President Donald Trump said Friday that Russia and Ukraine were “very close” to a peace deal, and called for top leadership of the countries to “finish it off.” Trump made the comments on Truth Social as he landed in Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis. Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Friday to speak with President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials and push for a peace deal. “Just landed in Rome,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine. They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off.’ Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war!” That post came just hours after he called for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to sign a mineral deal with the United States, saying that he was “at least three weeks late.” “Ukraine, headed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has not signed the final papers on the very important Rare Earths Deal with the United States,” he posted. “It is at least three weeks late. Hopefully, it will be signed IMMEDIATELY. Work on the overall Peace Deal between Russia and Ukraine is going smoothly. SUCCESS seems to be in the future!” The deal over rare earth minerals was supposed to be signed months ago, but came to a standstill in February after Zelensky was asked to leave the White House following a contentious meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Last week, several Ukrainian officials signaled that the country was coming close to finalizing the agreement. At the same time, Trump has pushed both Zelensky and Putin to stop the hostilities and come to the negotiating table. Witkoff’s arrival in Russia came after Ukraine was hit with a pair of deadly air strikes this week and Russian Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a high-level military official, was killed in a car bombing in Balashikha. Before Witkoff’s arrival, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told CBS News that his country “ready to reach a deal” on Ukraine. “The President of the United States believes, and I think rightly so, that we are moving in the right direction,” he said. “The negotiations continue, and until the end of the negotiations, we cannot disclose what it is about.” As he was leaving for Rome, Trump said that he thought negotiations with the two countries were “coming along,” but added that they were “very fragile” at the moment. While en route to Rome, Trump declined to tell reporters on board Air Force One whether he would be meeting with Zelensky while at the funeral. Trump also said that he would soon be talking to Witkoff about how his meeting with Putin went and said he hadn’t heard about the car bomb assassination of Moskalik. “He’ll be calling me,” Trump said, according to a transcript provided by the White House foreign pool service. “They just left the meeting. I haven’t been briefed yet. But, he had — I hear, a pretty good meeting.”