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Only a day earlier, Trump said Ukraine and Russia were "."

"There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,� Trump said in a social media post as he flew back to the United States after attending Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican, where he met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Trump also hinted at further sanctions against Russia.

“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through 'Banking' or 'Secondary Sanctions?' Too many people are dying!!!� Trump wrote.

Meanwhile, Russia’s top general said all Ukrainian troops were forced from parts of Russia’s Kursk region, which Moscow lost control of last year to a . Ukrainian officials denied the claim.

Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff for Russia’s armed forces, gave Putin the news in a meeting Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state news outlet Interfax.

In a statement, Putin congratulated the Russian soldiers and commanders and said Kyiv’s incursion “completely failed.�

Ukrainian officials, however, said the fighting continues. “The statements of representatives of the high command of the aggressor country about the alleged end of hostilities in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation are not true,� Ukraine's General staff said.

Trump and top aides intensified their push to come to a deal to end the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Putin in Moscow on Friday.  Putin told Witkoff that Russia was ready to negotiate with Kyiv without any preconditions, Peskov said Saturday.

The Trump-Zelenskyy conversation on the sidelines of the pope's funeral was the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders since they argued during a  at the White House in late February. That confrontation led the White House  U.S. military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

Days after ordering the pause, Trump also announced he was “strongly considering� imposing new sanctions and tariffs on Russia to try to prod Putin to negotiate in earnest.

Trump had not followed through on the threat — something even some of his staunch Republican allies are now pressuring him to do. In fact, when Trump announced new global tariffs this month, one major economy he excluded was Russia's.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Friday urged Trump to “put the toughest of sanctions on Putin," arguing there is “clear evidence that he is playing America as a patsy.�

It's the second time in a matter of days that Trump rebuked Putin, whom the American president rarely publicly criticizes.

On Thursday, Trump publicly urged the Russian leader to “STOP!� after a deadly barrage of attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

After their brief meeting Saturday, Zelenskyy’s office said the U.S. and Ukrainian teams were making arrangements for the leaders to talk again Saturday. But Trump went directly to the Rome airport after the funeral and boarded Air Force One for the 10-hour flight back to the U.S.

Zelenskyy's spokesperson, Serhii Nykyforov, said Trump and Zelenskyy did not meet again in person because of their tight schedules.

Zelenskyy called it a “good meeting� on social media.

“We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out,� said the Ukrainian leader, who also held talks Saturday with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. Thank you."

The White House said the discussion was “very productive." The meeting lasted about 15 minutes inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, where Francis often preached the need for a peaceful end to the war, just before the outdoor funeral service. The two leaders spoke privately, face to face and hunched over in chairs on the marbled floors.

Neither Putin nor Zelenskyy commented on Trump's calls for direct,  on ending the war.

While Zelenskyy agreed to an American plan for an initial 30-day halt to hostilities, Russia has not signed on and continued to strike at targets inside Ukraine.

Putin did not attend Francis' funeral. He faces an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, which accused him of war crimes stemming from .

Trump said in a Time magazine interview published Friday that Ìý¸é³Ü²õ²õ¾±²¹Ìý along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine in 2014.  and other Ukrainian territory seized by Russia, but Trump considers that demand to be unrealistic.

Russia since seized Ukrainian territory in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.