Amid plea
to build bridges at papal funeral, Trump has a revelation – about Russia
US
president’s epiphany that Putin may not want to stop Ukraine war follows
‘symbolic’ talk with Zelenskyy in St Peter’s Basilica
Andrew Roth
Andrew Roth
in Washington
Sat 26 Apr
2025 20.53 BST
It was a
fitting moment for an epiphany, if that’s what this was. Donald Trump sat in
the morning light in St Peter’s Basilica hunched over in conversation with
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as the assembled royalty and foreign leaders, the
cardinals and bishops, and thousands of faithful gathered outside to prepare
for the papal funeral.
His
revelation soon came in the guise of a Truth Social post. “There was no reason
for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over
the last few days,” Trump mused. “It makes me think that maybe [Putin] doesn’t
want to stop the war.”
For months,
Zelenskyy and European leaders have struggled to deliver that message to Trump.
Now, in part thanks to Trump’s unlikely pilgrimage to the Vatican for Pope
Francis’s funeral, they may see new hope for their intervention before the
Ukraine war is lost for good.
This could,
of course, all come to naught. The US president is notoriously mercurial. His
thinking may change the next time he speaks with Putin, or with one of his own
advisers deeply sceptical of Ukraine. Trump’s post mentioning Putin was mainly
dedicated to attacking the New York Times’ White House correspondent, whom he
derided as “liddle” and a “very biased and untalented writer”. And Trump left
the Vatican before a second meeting with Zelenskyy was supposed to take place.
And yet that
one face-to-face with Zelenskyy may leave its mark. The photographs released
from the summit were dramatic: the two men sat alone in simple chairs in front
of a mosaic of Jesus being baptised in the river Jordan. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s
envoy to Ukraine, felt compelled to quote the book of Matthew. “Blessed are the
peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God,” he wrote.
It was a
“very symbolic meeting”, Zelenskyy said later, and it had the “potential to
become historic, if we achieve joint results”. Zelenskyy, dressed in an
all-black outfit that could be termed funereal military chic, was applauded by
the crowd as he walked out on to St Peter’s Square.
It was
something of a miracle that the summit happened at all. Trump and Zelenskyy
hadn’t been in the same room since the Oval Office meltdown when Trump said
that Zelenskyy was “disrespectful” and “gambling with world war three”. Trump’s
first trip abroad was meant to be a visit to Saudi Arabia in May. And it wasn’t
clear that a meeting would act in Zelenskyy’s favour – advisers suggested he
should use European leaders as mediators because his and Trump’s relationship
was too volatile.
And it could
have gone far worse. As Trump arrived at St Peter’s Square on Saturday morning,
there were numerous reminders of the great rift that has opened between the US
and its friends in Europe, largely prompted by an America First platform that
has tested the transatlantic alliance.
Trump and
his wife, Melania, stood among other leaders behind the world royalty as
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re read a homily that seemed to nod at the tensions
between Trump and the late pontiff, particularly over the White House policies
on migration and the recent executive order on deportations.
“‘Build
bridges, not walls’ was an exhortation he repeated many times,” Re said during
his homily. “His gestures and exhortations in favour of refugees and displaced
persons are countless. His insistence on working on behalf of the poor was
constant.”
At moments,
the funeral seemed almost tailored to trigger the Maga faithful. The final
group of mourners to pay their respects to the late pope were the “poor and
marginalised people”, including homeless, prisoners, migrants and transgender
people, the Vatican said.
And yet, in
a rare moment of western cohesion, cooler heads prevailed and Ukraine’s leader
was able to sit down with the president of the country’s most important ally.
Whether the symbolism of Trump and Zelenskyy’s Vatican summit will translate
into policy remains to be seen.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário