Zelensky to meet with Trump this weekend in Florida

by · UPI

Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday he plans to travel to Florida this weekend to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump as negotiators near agreement on ending the war with Russia.

Zelensky announced plans to meet face-to-face with Trump in a post on X.

Former Defense Minister "Rustem Umerov reported on his latest contacts with the American side," Zelensky wrote. "We are not losing a single day. We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level -- with President Trump in the near future. A lot can be decided before the New York."

CNN reported that Zelensky told reporters he couldn't say whether he'd leave the meeting with a deal in place. Negotiators will "finalize as much as we can," he said.

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Unnamed Ukrainian officials confirmed to Axios the meeting would take place Sunday at Trump's private Mar-a-Lago estate.

The meeting will come one week after Russian negotiators and U.S. officials Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met in Miami to hammer out details on a peace plan. Zelensky on Wednesday unveiled a 20-point peace plan agreed upon during that meeting, which would provide strong NATO-style security concessions for Ukraine in exchange for land concessions to Russia.

A U.S. official told Axios that last weekend's talks with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev and more recent discussions with Umerov were "positive and constructive."

"We've gone as far as possible with the Russians and the Ukrainians," the official said. "We've made more progress in the last two weeks than the last year. We want to push the ball into the goal. We're heading in the right direction," the official said.

Ukrainians march through London to mark anniversary of Russian invasion

Ukrainians march together through the streets of London to the Russian Embassy to mark the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2023. Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo