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US President Donald Trump said a breakthrough to end the war in Ukraine was “getting a lot closer” after meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida, but his Ukrainian counterpart warned that longer-term security guarantees would be needed to deter Russia.
Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Trump said he had an “excellent” discussion with Zelenskyy on Sunday that “made a lot of progress” towards ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But in a WhatsApp chat with reporters as he returned to Europe on Monday, Zelenskyy said a US security guarantee currently under discussion would expire after 15 years, a duration the Ukrainian president said would be too short.
“I told [Trump] we would really like to consider the possibility of a 30, 40, 50 years [guarantee]” Zelenskyy said, adding that Trump “said he would think about it”.
Sunday’s meeting, which came a day after a major missile and drone attack by Russia on Kyiv, was the culmination of intense diplomacy to halt the biggest land war in Europe in eight decades.
While Trump and Zelenskyy praised each other at a press conference after their discussions, they yielded little tangible progress.
Zelenskyy said he and Trump discussed “all aspects” of a 20-point peace plan and that they were “90 per cent” of the way towards reaching a deal.
The Ukrainian president added that the military aspects of the proposal were “100 per cent agreed”, but did not provide specific details.
Both men subsequently spoke to European leaders, including UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Trump added.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen “welcomed” the “good progress” made during talks.
“Europe is ready to keep working with Ukraine and our US partners to consolidate this progress,” she said, adding that “paramount to this effort is to have ironclad security guarantees from day one”.
The US president said he had held a “good and very productive” telephone call lasting more than two hours with Russian President Vladimir Putin prior to his meeting with Zelenskyy.
Following the Ukraine-US meeting, Trump lauded Putin, saying the Russian president “wants to see Ukraine succeed”.
Trump cautioned that there were still “thorny” issues remaining in reaching a peace agreement, saying “the word agreed is too strong, but we are getting closer”. He specifically cited disagreements over “land”, an allusion to the deep schism between Moscow and Kyiv over possible territorial concessions.
Putin has stuck to his maximalist demands, including that Ukraine unilaterally withdraw from the remaining part of the eastern Donbas region still under Kyiv’s control. Trump’s original plan — drawn up with Russia’s help — called for that area to be recognised officially as Russian territory — something that Zelenskyy has described as a red line.
Trump said on Sunday that the issue surrounding a possible “demilitarised zone”, or “economic zone” as Zelenskyy has referred to it in recent weeks, in the Donbas region remained “unresolved”.
Zelenskyy has said he would agree to pull back troops to create an economic zone if Russia’s forces did the same and the territory remained officially part of Ukraine and was monitored by an international peace force.
He agreed it was a “tough issue” and said any territorial concessions would require a referendum in Ukraine.
“Of course, our society has to choose and it has to vote, because it’s their land, not the land of one person, it’s the land of our nation,” Zelenskyy said.
Asked about what specifically the US had offered Ukraine in the way of security guarantees, a crucial element for Kyiv in agreeing to a deal, Trump said he wanted to “work with Europe”, which would “take over a big part of it”.
Trump added that Putin was open to working with Kyiv on the contentious issue of who would control Zaporizhzhia power station — Europe’s biggest nuclear plant — under a peace deal. Russian forces at present control the power plant in south-eastern Ukraine.
“We discussed it, it’s in good shape and can start up immediately. Putin is working with Ukraine to get it open,” Trump said. “That’s a big step, when he’s not bombing that plant.”
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Zelenskyy told European leaders in a telephone call on Saturday that he did not expect Russia to drop its uncompromising demands or agree to Ukraine’s proposed plan, but wanted the US to shift its focus to pressuring Russia, according to two people briefed on their call.
Russia has already indicated it will reject any amendments Ukraine proposes to Trump’s earlier 28-point plan, which was drafted in the autumn with significant input from Moscow.
Earlier on Sunday Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, claimed Kyiv was trying to evade “constructive negotiations” on a way to end the war.
Additional reporting by Laura Dubois
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