Trump welcomes Zelenskyy for talks, asserts Russia and Ukraine both want peace, however elusive
“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 call was initiated by the United States, lasted more than an hour and was a “friendly, charitable and serious” meeting. Ushakov said that Trump and Putin agreed to meet again “immediately” after Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy.
Trump and Zelenskyy met at Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, where the US president spent his holiday. Zelenskyy, who arrived in Miami in the morning, said that the two planned to discuss security and economic agreements at their meeting in the afternoon. He said he would raise “territorial issues” as Moscow and Kiev maintain fierce disagreements over the fate of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.In 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.
Ukrainian officials said the attack came a day after Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital with ballistic missiles and drones on Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding 27, a day before scheduled talks between Ukrainian and U.S. leaders. Explosions occurred throughout Kiev as the attack started early in the morning and continued for hours.
Zelenskyy said he spoke to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the phone before his meeting with Trump on Sunday and informed him “about the situation at the front and the consequences of Russian attacks.” She posted on X: “Thanks Keir for the constant coordination!” Zelenskyy’s office said he would speak to his allies by phone after his meeting with Trump.
At Truth Social, Trump said he and Zelenskyy would meet in Mar-a-Lago’s main dining room and news media would be allowed inside.
During a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Saturday, Zelenskyy said the key to peace was “pressure on Russia and adequate, strong support for Ukraine.” To that end, Carney announced more economic aid from his government to help rebuild Ukraine.
Condemning the “barbarism” of Russia’s latest attacks on Kiev, Carney stated that both Zelenskyy and Trump created the necessary conditions for a “just and lasting peace” at a critical moment.
“Ukraine is ready to do whatever it takes to stop this war,” Zelenskyy said on Saturday. he said. “We need to be strong at the negotiation table”
In response to the attacks, he wrote: “We want peace, and Russia is showing its desire to continue the war. If the whole world – Europe and America – is on our side, we will stand together” Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Sitting face to face, Trump and Zelenskyy underlined 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”; That echoed the number and optimism cited by U.S. officials when Trump’s chief negotiators met with Zelenskyy in Berlin earlier this month.
In recent talks, the United States agreed to offer Ukraine some security guarantees similar to those offered to other NATO members. 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.
‘Intensive’ weeks ahead
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.”
For much of his first year back in office, the US president had been working to end the war in Ukraine; He publicly acknowledged the difficulty of ending the conflict, while showing his anger at both Zelenskyy and Putin. Long gone are the days when he boasted that he could resolve the conflict in a day as a candidate in 2024.
After hosting Zelenskyy at the White House in October, Trump demanded that both Russia and Ukraine stop fighting and “stand the battle line,” implying that Moscow should be able to keep territory it seized from Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said last week that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s eastern industrial region as part of a plan to end the war if Russia also withdraws and the region becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international powers.
The Kremlin is already in contact with the United States, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
“An agreement was reached to continue the dialogue,” he said.
Putin wants Russia’s gains preserved and more
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 guard would remain in parts of Donetsk, one of two large areas that, along 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.
