Trump and Zelenskiy say they are closing in on a peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine, with security guarantees nearly settled but the fate of the Donbas region still unresolved after talks at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
At a joint news conference, the U.S. president said the two sides were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close,” while acknowledging that Donbas remains a “very tough issue.” Both leaders offered few specifics and set no deadline, though Trump said it should be clear “in a few weeks” whether negotiations will succeed.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said an agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine has been reached. Trump was more cautious, saying the parties were “95%” there and that European countries would “take over a big part” of that effort with U.S. backing. French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X that progress had been made and said a meeting of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” would convene in Paris in early January to finalize “concrete contributions.”
The central sticking point is Donbas, where Moscow insists on full control while Kyiv wants to freeze the map along current front lines. Zelenskiy has previously said he hopes to soften a U.S. proposal for a complete Ukrainian withdrawal from Donbas — a Russian demand that would require Ukraine to give up territory it still holds. The United States has floated a free economic zone if Ukraine leaves the area, though how it would work remains unclear. “It’s unresolved, but it’s getting a lot closer,” Trump said, adding that discussions are “moving in the right direction.”
Zelenskiy said any eventual deal would need approval by Ukraine’s parliament or a referendum. Trump said he would be willing to address parliament if that would help secure the agreement.
The summit followed a call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that the U.S. president described as “productive” and a Russian aide called “friendly.” In Moscow, foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin told Trump a 60-day cease-fire proposed by the European Union and Ukraine would only prolong the war. Ushakov added that Ukraine needs to decide on Donbas “without further delay.”
Trump said the Russian leader pledged to help rebuild Ukraine, including by supplying cheap energy. “Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed,” he said. “It sounds a little strange.” Trump said he would call Putin again after meeting Zelenskiy. Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy, posted on X that “the whole world appreciates President Trump and his team’s peace efforts.”
Negotiators have also discussed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, with U.S. proposals for shared control, Trump said. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that power line repairs had begun after a local cease-fire. Trump said progress had been made on the plant’s future and that it could “start up almost immediately,” calling it “a big step” that Russia had not struck the facility.
Russia controls all of Crimea, annexed in 2014, and since its full-scale invasion nearly four years ago has taken roughly 12% of Ukrainian territory, including about 90% of Donbas, 75% of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and smaller parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to Russian estimates. A day before Zelenskiy’s arrival in Florida, Russia launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Kyiv and other regions, knocking out power and heat in parts of the capital. Putin said after the strikes that Russia would continue fighting if Kyiv did not seek a quick peace.
European leaders joined at least part of the Florida meeting by phone. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Europe is ready to keep working with Ukraine and U.S. partners and called ironclad guarantees “paramount.” A spokesman for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said European leaders stressed robust security guarantees and the urgency of ending the war “as soon as possible.”
Despite public signals of momentum, both leaders left the most contentious issues open — and the timeline uncertain — with Trump saying the world should know within weeks whether the talks can deliver.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
