The images couldn’t be more different. In February, Volodymyr Zelensky was surrounded by Team Trump in the Oval Office and savaged in what many commentators described as an ambush.

This time, it was just the two men, sans aides, sitting on chairs in St Peter’s Basilica in what looked to be an impromptu meeting on the sidelines of the Pope’s funeral.

US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky talk before the Pope’s funeral.Credit: AP

Both sides characterised the 15-minute talk as productive, possibly monumental. But what Trump said afterwards commanded the headlines.

In a long TruthSocial post on his way home, the US president began by disparaging a reporter at The New York Times, claiming that no matter what he was able to achieve on the Russia-Ukraine war – “even if it’s the greatest deal ever made” – the Grey Lady would find fault.

He reiterated his view – a widely shared one – that former US president Barack Obama was to blame for Russia annexing Crimea in 2014 without much resistance during a moment of political and military turmoil in Kyiv.

But then Trump turned his focus to Vladimir Putin and

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