U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday (December 28) he was hopeful talks to resolve the war in Ukraine were closer after a lengthy meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Florida, Reuters reports.
"Well, thank you very much. We had a terrific meeting. We discussed a lot of things. As you know, I had an excellent phone call with President Putin that lasted for over two hours. We discussed a lot of points, and I do think we're getting a lot closer, maybe very close," Trump said. "You know we spoke to all of those great leaders. They're all great leaders. And we had a great talk with them after we were completed. We thought it was appropriate to speak with them. And our meeting was excellent. We covered, somebody would say, 95%. I don't know what percent, but we have made a lot of progress on ending that war, which is really certainly the most deadly war since World War II, probably the biggest war since World War II."
"And we discussed all the aspects of the peace framework, which includes, and we have great achievements, 20 point peace plan, 90 percent agreed, and U.S.-Ukraine security guarantees, 100 percent agreed. U.S.-Europe-Ukraine security guarantees almost agreed. Military dimension, 100 percent agreed. Prosperity plan being finalized, and we also discussed the sequencing of the following actions. And we agree that security guarantees are the key milestone in achieving lasting peace, and our teams will continue working on all aspects. We also had a joint productive call with European leaders, like President Trump said already, and a lot of leaders, including NATO and the EU. And we agreed that our teams will meet in upcoming weeks to finalize all discussed matters. And we agreed with President Trump that he will host us, and maybe in Washington, European leaders and the Ukrainian delegation, yes, in January. And Ukraine is ready for peace. And once again, we would like to thank President Trump for a warm welcome and substantial discussion. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, Mr. President," Zelensky stated.
Trump and Zelenskiy indicated at a joint press conference that there was near agreement on a U.S.-Ukraine security agreement, but Trump said a few "thorny issues" around territory must be resolved. Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the day.
