US president’s epiphany that Putin may not want to stop Ukraine war follows ‘symbolic’ talk with Zelenskyy in St Peter’s Basilica

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 mused. “It makes me think that maybe [Putin] doesn’t want to stop the war.”