Zelensky meets Pope, prepares revised plan on Russia war

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky shaking hands with Pope Leo XIV after a Holy mass for the beginning of the latter’s pontificate, in St Peter’s basilica in The Vatican on May 18, 2025. (Photo by UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Pope Leo XIV in Italy on Tuesday as he prepared to send the United States revised proposals to end Russia’s invasion.

Zelensky met with Pope Leo at his country residence in Castel Gandolfo near Rome, and is to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni later.

Meloni has been a staunch supporter of Kyiv since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, although one of her coalition allies, Matteo Salvini’s League party, is more sceptical.

Rome has sent weapons to Ukraine, but only for use inside the country. Meloni has also ruled out sending troops in a possible monitoring force proposed by Britain and France.

The Italian government last week postponed a decision on renewing military aid to Ukraine, with the current authorisation due to end on December 31. Salvini has reportedly questioned if it is necessary, given the new talks.

However, Meloni at the time insisted that “as long as there’s a war, we’ll do what we can, as we’ve always done to help Ukraine defend itself”.

On Monday, Zelensky met in London with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany before heading to Brussels for talks with the heads of the EU and of NATO.

“Ukraine’s sovereignty must be respected. Ukraine’s security must be guaranteed, in the long term, as a first line of defence for our Union,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after Monday’s meeting.

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X after the London meeting that “we are preparing robust security guarantees and measures for Ukraine’s reconstruction”.

Macron said the “main issue” was finding “convergence” between the European-Ukrainian position and that of the United States.

Trump has blown hot and cold on Ukraine since returning to office in January, initially chastising Zelensky for not being grateful for US support.

But he was also frustrated that efforts to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war had failed to produce results, and he recently slapped sanctions on Russian oil firms.

Trump has accused Zelensky of not even reading his administration’s initial proposals, which were judged by Ukraine’s allies to be overly favourable to Russia.

Zelensky said that Washington’s 28-point plan had been reduced to 20 points after US-Ukraine talks at the weekend.

Ukrainian and European officials “are going to work on these 20 points”, Zelensky told an online press conference on Monday.

“We do not like everything that our partners came back with. Although this issue is not so much with the Americans as with the Russians.

“But we will definitely work on it, and as I said, tomorrow evening (Tuesday) we will do everything to send our view on this to the US.”

Washington’s plan involved Ukraine surrendering land that Russia has not captured in return for security promises that fall short of Kyiv’s aspirations to join NATO.

Zelensky pointed to the land issue and international security guarantees as two of the main sticking points.

“Do we envision ceding territories? We have no legal right to do so, under Ukrainian law, our constitution and international law. And we don’t have any moral right either,” Zelensky said.

“The key is to know what our partners will be ready to do in the event of new aggression by Russia. At the moment, we have not received any answer to this question,” Zelensky said.

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