US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held crunch war talks in the heart of the Vatican minutes before the start of the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, as the White House mounts an increasingly urgent push to strike a peace deal in Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, met one-on-one in a marble-lined Vatican basilica on Saturday to try to revive faltering efforts to end Russia's war with Ukraine.

The fourth meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff brought the sides “closer” on Ukraine as well as on other geopolitical issues,

White House envoy Steve Witkoff met on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. Why it matters: The fourth meeting between Witkoff and Putin comes a day after President Trump made a public demand that Russia stop its missile and drone attacks on Ukraine and focus on negotiating a peace deal.

US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin had "constructive" talks in Moscow on Friday lasting three hours, according to an aide of Putin's. Yuri Ushakov said the possibility of Russia and Ukraine resuming direct talks was a particular point of discussion.