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.

Vladimir Putin does not plan to attend Pope Francis's funeral, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced. Among those who have confirmed their participation in the ceremony are Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky.

The funeral for Pope Francis is coming up this Saturday and dozens of world leaders have already committed to attending, including Donald Trump, Prince William of Wales, Emmanuel Macron of France and King Felipe of Spain among many others.