Ukraine “Is Ready For Peace”; Zelensky Thanks Trump After “Great Meeting”

Update (1730ET): Following a call with Russian president Putin and meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, at his Mar-a-Lago estate, President Trump said early Sunday that he made “a lot of progress” in talks with Ukraine and Russia, and that they were getting “closer” to settling the status of the disputed Donbas territory, but that it remained challenging.

“It’s unresolved, but it’s getting a lot closer. That’s a very tough issue, but one that I think will get resolved,” Trump told reporters in response to a question about the Donbas..

Asked if Putin was committed to peace despite the attacks, Trump said:

“He’s very serious.”

“I can say that I believe Ukraine has made some very strong attacks also, and I don’t say that negatively. I think you probably have to,” Trump said outside his estate.

Speaking next to Zelensky, who stood a step below him at the entrance in front of waiting cameras, Trump said that an emerging agreement would also be good for Ukraine.

“There will be a security agreement. It’ll be a strong agreement,” Trump said.

“And the European nations are very much involved in that. They’ll be very much involved in protection, et cetera,” he said.

Zelenskiy said the peace framework is “90% agreed” and that “US-Ukraine security guarantees” are “100% agreed”, with the military dimension also “100% agreed”.

Trump said he has offered to address Ukraine’s parliament to push the latest peace plan forward, saying “I’m not sure that it would be really necessary, but if it would help save 25,000 lives a month, or whatever it may be, I would certainly be willing to do that.”

More reaction from Zelensky:

I thank @POTUS Donald Trump for a great meeting. We had a substantive discussion on all issues, and we much appreciate the progress achieved by American and Ukrainian teams in recent weeks. Special thanks to Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for their engagement and full… pic.twitter.com/cDAC2LFl6K

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 28, 2025

Trump said a deal is “very close,” and that he and Zelensky plan to speak again over the coming weeks, with Trump also saying he could envision a trilateral meeting with Zelensky and Putin.

Zelensky later took to X to “thank @POTUS Donald Trump for a great meeting.”

“We had a substantive discussion on all issues, and we much appreciate the progress achieved by American and Ukrainian teams in recent weeks. Special thanks to Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for their engagement and full commitment, as well as to our team — first of all, to Rustem Umerov and Andrii Hnatov.

We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework and achieved significant results. We also discussed the sequence of further actions. We agreed that security guarantees are key on the path to achieving a lasting peace, and our teams will continue working on all aspects.

We agreed that our teams would meet as early as next week to finalize all discussed matters.

We also agreed with President Trump that he will host Ukrainian and European leaders in Washington, D.C., in January.

Ukraine is ready for peace.”

I thank @POTUS Donald Trump for a great meeting. We had a substantive discussion on all issues, and we much appreciate the progress achieved by American and Ukrainian teams in recent weeks. Special thanks to Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for their engagement and full… pic.twitter.com/cDAC2LFl6K

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 28, 2025

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Just ahead of President Zelensky arriving in Florida where he hopes that talks with President Trump on the US-proposed Ukraine peace plan can achieve something favorable for Ukrainians, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov once again blasted European leadership as the main obstacle to peace. Trump has at the same time noted he held a Sunday call with President Putin.

“After the change of administration in the U.S., Europe and the European Union have become the main obstacle to peace,” Lavrov told TASS. “They are making no secret of their plans to prepare for war with Russia,” he continued, and underscored that the ambitions of European politicians are “literally blinding them.”

“Not only do they not care about Ukrainians, but they also don’t seem to care about their own population,” he added.

However, he did also say that Moscow plans to continue its “engagement with American negotiators” and “address the root causes of the conflict.”

Just the day prior, starting Saturday morning,  Russia carried out one of the biggest attacks on the Ukrainian capital in months, involving powerful Kinzhal missiles along with over 500 drones. Kiev was pounded, and several buildings were on fire.

Zelensky has in the meantime been seeking as much leverage from the European corner as possible, before getting face to face with Trump. Russia demands territorial concessions, but Zelensky seems only willing to talk about a temporary freeze to the war, and not necessarily the kind of full, permanent political recognition of Russia’s hold over most of the Donbass.

Ahead of the Mar-a-Lago meeting, Zelensky commented that his capital is on fire as winter temperatures freeze:

The meeting, to be hosted by Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence at 1:00 p.m. (18:00 GMT) according to the White House, will be their first in-person encounter since October, when the U.S. president refused to grant Zelensky’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.

Zelensky said during a stopover in Canada on Saturday he hoped the talks would be “very constructive,” adding that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had shown his hand with the latest assault on the Ukrainian capital.

“This attack is again Russia’s answer [to] our peace efforts. And this really showed that Putin doesn’t want peace,” he said.

Things aren’t looking ideal for a finalized peace plan, also given that Zelensky during a Christmas Day message essentially wished for Putin’s death. 

Zelensky will push for NATO ‘Article 5-style’ security guarantees for Ukraine in his Sunday meeting with Trump:

Zelensky said the US has proposed 15-year security guarantees for Ukraine as part of the peace plan.

In his view, Ukraine needs guarantees for a longer period and added that he would consider it a major success if Trump agrees during their meeting at Mar-a-Lago this Sunday. pic.twitter.com/ZYI1oeYGY9

— KyivPost (@KyivPost) December 26, 2025

As the The Hill reviews of the message:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged in his Christmas Eve message that many Ukrainians want to see Russian President Vladimir Putin dead.

“‘May he perish,’ each of us may think to ourselves,” Zelensky said in the broadcast. “But when we turn to God, of course, we ask for something greater.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded soon after the message by blasting it as “uncultured, embittered, and coming from a seemingly unhinged person” – while further questioning whether “he’s capable of making any rational decisions.”

PUTIN UNPLUGGED.

Pay VERY close attention. pic.twitter.com/ExFH5V3NHP

— Pepe Escobar (@RealPepeEscobar) December 28, 2025

This latter reference to his decision-making ability is another card Moscow might play if the US and Ukrainian sides come out of the Florida meetings with a less than optimal peace deal. President Putin has long said that because Zelensky canceled elections, he has no legal mandate, and is thus ‘illegitimate’ and lacks authority to sign a binding peace settlement.