Trump doubts Putin’s intentions after talk with Zelensky

US President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin was "tapping me along" on negotiations to end Russia's war with Ukraine, and wondered whether it was time for Putin to be "dealt with differently". 

He made these assertions on posts on his Truth Social account yesterday, hours after returning from Rome, where he had a one-on-one meeting with Volodomir Zelensky on the sidelines of Pope Francis's funeral, reports BBC. 

Posting on social media after leaving Rome, Trump said he feared Putin was "tapping me along" after Moscow's strikes on Kyiv earlier this week, adding there was "no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas".

Shortly before the Pope's funeral, Trump and Zelensky were seen in deep discussion in St Peter's Basilica.

The White House described the 15-minute meeting as "very productive". The Ukrainian president said it had the "potential to become historic".

It was Trump's first face-to-face encounter with the Ukrainian president since February's acrimonious Oval Office showdown.

Trump later said on Truth Social that the Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities "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?'", according to the BBC report published on Saturday. 

Trump had previously said Russia and Ukraine were "very close to a deal" following three-hour talks between his envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian president on Friday.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, said on Saturday that Putin had confirmed Russia's readiness to enter into direct talks with Ukraine "without preconditions" to Witkoff.

Another image posted by the Ukrainian delegation from inside St Peter's showed the two men standing alongside UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, whose hand is on Zelensky's shoulder.

During their meeting in February, Trump accused the Ukrainian president of "gambling with World War Three" by not going along with ceasefire plans led by Washington.

The BBC report said that Kyiv has been on the receiving end of growing pressure from Trump to accept territorial concessions as part of an agreement with Moscow to end the war.

These concessions would reportedly include giving up large portions of land, including the Crimean peninsula which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

Zelensky has repeatedly rejected the idea in the past. He suggested to the BBC on Friday that "a full and unconditional ceasefire opens up the possibility to discuss everything".