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.

President Trump and his wife, First Lady Melania, were among the key world figures to attend Pope Francis’ funeral at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City on Saturday, April 26. Trump joined dozens of heads of state to bid farewell to the leader of the Catholic Church,

The 15-minute meeting was the first time they had come face-to-face since February's acrimonious encounter in the Oval Office.