Zelenskyy to meet Trump in US on Sunday: Is an end to Russia-Ukraine war close?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet his American counterpart, Donald Trump, on Sunday (December 28) in Florida, as efforts to end Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine intensify. Zelenskyy told reporters on Friday (December 26) that he could not confirm whether the talks would result in a firm agreement, but that both sides hoped to “finalise as much as we can.”

“We are not losing a single day. We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level – with President Trump in the near future,” the Ukrainian leader wrote in a post on X yesterday, adding that “a lot can be decided before the New Year”.

As Zelenskyy heads to the US, here’s what to expect.

Zelenskyy to meet Trump

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to meet Donald Trump on Sunday at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Zelenskyy said that the proposed 20-point peace plan was “90 per cent ready”.

“Our task is to make sure everything is 100 per cent ready.”

He later added: “As of today, our teams – the Ukrainian and American negotiating teams – have made significant progress.”

However, in an interview with Politico published on Friday, Trump said his Ukrainian counterpart “doesn’t have anything until I approve it”.

The US president believed the meeting with Zelenskyy this weekend would be productive. “I think it’s going to go good with him. I think it’s going to go good with [Vladimir] Putin,” Trump said.

He added that he expected to speak with the Russian president “soon, as much as I want.”

Zelenskyy’s US travel comes after the Ukrainian president spoke with Trump’s chief negotiators, special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, for an hour over the phone on Christmas Day.

He said the new round of discussions had generated “new ideas” on how to end the war, describing it as a “really good conversation”.

Later on Thursday, Witkoff and Kushner had further talks with the Ukrainian negotiators as well as Russian officials.

The Kremlin said Friday that Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin ’s top foreign policy aide, had held talks with American counterparts after Moscow received US proposals on a possible peace deal.

Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev also recently met with US envoys in Florida.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov was positive about the developments, but accused Ukraine of trying to “torpedo” talks on the US peace plan.

“I think December 25, 2025, will remain in all our memories as a milestone when we truly came close to a solution. But whether we can make the final push and reach an agreement depends on our work and the political will of the other side,” he told Russian state TV on Friday.

Even as peace talks are on, the war continues between Russia and Ukraine. Early on Saturday (December 27), several powerful explosions sounded in Kyiv as Ukraine’s air defence units were repelling the attack. Authorities said Russian drones were targeting the capital and regions in the northeast and south. The massive aerial attack on Kyiv injured at least eight people, CNN reported, citing city officials.

What will they discuss?

The high-stakes meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy indicates significant progress in peace talks. The Ukrainian president said that he would focus on the US-brokered peace plan and separate proposals for US security guarantees, reported BBC.

Zelenskyy told reporters on Friday that he would discuss several documents, including US security guarantees and a separate economic agreement, during the weekend talks.

The two sides will also deliberate on reconstruction as well as the territorial control of the Donbas region and the management of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

“This meeting is specifically intended to refine things as much as we possibly can,” Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian leader told Axios that the US offered a 15-year deal on security guarantees, subject to renewal. However, Kyiv was seeking a longer agreement with legally binding provisions to shield against further Russian aggression.

Zelenskyy said he aimed to conclude a framework to end the war during talks with Trump.

Sticking points in Ukraine peace plan

While talks continue, major sticking points remain in the US-brokered peace deal proposed between Kyiv and Moscow.

After the thorny issues stalled the talks, Kyiv has offered some concessions to bring the discussion back on track.

Ukraine’s allies previously criticised the initial 28-point peace plan, which emerged in November after talks between the US and Russia, as being too skewed in favour of Moscow.

Following weeks of discussions between Ukrainian and US officials, the current 20-point plan took shape, a slimmed version of the original proposal.

A senior Russian official, however, said the plan was “radically different” to the one Moscow was negotiating with Washington.

Ukraine is demanding security guarantees from the US and Europe as part of a peace deal that would “mirror” Nato’s Article 5, which requires all members to defend another member that has come under attack.

Zelenskyy also said Ukraine was ready to withdraw its troops from parts of the Donetsk region not currently occupied by Russian forces. But the Ukrainian leader emphasised that any pullback of troops would have to be reciprocal, with Moscow surrendering as much Ukrainian territory as that ceded by Kyiv. He also said that those pockets of the Donbas should be demilitarised.

The US has proposed that the areas from which Ukraine’s troops withdraw become a demilitarised “free economic zone.”

Russia currently controls about 75 per cent of the Donetsk region, and some 99 per cent of the neighbouring Luhansk. The regions are collectively called Donbas.

The main sticking point is Moscow’s demand that it control the entirety of the Donbas region under any deal.

On Zelensky’s potential willingness to concede territorial control for a peace deal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN that “giving up the rest of Donetsk could contribute significantly.”

The deal also proposes maintaining Ukraine’s military at 800,000 personnel, a level that Moscow wants be slashed.

If Russia does not agree to the current draft for a peace deal, Zelenskyy suggested exerting pressure on Moscow. “If Ukraine shows its position, it is constructive – and Russia, for example, does not agree, then the (existing) pressure is not enough,” he said.

He told Axios he was willing to put the 20-point plan to a referendum, given that Russia agrees to a 60-day ceasefire to allow Ukraine to prepare for and hold the vote.

With inputs from agencies