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 Donald Trump took aim at Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday in a Truth Social post about the ongoing war in Ukraine, saying that the Kremlin leader may need to "be dealt with differently.

Trump condemned Russian air strikes on Ukraine and proposes sanctions hours after meeting with Zelenskyy ahead of Pope Francis' funeral.

Russia and Ukraine dispute the status of the Kursk region, which Kyiv invaded last year in a surprise and successful incursion into Russian territory.

Vladimir Putin congratulated his military after Russia claimed all Ukrainian troops have left the Kursk region with the help of North Korean soldiers. Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff for Russia’s Armed Forces,

President Putin said Kursk’s liberation will create the conditions for further advances at other parts of the front.