When in Rome The meaning of Trump's meeting with Zelenskyy

The US president may or may not have had an epiphany about Putin but the optics were dramatic nonetheless

- Andrew Roth

IT WAS A FITTING MOMENT for an epiphany, if that's what this was.

Donald Trump sat in the morning light in St Peter's Basilica hunched over in conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as the assembled royalty and foreign leaders, the cardinals and bishops, and thousands of faithful gathered outside to prepare for the papal funeral.

His revelation soon came in the guise of a Truth Social post. "There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days," Trump said. "It makes me think that maybe [Putin] doesn't want to stop the war." For months, Zelenskyy and European leaders have struggled to deliver that message to Trump. Now, in part thanks to Trump's unlikely pilgrimage to the Vatican for Pope Francis's funeral, they may see new hope.

This could, of course, all come to naught. The US president is notoriously mercurial. His thinking may change the next time he speaks with Vladimir Putin, or with one of his own advisers deeply sceptical of Ukraine.