Trump and Zelensky : indicate a close agreement to stop the conflict in Ukraine

Trump and Zelensky: Following their meeting to find a way to end the four-year conflict, US President Donald Trump said they were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close,” while Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky stated a peace plan to end the war was “90 per cent” ready.

The fragility of Trump’s peace plan was shown by the enormous airstrikes that Kyiv and Russia launched on Moscow’s oil refinery and Ukraine, respectively, before to their Sunday summit.

In addition, Trump issued a warning to reporters ahead of their meeting at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida that “it’s possible it doesn’t happen (and) in a few weeks, we’ll know one way or another” about the possibilities of peace that have evaded his diplomacy.

Everyone agreed that the negotiations would carry on.

The US-Ukraine teams will meet “as early as next week to finalise all discussed matters,” according to Zelensky’s post on X, and Trump will meet with Ukrainian and European leaders in Washington next month.

Yury Ushakov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said that the United States will proceed via two working groups, one focusing on economic concerns and the other on security issues. The parameters of both groups would be finalized “most likely in early January.”

“We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework and achieved significant results,” Zelensky, who presented a 20-point peace plan, said on X after their meeting. We also spoke on the order in which to proceed.

“Our teams will continue working on all aspects, and we agreed that security guarantees are key on the path to achieving a lasting peace,” he stated.

Trump and Zelensky had a conference call with European leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.

Strong backing for Ukraine comes from US allies in Western Europe and Canada, which puts pressure on Trump.

“There was good progress, which we welcomed,” Von der Leyen said on the social media platform Bluesky.

She reiterated Zelensky’s assertion that “ironclad security guarantees” are “paramount” to a peace agreement.

Ukraine wants the US to cover it with a bilateral security pact, and it would include military assistance from Western European nations.

Ukraine’s EU membership would serve as the foundation for the assurance.

“There will be a security agreement,” Trump said, endorsing the concept of a guarantee but not the details. It will be a solid contract. The countries of Europe are heavily interested in it.

Trump had a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who initiated the conflict, for about an hour before to the meeting with Zelensky.

Regarding Putin’s stance on a peace agreement, Trump said, “I believe him,” and “He wants to see it happen.”

According to Ushakov, Putin informed Trump of “a bold and responsible political decision from Kiev” that is consistent with Russia’s stance in the talks with the United States.

Additionally, he said that Trump informed Putin that “his most formidable foreign policy challenge has been the Ukrainian crisis.”

Trump made repeated promises during his election campaign last year that he would put an end to the conflict in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. However, the conflict still rages 11 months later, despite a summit with Putin, multiple meetings with Zelensky, and months of diplomacy carried out through his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Following the collapse of the much-discussed meeting with Putin in Anchorage in August, Trump reinforced his position on Moscow slapping sanctions directly on Russian oil businesses, which are the Kremlin’s financial lifelines, after hectoring Zelensky and seeming to lean somewhat toward Russia.

One of the obstacles to a settlement is the future of Ukraine’s Donbas area, which is partly controlled by Russia, in addition to security assurances for Ukraine short of NATO membership.

Russia wants the whole region, even the areas it has not yet taken.

Zelensky has offered to make it a demiltarized zone in response to Trump’s previous pledge to cede all of it to Russia.

Putin seems determined to use military force to occupy the whole Donbas.

“It would be in the Ukrainian regime’s interest to make such a decision regarding Donbass without further delay,” Ushakov said, citing the changing frontline situation.