Trump Welcomes Zelenskyy For Talks, Asserts Russia And Ukraine Both Want Peace, However Elusive

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that he believes both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin truly want peace, as he welcomed the “brave” Ukrainian leader to talks at his Florida resort.

“The two leaders want this to be over,” Trump said at the start of the meeting at Mar-a-Lago. Before Zelenskyy arrived, Trump spoke to Putin on the phone for more than an hour and planned to meet again soon.

Greeting Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said of him: “This gentleman has worked hard, he is very brave, and his people are very brave.”

Zelenskyy, who was next to Trump, said that he would discuss with Trump the issue of land concessions, which has been a red line for his country so far. He said his negotiators and Trump “discussed how to move forward step by step and bring peace closer” and would continue to do so at the meeting.

Russia intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s capital in the days before the meeting.

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said the Trump-Putin meeting was initiated by the United States, lasted more than an hour and was “friendly, charitable and serious.” Ushakov said that Trump and Putin agreed to meet again “immediately” after Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy.

But Ushakov added that for a “complete end” to hostilities, “Kiev must take a bold, responsible and political decision” on the fiercely contested Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and other controversial issues.

In the overnight developments, three guided aerial bombs launched by Russia hit private homes in the eastern city of Sloviansk, according to the head of the local military administration, Vadym Lakh. Three people were injured and one person died, Lakh said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

The strike took place the day after Russia Ukraine’s capital was attacked with ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles At least one person died and 27 were injured, a day earlier than planned on Saturday Talks between Ukrainian and US leadersUkrainian officials said. Explosions occurred throughout Kiev as the attack started early in the morning and continued for hours. But Trump said he believed Putin was still “very serious” about ending the war.

While standing next to Zelenskyy, Trump said to reporters, “I believe Ukraine also made very strong attacks.” “I don’t mean that in a negative way. I think you probably have to say that. I don’t mean that in a negative way. But I don’t think he told me that, but there were some explosions in various parts of Russia. It seems to me, I don’t know. I don’t think it came from the Congo.”

Trump said he would call Putin after his meeting with Zelenskyy and would also reach out to European leaders, whom he called “really great.” But he tempered his optimism about ending the conflict.

“It will either end, or it will continue for a long time and millions more people will die,” Trump said.

Sitting face to face, Trump and Zelenskyy underscored the apparent progress Trump’s top negotiators have made in recent weeks as the sides exchange views on draft peace plans and continue to shape a proposal to end the conflict. Zelenskyy told reporters on Friday that the 20-point draft proposal discussed by negotiators was “about 90% ready”; This reflected the number and optimism U.S. officials conveyed when they met with Trump’s chief negotiators. Zelenskiy in Berlin earlier this month.

In recent talks, the United States agreed to make some offers. Security guarantee for Ukraine It is similar to those offered to other members of NATO. The offer came as Zelenskyy said his country was ready to abandon its bid to join the security alliance if Ukraine received NATO-like protection that would protect it from future Russian attacks.

Zelenskyy also spoke with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner on Christmas Day. The Ukrainian leader said they were discussing “some important details” and warned that “there is still work to be done on sensitive issues” and that “the coming weeks may also be busy.”

became president of the USA working to end the war He was in Ukraine for much of his first year back in office, showing anger at both Zelenskyy and Putin while publicly acknowledging the difficulty of ending the conflict. Long gone are the days when he boasted that he could resolve the conflict in a day as a candidate in 2024.

Afterwards Welcoming Zelenskyy to the White House in OctoberTrump demanded that both Russia and Ukraine stop fighting and “stand the battle line,” implying that Moscow should be able to keep the territory it seized from Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said last week that it would happen Ready to withdraw its soldiers from the industrial region of eastern Ukraine as part of a plan to end the war if Russia also withdraws and the region becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international powers.

Putin has publicly stated that he wants all areas in four key regions captured by his forces to be recognized as Russian territory, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed in 2014. He also insisted that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow’s forces had not captured. Kyiv flatly rejected all these demands.

The Kremlin also wants Ukraine to abandon its goal of joining NATO. He warned that he would not accept the deployment of any troops from members of the military alliance and would view them as “legitimate targets”.

Putin also said Ukraine should limit the size of its army and give official status to the Russian language, which it has demanded since the beginning of the conflict.

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told the Kommersant newspaper this month that Russian police and national guards would remain in parts of Donetsk, one of the two major regions that together with Luhansk make up the Donbas region, even if they became a demilitarized zone under a possible peace plan.

Ushakov warned that trying to reach a compromise could take a long time. He said US proposals to take Russia’s demands into account were “worsened” by changes proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.

Trump was somewhat receptive to Putin’s demands, suggesting that the Russian President could be persuaded to end the war if Kiev agreed to cede Ukrainian territory in the Donbas region and Western powers offered economic incentives to bring Russia back into the global economy.

Kim reported from Washington and Morton from London. Associated Press writers Illia Novikov in Kiev, Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.