Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly met for the first time since their notable altercation in the Oval Office, exchanging a handshake.
The encounter happened briefly on Sunday during Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, where Vance and Zelensky exchanged smiles as they greeted one another. Joining Vance in meeting Zelensky was his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance.
In the seating arrangement, Zelensky was positioned close to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, with Vance not far away. Vance was heading the US delegation alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who shares his Catholic faith.
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.
“Right now, the Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict. We think they’re asking for too much,” Vance said at an event earlier this month organized by individuals who put together the annual Munich Security Conference.
Trump met Zelensky briefly last month at St. Peter’s Basilica while attending the late Pope Francis’ funeral.
