West Palm Beach, Florida — President Donald Trump will host his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday in an attempt to reach a peace deal that would end nearly four years of war that began with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The two will meet at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida, where the US president spends his vacation and has an agenda mostly filled with daily rounds of golf. Zelensky said The two plan to discuss security and economic agreements and will raise “regional issues” with Moscow and Kiev remaining Very unlike On the fate of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine.
In the days leading up to the meeting, Russia did just that It intensified its attacks In the Ukrainian capital, using missiles and drones to attack Kiev and try to increase pressure on Zelensky.
“Ukraine is ready to do whatever it takes to stop this war. We need to be strong at the negotiating table,” Zelensky wrote Saturday on Channel X.
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 – stands with us, then together we will stop.” Vladimir Putin.
In a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Saturday, Zelensky said the key to peace was “pressure on Russia and adequate and strong support for Ukraine.” To this end, Carney announced an additional C$2.5 billion (US$1.8 billion) in economic aid from his government to help Ukraine rebuild.
Condemning the “barbarism” of the recent Russian attacks on Kiev, Carney credited Zelensky and Trump with creating the conditions for a “just and lasting peace” at a crucial moment.
Trump and Zelensky sitting face-to-face also underscored the clear progress made by Trump’s top negotiators in recent weeks as the two sides traded draft peace plans and continued to craft a proposal to end the fighting. Zelensky told reporters on Friday that the 20-point draft proposal discussed by negotiators is “almost 90% ready” — a reflection of the number and optimism conveyed by US officials when Trump’s top negotiators met with Trump. Zelensky in Berlin Earlier this month.
During the recent talks, the United States agreed to make some offers Security guarantees for Ukraine Similar to those provided to other members of NATO. The proposal came as Zelensky said he was ready to abandon his country’s attempt to join the security alliance if Ukraine received NATO-like protection that would be designed to protect it from future Russian attacks.
Zelensky also spoke on Christmas Day with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. The Ukrainian leader said in a post on X that they discussed “some substantive details of the work being done” and warned in a later post that “there is still work to be done on sensitive issues” and “the coming weeks may also be intense.”
He was the American president Work to end the war In Ukraine for most of his first year in office, he showed anger at both Zelensky and Putin while publicly acknowledging the difficulty of ending the conflict. Long gone are the days when, as a candidate for the 2024 election, he boasted of his ability to resolve a fight in a single day.
after Hosting Zelensky at the White House in OctoberTrump demanded that both Russia and Ukraine stop fighting and “stand on the battle line,” implying that Moscow should be able to keep territory it seized from Ukraine.
Ahead of Sunday’s meeting, Zelensky said the main issues that remained unresolved between Ukraine and the United States include territorial issues, the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and financing of Ukraine’s post-war recovery. He said that there are also outstanding technical issues related to security guarantees and monitoring mechanisms.
Zelensky said that Ukraine has conveyed its position to the United States, adding that Trump administration officials will convey this to Russia.
Zelensky also said last week that he would do so Ready to withdraw troops From the industrial heartland of eastern Ukraine as part of a plan to end the war, if Russia also withdraws and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the Kremlin was already in contact with the United States
He added that it was agreed to continue the dialogue.
Putin has said publicly that he wants all areas in four major regions seized by his forces, as well as Crimea, which he illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory. He also insisted on Ukraine’s withdrawal from some areas in eastern Ukraine that were not controlled by Russian forces. Kyiv has publicly rejected all these demands.
The Kremlin also wants Ukraine to abandon its efforts to join NATO. It warned that it would not accept the deployment of any forces from members of the military coalition and would consider them a “legitimate target.”
Putin also said that Ukraine should limit the size of its army and give official status to the Russian language, demands he has made since the beginning of the conflict.
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told business daily Kommersant this month that Russian police and National Guard would remain in parts of Donetsk — one of the two main regions, along with Luhansk, that make up the Donbass region — even if it becomes a demilitarized zone under a potential peace plan.
Ushakov warned that trying to reach a compromise could take a long time. He said that the American proposals, which took into account Russian demands, were “exacerbated” by the amendments proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.
Trump has been somewhat receptive to Putin’s demands, explaining that the Russian president could be persuaded to end the war if Kiev agreed to cede Ukrainian territory in the Donbas region and if Western powers offered economic incentives to bring Russia back into the global economy.
___
Kim reported from Washington and Morton from London. Associated Press writers Ilya Novikov in Kiev and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.