Vice President JD Vance shook palms with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of their first public encounter since their notorious Oval Workplace blow-up.
Vance and Zelensky briefly crossed paths Sunday whereas attending the primary formal mass by Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Basilica, smiling as they greeted one another. Second woman Usha Vance joined her husband in greeting Zelensky as nicely.
Zelensky was seated close by European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen, not removed from Vance. Vance led the US delegation together with fellow Catholic, Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
On Sunday, Ukraine was hit with one of many largest identified drone assaults from Russia, together with over 273 that pummeled the central Kyiv area in addition to the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk areas, in response to Ukraine’s air power.
That brutal assault got here days after the primary direct negotiations between the Russians and Ukrainians since 2022, which led to a deal to trade 1,000 prisoners of battle.
These talks, in Turkey, didn’t yield a broader ceasefire deal that had initially been sought.
The final time Vance and Zelensky crossed paths, it resulted in bedlam.
On Feb. 28, throughout Zelensky’s go to to the White Home to debate a mineral rights deal and extra, the 2 acquired right into a confrontation in entrance of the TV cameras after the Ukrainian chief tried to impress upon the VP how untrustworthy Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is.
Vance underscored the significance of negotiations, which prompted Zelensky to lecture the veep about Putin’s lengthy historical past of breaking worldwide agreements. He additionally requested how Ukraine might belief the result of any diplomacy with the Kremlin.
The vp shot again that it was “disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media” and added, “You should be thanking the president for wanting to bring an end to the conflict.”
President Trump chimed in and backed up Vance.
In the course of the 2024 marketing campaign, Zelensky as soon as known as Vance “too radical” for championing a plan to finish the battle that might have seen Ukraine cede huge swaths of territory.
Since then, Ukraine has supported the Trump administration’s push for a ceasefire — one thing Russia has rejected, and labored in the direction of attaining an finish to the bloody battle. Vance has publicly acknowledged that Moscow’s calls for are an excessive amount of.
“Right now, the Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict. We think they’re asking for too much,” Vance stated at an occasion earlier this month organized by people who put collectively the annual Munich Safety Convention.
Trump met Zelensky briefly final month at St. Peter’s Basilica whereas attending the late Pope Francis’ funeral.
