PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) 鈥� President Donald Trump on Sunday insisted are 鈥渃loser than ever before鈥� to a peace deal as he hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Florida resort, but he acknowledged the negotiations are complex and could still break down, leaving the war dragging on for years.
The president鈥檚 statements came after the leaders met for talks following what Trump said was an 鈥渆xcellent,鈥� two-and-a-half-hour phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine launched the war nearly four years ago. Trump insisted he believed Putin still wants peace, even as Russia launched on Ukraine while Zelenskyy flew to the United States for the latest round of negotiations.
鈥淩ussia wants to see Ukraine succeed,鈥� Trump said during a late afternoon news conference as he stood with Zelenskyy after their meeting. He repeatedly praised his counterpart as 鈥渂rave.鈥�
Trump and Zelenskyy both acknowledged thorny issues remain, including whether Russia can keep Ukrainian territory it controls, as well as security guarantees for Ukraine to ensure it’s not invaded again in the future. After their discussion, they called a wide group of European leaders, including Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and the leaders of Finland, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland.
Zelenskyy said Trump had agreed to host European leaders again, possibly at the White House, sometime in January. Trump said the meeting could be in Washington or 鈥渟omeplace.鈥�
Zelenskyy thanked Trump for his work. 鈥淯kraine is ready for peace,鈥� he said.
Trump and Putin will speak again
Trump said he’d follow the meeting with another call to Putin. Earlier Sunday, Putin鈥檚 foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said the Trump-Putin call was initiated by the U.S. side and was 鈥渇riendly, benevolent and businesslike.鈥� Ushakov said Trump and Putin agreed to speak again 鈥減romptly鈥� after Trump鈥檚 meeting with Zelenskyy.
But Ushakov added that a 鈥渂old, responsible, political decision is needed from Kyiv鈥� on the fiercely contested Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and other matters in dispute for there to be a 鈥渃omplete cessation鈥� of hostilities.
Both leaders identified deciding the future of the Donbas region as a major sticking point.
Trump said the parties were inching closer to agreement. 鈥淭hat’s a very tough issue but one that I think will get resolved,鈥� he said.
Zelenskyy said: 鈥淥ur attitude is very clear. That’s why President Trump said this is a very tough question and, of course, we have with Russia different positions on it.鈥�
Trump said, however, that he still believes Putin is 鈥渧ery serious鈥� about ending the war, even as Russia continued striking targets in Ukraine as Zelenskyy traveled to the U.S. Trump said, 鈥淚 believe Ukraine has made some very strong attacks also.鈥�
He held out the possibility that negotiations could still fall apart.
鈥淚n a few weeks, we will know one way or the other, I think,” Trump said. “We could have something where one item that you鈥檙e not thinking about is a big item, breaks it up. Look, it鈥檚 been a very difficult negotiation. Very detailed.鈥�
Trump and Zelenskyy’s sit-down underscored the apparent progress made by Trump鈥檚 top negotiators in recent weeks as the sides traded draft peace plans to end the fighting. Zelenskyy told reporters Friday that the 20-point draft proposal negotiators have discussed is 鈥渁bout 90% ready鈥� 鈥� echoing a figure, and the optimism, that U.S. officials conveyed when Trump鈥檚 chief negotiators met with this month.
During the recent talks, the U.S. agreed to offer certain similar to those offered to other members of NATO. The proposal came as Zelenskyy said he was prepared to drop his country鈥檚 bid to join the security alliance if Ukraine received NATO-like protection that would be designed to safeguard it against future Russian attacks.
鈥業ntensive鈥� weeks ahead
Zelenskyy also spoke on Christmas Day with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump鈥檚 son-in-law. The Ukrainian leader said they discussed 鈥渃ertain substantive details” and cautioned 鈥渢here is still work to be done on sensitive issues鈥� and 鈥渢he weeks ahead may also be intensive.鈥�
The U.S. president has been in Ukraine for much of his first year back in office, showing irritation with both Zelenskyy and Putin while publicly acknowledging the difficulty of ending the conflict. Gone are the days when, as a candidate in 2024, he boasted that he could resolve the fighting in a day. Indeed, on Sunday, Trump referred multiple times to the complexity of the negotiations.
After , Trump demanded that both Russia and Ukraine halt fighting and 鈥渟top at the battle line,鈥� implying that Moscow should be able to keep the territory it has seized from Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said last week that he would be from Ukraine鈥檚 eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.
Putin wants Russian gains kept, and more
Putin has publicly said he wants all the areas in four key regions that have been captured by his forces, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory. He also has insisted that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow鈥檚 forces haven鈥檛 captured. Kyiv has publicly rejected all those demands.
The Kremlin also wants Ukraine to abandon its bid to join NATO. It warned that it wouldn鈥檛 accept the deployment of any troops from members of the military alliance and would view them as a 鈥渓egitimate target.鈥�
Putin also has said Ukraine must limit the size of its army and give official status to the Russian language, demands he has made from the outset of the conflict.
Ushakov told the business daily Kommersant this month that Russian police and national guard would stay in parts of Donetsk -鈥� one of the two major areas, along with Luhansk, that make up the Donbas region 鈥� even if they become a demilitarized zone under a prospective peace plan.
Ushakov cautioned that trying to reach a compromise could take a long time. He said U.S. proposals that took into account Russian demands had been 鈥渨orsened鈥� by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.
Trump has been somewhat receptive to Putin鈥檚 demands, arguing that the Russian president can be persuaded to end the war if Kyiv agrees to cede Ukrainian land in the Donbas region and if Western powers offer economic incentives to bring Russia back into the global economy.
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Kim reported from Washington and Morton from London. Associated Press writers Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
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