The US and European leaders are placing their hopes in the Vatican to engage Russia and Ukraine in peace talks, after President Donald Trump said Pope Leo XIV had expressed interest in the idea. The Kremlin isn’t so keen.

President Trump said Russia and Ukraine were undertaking a major prisoner swap, in a post on social media early Friday. “A major prisoners swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

"The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know the details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of," Trump s