On Sunday, Dec. 28, Presidents Donald Trump and Volodomyr Zelenskyy held extensive meetings over a peace agreement for Ukraine. Much hand-wringing and narrative-spinning by Ukraine and its backers has gone on in the leadup to the event, in hopes of convincing Trump to put more “pressure” on Russia, though it remains unclear how much or how little Trump has been affected by this. Shortly before Zelenskyy’s arrival, Trump held a lengthy call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
When Trump welcomed Zelenskyy at his Mar-a-Lago estate, he was upbeat, friendly, and optimistic that a deal could be reached. “[We] got to make a deal,” the President said. “Got to get it done. Too many people dying, and I think both Presidents want to make a deal.” He later added, “It’ll either end, or it’s going to go on for a long time and millions of additional people are going to be killed, millions. And nobody wants that.”
After briefly speaking to reporters outside, the two Presidents went inside, where they sat with an extensive delegation from both sides. The American delegation included Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Susie Wiles, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, Gen. Dan Caine, Stephen Miller, and others. During the closed door talks, the two Presidents spoke with European and NATO leaders who have been involved with the handling of Zelenskyy.
Later, Trump and Zelenskyy appeared for a joint press conference, in which Trump described the meeting as “terrific,” saying he thinks “we’re getting a lot closer” to reaching a deal. Zelenskyy was similarly positive, praising the progress made by the Trump administration. “We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework,” he said. Zelenskyy claimed his 20-point peace plan was “90% agreed,” U.S.-Ukraine security guarantees were “100% agreed,” U.S.-Europe-Ukraine security guarantees were “almost agreed,” the military dimension was “100% agreed,” and the prosperity plan is “being finalized.”
Despite this rosy report, when Trump was asked about U.S. security guarantees, he said he didn’t want to give a percentage of agreement, but said progress is going “very well” except for one or two “very thorny issues.” Clearly, one of these is the proposal to establish a “free economic zone” in the Donbass, about which Trump refused to answer one way or another, only saying that it is something they’re going to have to “iron out.” That is a proposal within Zelenskyy’s 20-point plan in which Ukraine withdraws from all of the Donbass, but which mandates that Russia cannot occupy it, instead leaving it demilitarized.
