The outside of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago house in Palm Seashore, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Pictures
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump will meet in Florida on Sunday to forge a plan to finish the conflict in Ukraine, however face variations over main points together with territory as Russian air raids pile stress on Kyiv.
Russia hit the capital and different elements of war-torn Ukraine with tons of of missiles and drones on Saturday, knocking out energy and warmth in elements of the capital. Zelenskyy known as it Russia’s response to the U.S.-brokered peace efforts.
Zelenskyy has informed journalists that he plans to debate the destiny of japanese Ukraine’s contested Donbas area in the course of the assembly at Trump’s Florida residence, in addition to the way forward for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant and different matters.
The Ukrainian president and his delegation arrived in Florida late on Saturday, Ukraine’s Deputy International Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya stated on X.
“Good night, Florida!” Kyslytsya wrote, accompanying the submit with a photograph of an plane bearing the U.S. president’s surname on the fuselage.
Russia claims battlefield advances
Moscow has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine yield the entire Donbas, even areas nonetheless beneath Kyiv’s management, and Russian officers have objected to different elements of the most recent proposal, sparking doubts about whether or not Russian President Vladimir Putin would settle for no matter Sunday’s talks would possibly produce.
Putin stated on Saturday that Moscow would proceed waging its conflict if Kyiv didn’t search a fast peace. Russia has steadily superior on the battlefield in current weeks and months, claiming management over a number of extra settlements on Sunday.
The Ukrainian president informed Axios on Friday he nonetheless hopes to melt a U.S. proposal for Ukrainian forces to withdraw fully from the Donbas. Failing that, Zelenskyy stated your complete 20-point plan, the results of weeks of negotiations, ought to be put to a referendum vote.
Axios stated U.S. officers considered Zelenskyy’s willingness to carry a referendum as a significant step ahead and an indication that he was now not ruling out territorial concessions, though he stated Russia would wish to comply with a 60-day ceasefire to permit Ukraine to organize for and maintain such a vote.
A current ballot means that Ukrainian voters can also reject the plan.
Kyiv residents interviewed by Reuters on Sunday expressed a mixture of hope and skepticism over the talks.
“I need for this to be over – however that is what our aspect needs for,” stated Stanyslav, a 44-year-old soldier who declined to offer his final title. “We haven’t any leverage on this state of affairs.”
Zelenskyy’s in-person assembly with Trump, scheduled for 1 p.m. (1800 GMT), follows weeks of diplomatic efforts. European allies, whereas at occasions reduce out of the loop, have stepped up efforts to sketch out the contours of a post-war safety assure for Kyiv that may be supported by the USA.
Writing on X forward of talks, Zelenskyy stated that “lots will be determined earlier than the New Yr” however that peace trusted robust assist from Kyiv’s companions.
Sticking factors over territory
Kyiv and Washington have agreed on many points, and Zelenskyy stated on Friday that the 20-point plan was 90% completed. However the challenge of what territory, if any, might be ceded to Russia stays unresolved.
Whereas Moscow insists on getting the entire Donbas, Kyiv needs the map frozen at present battle strains.
The USA, in search of a compromise, has proposed a free financial zone if Ukraine leaves the realm, though it stays unclear how that zone would perform in sensible phrases.
It has additionally proposed shared management over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant, the place energy line repairs have begun after one other native ceasefire brokered by the Worldwide Atomic Power Company (IAEA), the company stated on Sunday.
Zelenskyy, whose previous conferences with Trump haven’t at all times gone easily, worries alongside together with his European allies that Trump might promote out Ukraine and go away European powers to foot the invoice for supporting a devastated nation, after Russian forces took 12 to 17 sq. km (4.6-6.6 sq. miles) of its territory per day in 2025.
Russia controls all of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and since its invasion of Ukraine practically 4 years in the past has taken management of about 12% of its territory, together with about 90% of Donbas, 75% of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson areas, and slivers of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk areas, in response to Russian estimates.
Putin stated on December 19 that he thought a peace deal ought to be primarily based on situations he set out in 2024: Ukraine withdrawing from the entire Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson areas, and Kyiv formally renouncing its goal to hitch NATO.
Ukrainian officers and European leaders view the conflict as an imperial-style land seize by Moscow and have warned that if Russia will get its manner with Ukraine, it would someday assault NATO members.
The 20-point plan was spun off from a Russian-led 28-point plan, which emerged from talks between U.S. particular envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Russian particular envoy Kirill Dmitriev, and which grew to become public in November.
Subsequent talks between Ukrainian officers and U.S. negotiators have produced the extra Kyiv-friendly 20-point plan.
European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen, who spoke with Zelenskyy together with different European leaders on Saturday, stated on X that their shared goal remained “a simply and lasting peace” that preserved Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, whereas strengthening the nation’s safety and defence capabilities.
Zelenskyy stated he would communicate with European leaders after his assembly with Trump.
