Trump and Zelinski meet on the sidelines of the funeral of Pope Francis, the White House says

The White House said that President Trump met separately with President Voludimir Zellinski from Ukraine on Saturday in Rome, on the sidelines of the funeral ceremony for Pope Francis. This was the first time that the two leaders met personally since his televised argument in late February in the Oval Office, which led to a profound breach between the two countries.

The White House did not say when the two men met, but it seemed that it would have been likely before the funeral began, before the president left the funeral services after nine in the morning in Rome. A White House spokesman, Stephen Cheung, described it as a “very fruitful discussion”, but he did not give any details.

The meeting in Rome came in a critical moment, just as the United States presented a proposed ceasefire plan in the Ukraine war with Russia and the post -war plan that would give Russia effective control over all the lands that have been illegally seized since it started the invasion three years ago. The plan includes a major reflection of American policy: an official American recognition that Crimea is Russian territory, even if Ukraine and the rest of Europe confirmed that it is still part of Ukraine.

Mr. Trump has made it clear that he wanted his first journey abroad in this Middle East, starting from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the location of his initial visit during his first term in his position.

But then Pope Francis died. On Saturday morning, he made his way to the Vatican city to pay his respect at the funeral of the Pope.

With the start of the celebrations, Mr. Trump was surrounded by European leaders, and he condemned them as independent unwillingness to pay their share of defending the continent and European Union leaders, who said it was “formed to confirm the United States.”

On his way to Italy on Friday, Mr. Trump told correspondents of the first air force that he was attending the funeral “respect” for Francis, noting “I won the Catholic vote.”

The president’s schedule does not allow much time for meetings, or even many “clouds besides”, a diplomatic term used for planned confrontations. Mr. Trump was a little able to chat when he arrived.

The sitting plan issued by the Vatican was guests sitting in their group in the arrangement of my grandfather based on the name of their country in French. This was put in the front row between the leaders of Finland and Estonia, and a decline from President Emmanuel Macron from France.

Mr. Trump’s timetable calls for leaving Rome less than three hours after the start of the ceremony, and travel to Newark to spend the night in the nearby golf club.

Mr. Trump, every handshake and funeral conversation is monitored. Ursula von der Lin, President of the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, was sitting on a few chairs from Mr. Trump, and the White House journalists traveling with the president, but he kept a great distance, reported that the two seemed to be training, the funerary protocols aside. In the past three months, Mrs. von der Lin has been clearly absent from the leaders who visit the White House.