US President Donald Trump suggested that Ukraine and Russia are “very close to a deal” and that a new round of high-level negotiations could take place in Rome, according to a post on his Truth Social platform.
“Just landed in Rome. A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine. They are very close to a deal, and two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off,'” Trump wrote after arriving in Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral.
The US president added that “most of the major points are agreed to” and called for an immediate end to bloodshed.
“Stop the bloodshell, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war!” he added in his social media post.
Neither Kyiv nor Moscow has officially confirmed plans for talks in Rome. This marks the first statement clearly indicating a potential location for new negotiations between the warring parties.
The funeral of Pope Francis, who died on 21 April at age 88, is scheduled for Saturday, 26 April, at the Vatican. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife, First Lady Olena Zleenska, arrived in Italy for Francis’s funeral.
Earlier, Trump mentioned the possibility of meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican during the Pope’s funeral. Italian newspaper La Repubblica, citing diplomatic sources, reported that Kyiv had approached Italy and other key European partners about organizing an expanded summit in the Quint format regarding Ukraine and Russia during world leaders’ visit to the Pope’s funeral.
If Trump and Zelenskyy do meet in Italy, it would be their first encounter since a contentious meeting in the White House Oval Office in late February of this year.
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