President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy depart a joint news conference at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo)
Trump-Zelenskyy meeting Highlights: Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump have both described their meeting at in Florida as “great” and “terrific”. It is Zelenskyy’s third visit to meet President Trump this year and the two leaders would try to close out a peace agreement that could potentially end the nearly four year old conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Trump and Zelenskyy are meeting at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, where the US president is spending the holidays.
Russia claims more battlefield advances: Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that he wants all the four areas which have been captured by the Russian forces along with the Crimean Peninsula which was illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognised as Russian territory. Putin also said that Kyiv must withdraw from some of the areas in eastern Ukraine which Moscow’s forces haven’t captured, though Ukraine has rejected all these demands.
Sticking points over territory: US and Ukraine have agreed on many issues and providing an update on the 20-point peace plan sponsored by the Trump administration, Zelenskyy on Friday had said that the plan was 90% finished. Zelensky says the 20-point peace plan is 90% agreed, while Trump says a security guarantee for Ukraine is “close to 95%” done.The United States, which is looking for a compromise, has proposed a free economic zone if Ukraine leaves the area.
US President Donald Trump said “a lot of progress” had been made in talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago, but a BBC snap analysis said there was little sign that the meeting changed any major points in the peace process.
Trump described the discussions as “terrific” and said the sides were “very close” to a deal. Zelenskyy said before the talks that 90% of a peace plan was complete, and after the talks he again said that 90% of the plan was agreed. Read more
Ukrainians in Kyiv are expressing doubts about whether the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will bring an end to the ongoing war.
Residents like Natalia Babych, Marharyta Chemerys, and Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Lysenko believe the meeting might only lead to a temporary ceasefire or a continuation of the war.
US President Donald Trump's comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin "wants to see Ukraine succeed" has been met with skepticism, given Russia's ongoing attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure and occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
Trump made this statement during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, citing Putin's willingness to supply energy at low prices.
However, Ukrainians have faced rolling power outages due to Russian attacks, making Trump's comment hard to accept.
President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen has welcomed the "good progress" made on the call between European leaders, US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"We had a good, one-hour-long call," she says in a post on social media platform X. "Europe is ready to keep working with Ukraine and our US partners to consolidate this progress."
We had a good, one-hour-long call with @POTUS, President @ZelenskyyUa and several European leaders to discuss their meeting today on peace negotiations.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 28, 2025
There was good progress, which we welcomed.
Europe is ready to keep working with Ukraine and our US partners to consolidate…
She adds that "ironclad security guarantees from day one" are "paramount to this effort".
US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met at Mar-a-Lago, claiming progress in peace talks but without a clear timeline for a deal.
The thorniest issue remains Ukraine's land and who controls it, with Russia yet to agree on a ceasefire for referendums. Both leaders vowed to continue talks, with their teams meeting again soon.
US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said they made progress in talks at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property, but both leaders said some important points still need more work and gave no timeline for a final deal.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday he and President Donald Trump made significant progress in talks and agreed that US and Ukrainian teams would meet next week to finalise issues aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. Read more
Vladimir Putin's special envoy Kirill Dmitriev praised President Trump's peace efforts, saying "The whole world appreciates President Trump and his team's peace efforts" on X, amidst Russia's continued attacks on Ukraine.
This comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed his 20-point peace plan with Trump in Florida, with key issues like territorial control and security guarantees still unresolved.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday he and US President Donald Trump made significant progress in talks and agreed that US and Ukrainian teams would meet next week to finalise issues aimed at ending Russia's war in Ukraine.
“We had a substantive conversation on all issues and highly value the progress that the Ukrainian and American teams have made over the past weeks,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. (Reuters)
Asked if he can see a trilateral meeting between Russia, the US and Ukraine happening, Trump says that he can "at the right time".
Putin "wants to see it happen", he says - appearing to refer to the trilateral meeting . "He told me very strongly, I believe him."
He adds that he spoke with the Russian leader for two-and-a-half hours on the phone earlier.
Apart from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's delegation, various officials from the Trump administration are present for lunch at Mar-a-Lago ahead of talks, including Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
(President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach. (AP Photo)
As the meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's delegation and US President Donald Trump's administration was about to begin at the Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Sunday, the members of the press were asked to leave the arena as Trump instructed communicators adviser Margo Martin to escort the journalists out to lunch.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked US President Donald Trump for hosting him on Sunday at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida and hoped that the talks could bring peace "as quick as possible".
.@POTUS welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Mar-a-Lago 🇺🇸🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/aRbMAiKGSF
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 28, 2025
While speaking to reporters on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said the peace talks to end the war between Russia and Ukraine are in the final stages and said, "We have the makings of a deal." Trump added that he'll be calling Putin after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Donald Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about making peace with Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived at Mar-a-Lago in Florida to meet with US President Donald Trump in Palm Beach for high stakes peace talks that could potentially end the nearly four year old war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump had earlier said that their talks would take place in Mar-a-Lago’s dining room.
The Kremlin on Sunday said that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin do not support a European-Ukrainian push for a temporary ceasefire ahead of a settlement, Reuters reported. The Kremlin added that Moscow thinks Ukraine should make a decision on Donbas.
"The main thing is that the presidents of Russia and the United States hold similar views that the option of a temporary ceasefire proposed by the Ukrainians and the Europeans under the pretext of preparing for a referendum or under other pretexts only leads to a prolongation of the conflict and is fraught with renewed hostilities," Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said.
The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office on Sunday said that both Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "welcomed ongoing diplomatic efforts and commended President Trump's continued engagement in securing peace," ahead of the scheduled meeting with US President Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Sunday.
The UK PM's office, in a statement said, the PM "reaffirmed the United Kingdom's unwavering support for Ukraine and its commitment to achieving a just and lasting peace".
US President Donald Trump has said that he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ahead of his scheduled meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and added that it was "a good and productive conversation".
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, "I just had a good and very productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia prior to my meeting, at 1:00 PM today, with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. The meeting will take place in the main dining room of Mar-a-Lago."
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