Vice President JD Vance shook hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in their first public encounter since their infamous Oval Office blow-up and later had a “good meeting” at the residence of the US ambassador to Italy.
Vance and Zelensky briefly crossed paths Sunday while attending the first formal mass by Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Basilica, smiling as they greeted each other. Second lady Usha Vance joined her husband in greeting Zelensky as well.
Zelensky was seated nearby European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, not far from Vance. Vance led the US delegation along with fellow Catholic, Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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Following that encounter, Vance and Zelensky met privately in the Villa Taverna, the residence of the US ambassador to Italy, according to a spokesperson for the vice president. They were joined by Rubio and Andriy Yermak, who leads the Office of the President of Ukraine.
The pair talked about ongoing efforts to end the bloody war in Ukraine and Zelensky’s desire for the US to ramp up sanctions on Russia.
“We discussed negotiations in Istanbul to where the Russians sent a low level delegation of non-decision-makers,” Zelensky later revealed on X. “I reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to be engaged in real diplomacy and underscored the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible.”
He added: “We have also touched upon the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, battlefield situation and upcoming prisoners exchange.”
On Sunday, Ukraine was hit with one of the largest known drone attacks from Russia, including over 273 that pummeled the central Kyiv region as well as the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to Ukraine’s air force.
That brutal attack came days after the first direct negotiations between the Russians and Ukrainians since 2022, which led to a deal to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war.
Those talks, in Turkey, failed to yield a broader ceasefire deal that had initially been sought.
The last time Vance and Zelensky crossed paths, it ended in bedlam.
On Feb. 28, during Zelensky’s visit to the White House to discuss a mineral rights deal and more, the two got into a war of words in front of the TV cameras after the Ukrainian leader tried to impress upon the VP how untrustworthy Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is.
Vance underscored the importance of negotiations, which prompted Zelensky to lecture the veep about Putin’s long history of breaking international agreements. He also asked how Ukraine could trust the outcome of any diplomacy with the Kremlin.
The vice president shot back that it was “disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media” and added, “You should be thanking the president for wanting to bring an end to the conflict.”
President Trump chimed in and backed up Vance.
During the 2024 campaign, Zelensky once called Vance “too radical” for championing a plan to end the war that would have seen Ukraine cede vast swaths of territory.
Since then, Ukraine has supported the Trump administration’s push for a ceasefire — something Russia has rejected, and worked towards achieving an end to the bloody war. Vance has publicly acknowledged that Moscow’s demands are too much.
