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Donald Trump said after meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida that a breakthrough to end the war in Ukraine was “getting very close”, although talks made little concrete progress on a peace deal.
Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, the US president said he had an “excellent” discussion with the Ukrainian leader, adding that the two had made “considerable progress” toward ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The meetings – which took place a day after a major missile and drone attack by Russia on Kiev – marked the culmination of intense diplomacy to prevent the largest land war in Europe in the last eight decades. While Trump and Zelensky praised each other at a news conference after the talks, they offered few specifics on what elements they moved forward on.
Zelensky said he and Trump discussed “all aspects” of the 20-point peace plan, and they are “90 percent” of the way toward reaching an agreement. The Ukrainian president said there was “100 percent agreement” on the military aspects of the proposal, but did not give specific details.
Trump said the two men later spoke to European leaders, including British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “welcomed” the “good progress” made during the negotiations.
“Europe stands ready to continue working with Ukraine and our US partners to build on this progress,” von der Leyen said. “Paramount to this effort is to provide strong security guarantees from day one,” he said.
The US president said he had a “good and very productive” telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than two hours before his meeting with Zelensky.
Trump praised Putin after the Ukraine-US meeting, saying the Russian president “wants to see Ukraine succeed”.
Trump cautioned that there were still “thorny” issues left in reaching a peace agreement, saying, “The word agreement is very strong, but we are getting closer”. He specifically cited disagreements over “land,” indicating a deep divide between Moscow and Kiev over potential territorial concessions.
Putin has stuck to his maximalist demands, including a demand for Ukraine to unilaterally withdraw from the remaining part of the eastern Donbass region still under Kiev’s control. Trump’s original plan – drawn up with Russia’s help – called for recognizing the area as officially Russian territory – which Zelensky has described as a red line.
Trump said on Sunday that the issue over a potential “demilitarized zone”, or “economic zone” in the Donbass region, as Zelensky has referred to it in recent weeks, remains “unresolved”.
Zelensky has said he would agree to withdraw troops to create an economic zone if Russia’s military did the same and the area remained officially part of Ukraine and monitored by an international peacekeeping force.
He agreed that it was a “difficult issue” and said that any territorial concessions would require a referendum in Ukraine.
“Of course our society has to choose and it has to vote, because this is their land, not the land of any one person, this is the land of our nation,” Zelensky said.
Asked what the US specifically has to offer Ukraine in the way of security guarantees, which is a key element for Kiev to agree to a deal, Trump said he wanted to “work with Europe” who would “take over a big part of it”.
Trump also said he had offered to go and speak to Ukraine’s parliament “if it would help save 25,000 lives a month” and help advance a peace deal.
Trump said Putin was ready to work with Kiev on the contentious issue of who would control the Zaporizhia Power Station – Europe’s largest nuclear plant – under a peace deal. Russian forces currently control the power plant in south-eastern Ukraine.
Trump said, “We discussed it, it’s in good condition and it can be opened immediately. Putin is working with Ukraine to get it opened.” “It’s a big step forward when he’s not bombing that plant.”
Zelensky told European leaders in a telephone call Saturday that he did not expect Russia to drop its unrelated demands or agree to Ukraine’s proposed plan, but that he wanted the United States to focus its attention on putting pressure on Russia, two of the people said on the phone.
Russia has already indicated it would reject any amendments proposed by Ukraine to Trump’s previous 28-point plan, which was drawn up in the autumn with significant input from Moscow.
Earlier on Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed that Kiev was trying to avoid “constructive talks” on the way to ending the war.
Putin, dressed in military uniform, praised his military’s performance on Saturday and said Moscow would be prepared to pursue its goals by force if Kiev rejects his terms for peace.
Additional reporting by Laura DuBois
