WASHINGTON — President Trump revealed Wednesday that he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to take a peace deal with Russia if one is offered when the two leaders met at Vatican City before the funeral of Pope Francis this past weekend.
“I was telling him that it’s a very good thing that, if we produce a deal, that you sign it,” Trump said during a NewsNation town hall hosted by Chris Cuomo.
“Russia is much bigger and much stronger.”
Pictures circulated of Trump, 78, and Zelensky, 47, sitting face-to-face at the Vatican Saturday, the first time they had met since the infamous Oval Office blowup Feb. 28 that led to Zelensky leaving without a minerals deal.
Trump has been pressuring both Ukraine and Russia to end the 38-month-old war, and sent out a Truth Social post after his meeting with Zelensky saying the US has to try a different approach with Russia.
“There was no reason for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump wrote after leaving Rome.
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’” he added.
Earlier Wednesday, the Trump administration signed a minerals deal with Ukraine after months of negotiations, creating a 50/50 joint fund between the countries that will boost the Eastern European country’s reconstruction.
The fund will be filled with revenue coming from new licenses “for projects in the field of critical materials and oil and gas,” Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X.
Trump officials have repeatedly signaled that the US may wash its hands of the conflict if Moscow and Kyiv don’t come to a peace agreement soon.
“The president has devoted 100 days and his very top people to Russia and Ukraine, and if peace is not achieved, it will be because it can’t be achieved. It just cannot,” White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told The Post on Tuesday.
Solving the war continues to be a goal for the administration, Wiles said, noting that special envoy Steve Witkoff has spoken face-to-face with Putin three times on Russian territory.
