On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other.
It looked like a confessor sitting with a penitent except in this case, of course, both men believe the other has sinned against him.
Leaning forward, hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
There has been so much bad blood between them since that spectacular collision.
But could the solemnity of the moment bring any healing and perhaps a hope of salvation for Ukraine?
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Donald Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force: Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
There is a limit to what such a brief encounter can achieve but the signs after the meeting were encouraging.
It had said Zelenskyy been a “good meeting” that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war starting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of NATO.
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Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Donald Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving on to a rapprochement with Moscow.
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In his social media postings after the meeting the US president was being critical of Vladimir Putin.
“There was no reason,” he said, “for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It 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?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
Donald Trump has issued warnings before to Putin to end the carnage but he has not acted to put meaningful pressure to make him stop.
Former US ambassador William B Taylor told Sky News: “President Putin has demonstrated with these attacks that he’s not ready for peace. He’s not to sign a ceasefire. And so President Trump, who is eager to get to a peace, as is President Zelenskyy… President Trump needs to put some pressure on President Putin, more than just telling him to stop firing weapons and missiles at Kyiv. It needs to be real pressure to bring President Putin to the table.”
Donald Trump’s peace plan looks increasingly likely to fail.
Some believe it was set up to fail once the US demanded Ukraine cedes sovereignty of Crimea to Russia, something Zelenskyy is politically and constitutionally unable to do.
If it does fail, the fear is Donald Trump blames Ukraine and Europe and renews relations with Putin’s Russia anyway, rewarding its aggression and sounding the death knell for the post-war world order as we’ve known it.
