Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump met today inside St Peter’s Basilica, just minutes before the funeral service for Pope Francis, in what both sides have described as a deeply significant encounter.
The 15-minute meeting was characterised as "very productive" by the White House, while President Zelensky hailed it as a "very symbolic" event that could "become historic" if concrete results are achieved.
The leaders were photographed seated across from each other, engaged in intense discussion under the solemn backdrop of the Vatican ceremony. Zelensky wore a black outfit, while Trump donned a blue suit. Both appeared serious as they spoke privately, discussing ongoing efforts to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
Posting on social media afterwards, Zelensky said: "We discussed a lot one on one. It was a good meeting. I hope we see results on everything we talked about." He added that the timing and setting of the meeting made it even more meaningful.
Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, shared an image of the meeting with a single-word caption: “Constructive.” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it "historic", noting, "No words are needed to describe the importance of this meeting. Two leaders working for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica."
The encounter came just a day after President Trump revealed that Russia and Ukraine were "very close to a deal," following talks between his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week. Putin aides later described those talks as "very useful" and said they had narrowed the gap between the two sides on key issues, including the prospect of resuming direct negotiations.
Following their private discussion, Trump and Zelensky joined other world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, for the funeral ceremony. An image posted by the Ukrainian delegation showed Macron resting a hand on Zelensky's shoulder, suggesting a spirit of support among European leaders.
While Ukrainian officials hinted at the possibility of a second meeting with Trump later in the day, Trump's motorcade departed Vatican City shortly after the funeral, and his plane left Rome a few hours later.
Meanwhile, Zelensky is continuing diplomatic efforts, having met with President Macron, and is expected to hold discussions with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The emotional and highly symbolic setting of today’s meeting—the funeral of a pope who had long advocated for peace and dialogue—underscored the hopes for renewed momentum toward ending the devastating war.
Opinion: In St Peter’s Basilica, a Meeting Laden with History, Hope—and Unspoken Irony
There are moments when history seems to pause—when the setting, the players, and the circumstance align so precisely that the symbolism is almost too rich to believe.
Today, inside the solemn, soaring space of St Peter’s Basilica, as the world mourned the passing of Pope Francis, two men—Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump—sat face-to-face, deep in conversation. Their meeting was brief but heavy with meaning. It is hard to imagine a more symbolic image than this: two wartime leaders, navigating not just a brutal conflict but the future of an exhausted, anxious world, in the very heart of Christendom, before the funeral of a pope who spent his life preaching peace and reconciliation.
The layers of symbolism are almost overwhelming.
First, the place: St Peter’s Basilica, the spiritual epicenter of global Catholicism, a monument to unity and faith spanning centuries of conflict and empire. Beneath its vaulted ceilings, kings and revolutionaries have knelt; alliances have been brokered and dissolved. For Trump and Zelensky—both presidents leading nations divided within and battered without—to meet here is to drape their moment in a legacy of grandeur, fragility, and hope.
Second, the moment: They met at a funeral, not a summit. They were gathered not to negotiate, but to grieve. It was not power or triumph that brought them together, but death—the death of a man who tirelessly championed dialogue over division, bridges over walls. What could be more fitting? Pope Francis, who implored the world to seek peace in Ukraine until his final days, would surely have smiled at the sight of two adversarial leaders leaning in, talking—not fighting—beneath his watchful gaze.
Third, the reason they are there: It is not ambition or even strategy that placed Zelensky and Trump across from one another today. It is the undeniable need for something greater—an acknowledgment that war cannot go on forever, that the time must come for conversation, even with those we distrust. For Zelensky, it is the recognition that his people cannot endure endless sacrifice without hope. For Trump, it may be the first realization that history will judge him not by the battles he stokes, but by the peace he might yet help deliver.
And yet, there is deep irony, too. Trump has at times treated Ukraine’s suffering as little more than a bargaining chip. Zelensky has faced humiliating demands and skepticism from the very man now offering the possibility of peace. That today they spoke not in an office or over a formal table, but in a basilica heavy with mourning, suggests that the gravity of the moment was not lost on either of them.
The images that emerged—the two men, heads bowed, faces serious, shadows stretching over ancient marble—will endure. They capture something that speeches and treaties often fail to: the raw, complicated human cost of war, and the rare, fleeting moments when leaders can still choose a different path.
We do not know what was agreed, if anything. We cannot be certain that today will mark the beginning of peace. But the symbolism cannot be dismissed.
Inside a place built to honor forgiveness, humility, and eternity, two imperfect men met—perhaps not as saviors, but as witnesses to a simple, urgent truth: wars end, eventually. It is better when they end with words rather than with more graves.
In the years to come, when the history of this conflict is written, perhaps the photographs from St Peter’s will be more than just a curiosity. Perhaps they will be remembered as the moment when two leaders, however unlikely, glimpsed a better road—and chose to follow it.
