President Trump’s standing among Ukrainians is practically on life support. But many cheered one statement he made on Saturday after meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, questioning why President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would continue to pummel Ukraine as the United States is trying to broker peace talks.
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social after meeting Mr. Zelensky on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral.
The day’s events were a victory of sorts for Mr. Zelensky and Ukraine at a critical juncture in the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The United States has been pushing Ukraine to accept a peace plan that seems in part a gift to Moscow. The proposal would force Kyiv to abandon its aspirations of joining NATO, offer Ukraine only vague security guarantees — and see the United States officially recognizing Crimea as Russian. Ukraine has rejected that deal, which the Trump administration had described as its final offer.
But now, there is a small glimmer of hope that Mr. Trump will not try to force Ukraine into a lopsided peace plan. It first emerged in the fallout from a massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s capital early Thursday that killed 12 people and injured almost 90. “Vladimir, STOP!” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social, in a rare rebuke of Mr. Putin.
And then, the hope grew slightly on Saturday when Mr. Zelensky managed to wrangle about 15 minutes with Mr. Trump in Rome. Photos released by the Ukrainian government showed the two men sitting in chairs and leaning toward each other, talking like equals — a vastly different scene than a disastrous meeting in the Oval Office in late February that ended with Mr. Zelensky’s abrupt departure from the White House and the temporary freezing of all U.S. aid.
The photos from Rome “were extraordinary,” said Volodymyr Dubovyk, the director of the Center for International Studies at Odesa I.I. Mechnikov National University. He added that it was good for Mr. Zelensky to have some time alone with Mr. Trump.
“Trump’s team has had too much exposure to the Kremlin and its talking points lately, so for Kyiv to be able to present their perspective directly to Trump was useful, I suppose. Just maybe Trump will now understand a bit better Ukraine’s concerns,” Mr. Dubovyk said.
Some Ukrainians interviewed on Sunday in Kyiv acknowledged that Mr. Trump can change his mind with breakneck speed. But they took solace in the fact that the White House called Saturday’s conversation a “very productive discussion.”
Oleh Karas, 40, who was collecting donations to buy drones outside of a memorial to fallen soldiers, called the photos of Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky “amazing” and said it looked like “Trump was listening to him.”
“Maybe finally Trump got stuck by the obvious things with Putin,” Mr. Karas said, adding that Russia’s leader could not be trusted. As he stood in front of thousands of flags planted in the ground, each one marking a dead soldier, Mr. Karas said: “You should bring Trump here. Have him see this place. Let him go to where the missile hit. Let him see what happened.”
Even such a small thing as Mr. Trump’s short meeting with Mr. Zelensky felt like a major change. Since taking office, the Trump administration has at times appeared almost solicitous of Mr. Putin, a sharp reversal in U.S. policy. And Mr. Trump has made no secret of his dislike for the Ukrainian leader.
So Mr. Trump’s statements on Truth Social after the meeting seemed to many in Ukraine like something of a vindication or what they have been saying for years: that Mr. Putin might not be telling the truth.
Ukraine has been fighting Russia in the eastern Donbas region since 2014 and Mr. Putin violated multiple peace accords aimed at ending the violence there. The Russian leader also claimed he had no intention of mounting a broader invasion of Ukraine right up until the moment his tanks crossed the border in 2022 to begin the full-scale invasion.
That history is why Ukraine’s government has insisted that any peace deal in this war with Russia must include a strong security guarantee — and why it wanted NATO membership, even though that dream has been put on hold.
The Ukrainians have now countered the Trump administration’s peace plan with their own, which calls for a European peacekeeping force with the United States providing backup. In a social-media post after the meeting on Saturday, Mr. Zelensky did not get into specifics about his conversation with Mr. Trump, but he did say they talked about a “full and unconditional cease-fire,” and a “reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out.”
Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that Ukraine is losing the war and doesn’t have the leverage to be able to demand a good deal from Russia — a transactional approach to foreign policy at odds with many Western leaders. And some of the leverage that Ukraine had at one point appears to be lost: Russia’s top military commander said Saturday that Russian troops had completely retaken the Russian region of Kursk, more than eight months after Ukrainian troops launched a surprise incursion. On Sunday, Ukrainian officials continued to deny that they had been pushed out from all of Kursk.
After the meeting between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump, Sen. Lindsey Graham — the Republican from South Carolina who had been a staunch ally of Ukraine but has shifted his tone amid Mr. Trump’s push to broker a quick peace — seemed to sense an opening. He lauded the Trump administration’s efforts to broker a cease-fire and also touted a recent bipartisan threat to impose more sanctions on Moscow.
Still, there is no doubt that pressure is building on Ukraine to make a deal, both at home and from the Trump administration. The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, who has had a tense relationship with Mr. Zelensky, told the BBC hours after the massive missile attack Thursday that it may be time to give up land for peace, at least temporarily. Mr. Zelensky has also said that Ukraine might have to cede some territory for a peace deal — land it hopes to regain through diplomatic means — as long as it gets a security guarantee, like NATO membership.
And despite the positive feelings about Saturday’s meeting of the two leaders, questions about the relationship between them remained. After the brief talks, a Ukrainian spokesman said that the two men would meet again later on Saturday. But Mr. Trump made a speedy departure from the pope’s funeral, telling aides he wanted to be back in the United States by the end of the day.
After Mr. Trump boarded Air Force One to leave, the Ukrainian spokesman said a second meeting would not occur because of the “very tight schedules of the presidents.”
Oleksandra Mykolyshyn contributed reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine.
