Zelenskyy asks Trump for 50 years of security guarantees
US President Donald Trump gestures while greeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he arrives for a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on October 17, 2025.
Tom Brenner | AFP | Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said on Monday that he asked for security guarantees for Ukraine for up to 50 years during his meeting with US President Donald Trump over the weekend.
Commenting on talks with Trump in Florida on Sunday, Zelenskyy told reporters that a meeting with Russia would be possible only after the president and European leaders agree on a framework peace agreement for Ukraine.
Comments reported by Reuters on Monday included Zelenskyy saying he wanted security guarantees for Ukraine for up to 50 years, but the current 20-point peace plan – aimed at deterring future Russian aggression – calls for guarantees for 15 years.
Zelenskyy said he plans to meet with European leaders in the coming days to discuss the proposals.
Any peace plan should be put to the Ukrainian people in a referendum, he added, noting that any vote to approve or reject the agreement should be held during a 60-day ceasefire. Zelenskyy said that “Russia does not want a ceasefire for now” after several days of heavy drone and missile attacks on Ukraine.
Ukraine’s comments followed talks with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday. Trump acknowledged that the talks were going well but that “one or two very thorny issues” remained.
“I think we’re getting a lot closer, maybe too close,” Trump told reporters after leaving the talks.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, called the talks a “really great discussion” where security guarantees were “100% accepted,” but Trump gave a slightly lower estimate when asked about that part of the offer.
When asked by a reporter what issues remained unresolved, Trump said it was about “land.”
“Some of this land was taken,” Trump said. “Some of this land can be seized, but not in the next few months, and you’d better make a deal now.”
Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede the eastern Donbas region to Russia and has so far rejected security guarantees given to Kiev. Ukraine has repeatedly rejected calls to hand over Donbas, most if not all of which is occupied by Russian forces, to Moscow.
It is unclear whether Zelenskyy would meet face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin if a peace agreement was reached in principle, as both leaders have vehemently refused to meet in the past.
When Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who was asked to comment on the US-Ukraine talks after this call, told reporters on Monday: “We do not know how it went. We cannot judge. After these talks, the two presidents, that is, the Russian President and the US President, agreed to have another phone call. Then we will receive the information.”
— CNBC’s Hugh Son contributed to this story.
