15m ago
13.06 BST
Angela
Giuffrida
The US is
optimistic that it can end “the very brutal war” between Russia and Ukraine,
vice-president JD Vance said before a bilateral meeting with the Italian prime
minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Friday.
The meeting
comes less than 24 hours after the pair met in Washington.
“I want to
update the prime minister on some of the negotiations between Russia and
Ukraine … even in the past 24 hours, we think we have some interesting things
to report on,” Vance said.
“Since there
are the negotiations I won’t prejudge them, but we do feel optimistic that we
can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close.”
His comments
came a few hours after the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said president
Donald Trump would walk away from trying to clinch a Russia-Ukraine peace deal
within days unless there were clear signs that one could be done.
Vance, who
is in the Italian capital for the Easter weekend, added that the talks with
Meloni would also focus on “trade negotiations, not only between Italy and the
US but also with the EU.”
After the
meeting, the pair will have lunch with the Italian deputy prime ministers,
Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani.
Meloni, who
has long nurtured friendly relations with Trump’s Make America Great Again
(Maga) militants, was the first European leader to meet the US president since
he paused some of his planned trade tariffs hikes.
She said
Trump had accepted an invitation to Rome, a trip that could happen “in the near
future” and could present an opportunity for him to meet other European
leaders.
Vance will
also meet Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state.
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