The death of Pope Francis brought Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky together face to face for the first time since their abortive meeting in the Oval Office in February. Both sides described their 15-minute discussion as productive,

The United States has been pushing Ukraine to accept a peace plan that seems in part a gift to Moscow. But the short meeting of the leaders, and subsequent comments, appeared to be a change in tone.

Downing Street has welcomed the meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky over the weekend as “undoubtedly good”. It comes as Sir Keir Starmer said that talks over a ceasefire in Ukraine are “not at the end of the process”, while the American leader suggested that his Ukrainian counterpart could be willing to cede control of Crimea.