U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Sunday that negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war have reached their most advanced stage since fighting began in February 2022, with officials claiming 90% of a comprehensive peace framework has been agreed upon.
Speaking at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, both leaders expressed cautious optimism while acknowledging that several difficult issues still need resolution before any final agreement can be reached.
“We could be very close,” Trump said during a joint press conference. “There are one or two very thorny issues, very tough issues. But I think we’re doing very well. We made a lot of progress today, but really, we’ve made it over the last month.”
The meetings followed weeks of intensive negotiations involving U.S., Ukrainian, European Union and NATO officials. Zelenskyy presented a 20-point peace plan that includes security guarantees and economic arrangements, which he said addresses many of Kyiv’s demands.
“Overall, it looks quite solid at this stage,” Zelenskyy said Monday in Kyiv. “There are some things we are probably not ready for, and I’m sure there are things the Russians are not ready for either.”
The most difficult unresolved issue centers on territory, particularly the status of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Trump and Zelenskyy both acknowledged differing positions between Ukraine and Russia on territorial questions.
Zelenskyy emphasized that any final agreement would need to comply with Ukrainian law and potentially require parliamentary approval or a national referendum. “Our society, too, has to choose and decide who has to vote, because it’s their land — the land not of one person,” he said. “It’s the land of our nation for a lot of generations.”
Trump said he planned to follow the meeting with a call to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov confirmed that an earlier Trump-Putin call lasted over an hour and was “friendly, benevolent, and businesslike,” adding that both leaders agreed to speak again promptly.
However, Russia’s position remains demanding. Putin has recently signaled he is maintaining maximalist demands, including requiring Ukraine to become a neutral country, abandon plans to join NATO, and accept Russian control over annexed territories.
At a December 19 press conference, Putin dismissed European leaders and was cautious about whether negotiations with Trump would yield results. He said a solution would need to be based on an aborted 2022 peace deal negotiated in Istanbul and take into account current battlefield realities.
Despite the optimism, Trump acknowledged that negotiations could still break down. “This is not a one-day process. It’s very complicated stuff,” he said, a marked departure from his 2024 campaign promise to resolve the conflict in 24 hours.
The war has resulted in massive casualties on both sides, with Trump citing this as motivation to reach a settlement. European leaders pledged 90 billion euros to support Ukraine’s military and economic needs for the next two years.
As diplomatic efforts intensify, fighting continues on the ground, with Russia making steady advances in eastern Ukraine while Ukrainian forces conduct strikes on Russian territory and Russian-held areas.
