Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he will meet Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend to discuss the most politically sensitive parts of the US peace proposal that will eventually be presented to Russia.
The meeting, which Ukrainian officials expect to take place at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, will mark the culmination of intensive diplomacy that began in November with the publication of a 28-point plan drawn up by the US with the participation of Russian officials.
Zelensky told reporters in a WhatsApp chat on Friday that he and Trump had “a broad agenda” and that the meeting was “specifically to finalize as much as possible”.
However, Trump made it clear that Zelensky’s latest 20-point peace plan is not guaranteed to get his seal of approval.
“Zelensky has nothing to say until I approve it,” Trump told Politico on Friday. “So we’ll see what he’s got.”
However, the US president expressed some optimism about meeting his Ukrainian counterpart: “I think it’s going to go well with him. I think it’s going to go well with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”
Trump also told the outlet that he would speak with Putin “sooner than I’d like.”
At Sunday’s Mar-a-Lago meeting, security guarantees for Ukraine will be “at the top of the agenda” according to Zelensky, who said he wanted to “go through some of the specifics” of pledges made by the US and arrangements with European countries.
The president will also talk about what Zelensky has called an “economic agreement” for post-war reconstruction with American help. “At the moment, there are only basic drafts, although there will be many agreements (on the economic deal),” he said.
And Zelensky said he would discuss the contentious issue of the region with Trump. The original US draft called for Ukraine to cede parts of the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine that it still controls, leaving Ukrainian and European negotiators struggling to modify what Kiev described as unacceptable concessions.
“I can’t say yet whether anything will be ready by the end,” Zelensky said. He said he and Trump would “finalize as much as possible”.
Zelensky wrote on Friday morning that “a lot can be decided before the New Year”.
His team of negotiators will join him in Florida. Sergiy Kislitsya, a member of the delegation, said the positions of the US and Ukraine have largely converged. “Now it is time for the two leaders to bless it, adjust or calibrate if necessary,” he told the Financial Times.
Intensive negotiations lasting several weeks between Florida, Berlin and Abu Dhabi brought the plan closer to Ukrainian expectations. However, Kislitsyna admitted to journalists in Kiev that the 20-point peace plan still contains provisions with which Ukraine does not agree.
Zelensky told reporters on Friday that the plan was “90 percent ready” but that “sensitive issues” including possible territorial concessions still needed to be discussed in a one-on-one meeting with Trump.
A French official close to the Elysee Palace said on Friday that European leaders were planning a new round of talks in January with a “coalition of the willing” – countries including Britain, which has pledged to help Ukraine and peace talks.
The official said there was “no solution other than to keep trying” to convince Russia of a workable plan, adding that at some stage the Europeans would have to hold direct talks with Putin, as French President Emmanuel Macron has suggested.
“Russia is constantly looking for reasons not to agree to a peace deal,” Zelensky told reporters. But he said it was important for Ukraine to move forward on a plan with its partners.
He said, “The answer is simple: If Ukraine demonstrates its position, it is constructive. If Russia does not agree, it means the pressure is insufficient.” He said he would talk to Trump about putting further pressure on Russia.
Armin Laschet, a senior lawmaker from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats, on Thursday called for Berlin to be a central part of any efforts to resume contacts with Moscow.
Unresolved issues include the conditions under which Kiev would accept the withdrawal of combat forces from parts of the front line, the fate of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and the precise outline of security guarantees that the US would be willing to offer Kiev.
Zelensky has said he would be prepared to order the withdrawal of “heavy forces” from potentially demilitarized zones if Russian troops withdraw. Kiev would then retain sovereignty over the fortress belt of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, part of the old industrial powerhouse of eastern Ukraine that Moscow has tried to seize since a full-scale 2022 invasion.
Moscow still insists that its maximalist demands should form the basis of any peace talks because Putin is confident his forces can defeat Ukraine on the battlefield.
“The strategic initiative is completely in the hands of Russia’s armed forces. This means that our forces are moving along the entire front line,” the president said during his year-end marathon press conference last week.
Russian forces have kept up the pressure in recent weeks, entering the town of Hulyupol in the southern Zaporizhia region and taking control of most of the Pokrovsk stronghold in the Donetsk region. But despite the Russian command announcing its capture in November, Ukrainian counter-attacks have forced Russian troops to retreat from most of the city of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region.
According to Russian newspaper Kommersant, Putin stressed during a late-night meeting with business leaders that Moscow still sees control over the entire Donbass region as a prerequisite for any peace. He also reportedly suggested that the Zaporizhia power plant could be managed by both Russia and the US, leaving Ukraine behind.
Additional reporting by Sarah White in Paris, Laura Pittel in Berlin and Steph Chavez in New York
