"No Deadline, Focus On Ending Ukraine War": Trump During Zelensky Meet
The two leaders stood outside the Mar-a-Lago resort and addressed reporters as they prepared to discuss a new proposal to end the conflict.
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US Donald Trump welcomed Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky to his Florida estate Sunday for critical talks on ending the war with Russia. The two leaders stood outside the Mar-a-Lago resort and addressed reporters as they prepared to discuss a new proposal to end the conflict.
US President Donald Trump said Sunday that diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine war were in the "final stages".
"I think we're very, we're in the final stages of talking, and we're going to see. Otherwise, it's going to go on for a long time," said Trump, adding that he did not have a deadline for the process.
Trump said Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whom he spoke to just before his meeting with Zelensky, was "very serious" about peace. He added that there would be "a strong agreement" to guarantee Ukraine's security, one which would involve European countries.
Donald Trump said Sunday he had "productive" talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin hours before the meeting with Zelensky.
"I just had a very good and productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia," Trump announced on his Truth Social platform. The two leaders will speak again after the Florida talks.
Ahead of the meeting, Russia urged Kyiv to withdraw its troops from the eastern Donbas region to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukraine should now take the "brave decision" to pull out of the Donbas "without delay", the Kremlin's diplomatic advisor Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
Ukraine's departure from the fifth of the eastern Donetsk region in the Donbas, still under its control, is a key Russian demand for any agreement.
Ushakov, speaking after a call between President Vladimir Putin and US leader Donald Trump, said the two leaders had agreed that any temporary ceasefire in Ukraine would simply prolong the conflict.
"Russia and the United States share the same position, which is that the Ukrainian and European proposal for a temporary ceasefire (...) would only prolong the conflict and lead to a resumption of hostilities," he said.
Russia rejects any temporary halt to the fighting, arguing such a period would allow Ukraine to rearm.
Instead, it wants a final settlement addressing what it says are the root causes of the conflict.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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