U.S. President Donald Trump will host his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Sunday (December 28, 2025) to attempt to shut out a peace settlement that might finish practically 4 years of conflict that started with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The 2 will meet at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s non-public membership in Palm Seashore, Florida, the place the U.S. president is spending the vacations and has an agenda largely crammed with each day rounds of golf.
Mr. Zelenskyy mentioned the 2 deliberate to debate safety and financial agreements, and he’ll increase “territorial points” as Moscow and Kyiv stay fiercely at odds over the destiny of the Donbas area in jap Ukraine.
Within the days earlier than the assembly, Russia has intensified its assaults on Ukraine’s capital, utilizing missiles and drones to assault Kyiv and attempt to enhance the strain on Mr. Zelenskyy.
“Ukraine is keen to do no matter it takes to cease this conflict,” Mr. Zelenskyy posted Saturday on X. “We have to be robust on the negotiating desk.”
In response to the assaults, he wrote: “We wish peace, and Russia demonstrates a want to proceed the conflict. If the entire world — Europe and America — is on our facet, collectively we’ll cease” Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Additionally Learn | Russia strikes Ukraine’s capital killing one, day earlier than Zelenskyy-Trump assembly
In a gathering with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Saturday, Zelenskyy mentioned the important thing to peace is “strain on Russia and enough, robust assist for Ukraine.” To that finish, Carney introduced $2.5 billion Canadian (US$1.8 billion) extra in financial help from his authorities to assist Ukraine rebuild.
Denouncing the “barbarism” of Russia’s newest assaults on Kyiv, Carney credited each Zelenskyy and Trump with creating the situations for a “simply and lasting peace” at a vital second.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelenskyy sitting down face-to-face, additionally underscored the obvious progress made by Mr. Trump’s high negotiators in latest weeks as the perimeters traded draft peace plans and continued to form a proposal to finish the combating. Mr. Zelenskyy informed reporters Friday that the 20-point draft proposal negotiators have mentioned is “about 90% prepared” — echoing a determine and the optimism that U.S. officers conveyed when Trump’s chief negotiators met with Mr. Zelenskyy in Berlin earlier this month.
Through the latest talks, the U.S. agreed to supply sure safety ensures to Ukraine much like these supplied to different members of NATO. The proposal got here as Mr. Zelenskyy mentioned he was ready to drop his nation’s bid to affix the safety alliance if Ukraine acquired NATO-like safety that might be designed to safeguard it towards future Russian assaults.
Mr. Zelenskyy additionally spoke on Christmas Day with U.S. particular envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law. The Ukrainian chief mentioned in a publish on X that they mentioned “sure substantive particulars of the continued work” and cautioned in a subsequent publish that “there’s nonetheless work to be completed on delicate points” and “the weeks forward may additionally be intensive.”
The U.S. president has been working to finish the conflict in Ukraine for a lot of his first 12 months again in workplace, exhibiting irritation with each Zelenskyy and Putin whereas publicly acknowledging the problem of ending the battle. Lengthy gone are the times when, as a candidate in 2024, he boasted that he might resolve the combating in a day.
After internet hosting Mr. Zelenskyy on the White Home in October, Mr. Trump demanded that each Russia and Ukraine halt combating and “cease on the battle line,” implying that Moscow ought to have the ability to preserve the territory it has seized from Ukraine.
Earlier than Sunday’s assembly, Mr. Zelenskyy mentioned the important thing points that stay unresolved between Ukraine and the U.S. embody questions surrounding territory, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant and funding for Ukraine’s postwar restoration. He mentioned there are also excellent technical issues associated to safety ensures and monitoring mechanisms.
Ukraine has conveyed its place to the U.S., Mr. Zelenskyy mentioned, including that Trump administration officers would relay that to Russia.
Mr. Zelenskyy additionally mentioned final week that he could be keen to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s jap industrial heartland as a part of a plan to finish the conflict, if Russia additionally pulls again and the realm turns into a demilitarized zone monitored by worldwide forces.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed reporters Friday that the Kremlin had already been involved with U.S.
“It was agreed upon to proceed the dialogue,” he mentioned.
Mr. Putin has publicly mentioned he needs all of the areas in 4 key areas which have been captured by his forces, in addition to the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognised as Russian territory. He additionally has insisted that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in jap Ukraine that Moscow’s forces haven’t captured. Kyiv has publicly rejected all these calls for.
The Kremlin additionally needs Ukraine to desert its bid to affix NATO. It warned that it wouldn’t settle for the deployment of any troops from members of the navy alliance and would view them as a “respectable goal.”
Mr. Putin additionally has mentioned Ukraine should restrict the scale of its military and provides official standing to the Russian language, calls for he has created from the outset of the battle.
Putin’s international affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, informed the enterprise each day Kommersant this month that Russian police and nationwide guard would keep in components of Donetsk — one of many two main areas, together with Luhansk, that make up the Donbas area — even when they turn into a demilitarized zone below a potential peace plan.
Mr. Ushakov cautioned that attempting to achieve a compromise might take a very long time. He mentioned U.S. proposals that took into consideration Russian calls for had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.
Mr. Trump has been considerably receptive to Putin’s calls for, making the case that the Russian president might be persuaded to finish the conflict if Kyiv agrees to cede Ukrainian land within the Donbas area and if Western powers provide financial incentives to deliver Russia again into the worldwide financial system.
Printed – December 28, 2025 11:15 am IST
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