US President Donald Trump has said peace negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war are “closer than ever before” following what he described as a “terrific meeting” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. However, Trump cautioned that the talks remain complex and could still collapse, allowing the conflict to drag on for years.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Trump said discussions had covered “just about every subject” and that “a lot of progress” had been made toward ending the war that began in February 2022 and has claimed tens of thousands of lives. He added that it would become clear within weeks whether a breakthrough was possible.
Trump also revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken with him by telephone shortly before the Zelensky meeting. According to Trump, Moscow appeared “serious” about peace, despite ongoing Russian military assaults on Ukraine.
A key unresolved issue remains the future of the eastern Donbas region. Trump said the current US-backed plan would halt fighting along existing frontlines, establish a demilitarised zone, and defer final decisions on territorial control. Russia has long demanded territorial concessions, while Ukraine has resisted ceding land.
“It’s unresolved, but it’s getting a lot closer,” Trump said, calling Donbas “a very tough issue” that he believed could still be resolved.
Zelensky, for his part, signalled rare openness to the revised US proposal, saying the peace framework was “90 per cent agreed” and that US-Ukraine security guarantees were “100 per cent agreed.” He noted, however, that any territorial concessions would require approval from Ukrainian voters through a referendum.
Russia’s response has been far less conciliatory. The Kremlin urged Kyiv to withdraw troops from Donbas immediately and dismissed European-backed ceasefire proposals as attempts to prolong the conflict. Moscow has also reiterated its firm opposition to Ukraine joining NATO.
Despite the optimism expressed by Trump and Zelensky, continued Russian strikes and hardline positions on both sides underline how fragile the path to peace remains.
