Trump says progress made in Ukraine talks but ‘thorny issues’ remain

The US has offered Ukraine security guarantees for 15 years, Volodymyr Zelensky has said, during talks on a revised peace plan with Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday.

The US president said an agreement on this point was “close to 95%” done, but Ukraine’s leader has since said he would like guarantees for up to 50 years.

President Zelensky outlined territorial issues and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as the last unresolved matters, with little said on the future of Ukraine’s contested Donbas region.

Russia has previously rejected key parts of the plan, but a Kremlin spokesman agreed on Monday with Trump’s assessment that peace is closer, Russian-owned news agency Tass reported.

Addressing reporters at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort after Sunday’s meeting, Zelensky repeated his belief that an overall peace agreement was 90% of the way there, a figure he had given in the lead up to the visit.

Both the US and Ukrainian leaders also indicated that there had been progress on one key sticking point – security guarantees for Ukraine. News agency Reuters reported that he hoped any security guarantees would begin the moment Kyiv signed a peace deal.

“Without security guarantees, this war cannot be considered truly over. We cannot acknowledge that it has ended, because with such a neighbour there remains a risk of renewed aggression,” Zelensky explained, according to news agency AFP.

He added that he wanted the US to further “consider the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years”.

The US has not yet commented on the time frame. On Sunday, Trump said an agreement was close and that he expected European allies to “take over a big part” of that effort with support from the US.

For President Zelensky, two core issues now remain unresolved within the plan – the question of territories and the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant which is in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

Moscow currently controls about 75% of the Donetsk region, and some 99% of the neighbouring Luhansk. The two regions are known collectively as Donbas.

Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Trump said a deal on Donbas remained “unresolved, but it’s getting a lot closer”.

Its fate has been a major obstacle throughout negotiations, with Russia consistently unwilling to compromise on its aim to seize full control of Donbas.

On Monday, the Kremlin again said Ukraine should withdraw its troops from the part of the region that Kyiv still controls. Ukraine has insisted the area could become a free economic zone policed by its forces – but Zelensky has underlined that any talks on this should include the Ukrainian people, Reuters reported.

The US president has repeatedly changed his own position on Ukraine’s lost territories, and in September stunned observers by suggesting that Ukraine might be able to take it back. He later reversed course.

Trump has also floated the possibility of trilateral talks between the US, Russia, and Ukraine, saying it could happen “at the right time”.

While he is keen to add the Ukraine-Russia war to the list of conflicts he claims to have ended, Trump cautioned that stalled or scrapped talks that go “really badly” could mean that the war continues for even longer.

Zelensky suggested the Ukrainian officials could meet at the White House in January, potentially alongside European leaders, as the US and Ukrainian delegations finalise plans for further talks.

In a post-meeting call with European allies, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed “good progress” in the Florida talks while reinforcing the need for “ironclad security guarantees” for Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron also said Kyiv’s allies would meet in Paris next month to discuss security guarantees.

Zelensky has said that a peace plan should be put to a referendum in Ukraine, insisting that a 60-day ceasefire would be necessary for such a vote to take place.

However, Russia does not back a temporary ceasefire – an issue which reportedly came up on a call between Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ahead of Sunday’s meeting.

Yuri Ushakov, Russia’s former US ambassador, said Trump listened to the Kremlin’s assessment of the proposals and the two presidents left the call united in their belief that a temporary ceasefire proposed by the EU and Ukraine would instead prolong the conflict.

Trump – who initiated the call – acknowledged that Moscow had little interest in a ceasefire that would allow Ukraine to hold a referendum.

“I understand that position,” he added.

Little further detail was offered, although Trump said he believed the Russian leader “wants Ukraine to succeed”.

Meanwhile, strikes continued overnight in Ukraine.

Kyiv said 25 airstrikes were carried out by Russia on Sunday, 21 of which were shot down.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said 89 UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) from Ukraine were intercepted by its forces on Sunday night – the vast majority of which were over the Bryansk region.