President Donald Trump said Sunday he views his Ukrainian counterpart Volodomyr Zelensky as “calmer” and more interested in reaching a peace accord following their sit-down inside the Vatican this weekend.
Trump called the meeting “beautiful” and said Zelensky asked for more weapons during the 15-minute session.
Trump continued voicing his frustration at President Vladimir Putin for launching a missile attack on Kyiv, and said he couldn’t say for sure whether the Russian leader was serious about ending the war.
“I think the meeting went well. We’ll see what happens over the next few days. We’ll probably learn a lot. I was very disappointed that missiles were flying by Russia,” Trump said as he was departing New Jersey, where he spent part of the weekend at his golf club.
He said during his meeting at St. Peter’s with Zelensky they briefly discussed the issue of Crimea, which the US would recognize as Russian under an American peace proposal that Zelensky has rejected.
Trump denied his relationship with Zelensky was ever bad, saying instead their televised dispute in February was merely a small obstacle.
“I see him as calmer. I think he understands the picture. And I think he wants to make a deal,” Trump said.
Putin, he said, needed to demonstrate a commitment to ending the war.
“I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal,” Trump said. “We have the confines of a deal, I believe, and I want him to sign it and be done with it and just go back to life.”
This story is breaking and will be updated.