbul with the demand for such a meeting.
Meanwhile, the attacks by the two warring parties continued. The deputy Ukrainian Prime Minister Julia Swryrydenko accused Russia of attacks with a “record” number of drones. Russia launched 273 Schahed attack drones, 88 of which were “destroyed”, explained the Ukrainian Air Force. According to Ukrainian information, a woman was killed in the capital Kyiv.
The Russian military said that 25 Ukrainian drones intercepted on Sunday morning and on Sunday morning.
