Zelenskyy to hold talks with Trump on Sunday on ending Ukraine war
by Yuliia Dysa · Japan TodayKYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will discuss territorial issues, the main stumbling block in talks to end the war, with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday, as a 20-point peace framework and a security guarantee deal near completion.
Announcing the meeting, Zelenskyy said "a lot can be decided before the New Year," as Washington drives efforts to end Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine, Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.
"As for the sensitive issues: We will discuss both Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. We will certainly discuss other issues as well," he told reporters in a WhatsApp chat.
Zelenskyy hopes to talk Trump off a U.S. proposal that would see Ukrainian forces withdraw from the Donbas altogether. If he is not able to push the U.S. to a "strong" position on the issue of territorial concessions, Axios cited him as saying in separate comments, he is open to putting the Washington-led "20-point" peace plan to a referendum - as long as Russia agrees to a 60-day ceasefire to allow Ukraine to prepare for and hold such a vote.
Moscow wants Ukraine to withdraw from the parts of the eastern Donetsk region that Russian troops have failed to occupy during almost four years of war, as it seeks full control of the Donbas, comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Kyiv wants fighting to be halted at current battle lines.
The U.S., seeking a compromise, proposed a free economic zone if Ukraine leaves the area. The proposal gave no details on how the zone would function.
Territorial issues remain a hurdle to negotiations moving forward. Any compromises on territory should be decided by the Ukrainian people in a potential referendum, Zelenskiy said.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's biggest, is located on the front line and is controlled by Russian forces.
Zelenskyy said in his statement on WhatsApp that his meeting with Trump aimed to "refine things" in the drafts and to discuss potential deals on Ukraine's economy.
He added that he was not ready to say if any deal would be signed during his visit, but Ukraine was open to it.
A security guarantee agreement between Ukraine and the U.S. was "almost ready" and the 20-point plan draft was 90% complete, Zelenskyy said.
Wary of failed guarantees from allies in the past, Ukraine is seeking robust and legally binding deals to prevent further Russian aggression.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Zelenskyy's statements.
Trump, who has at times expressed frustration with the slow pace of progress in the negotiations, previously suggested that he would meet with Zelenskyy if he felt that a major diplomatic advance was possible.
European leaders might join the talks online, according to Zelenskyy. On Friday, he discussed "significant progress" in the peace efforts with Finland's President Alexander Stubb.
RUSSIAN DEMANDS
Moscow has not indicated which peace plan proposals it would be willing to accept.
Putin's foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, spoke with members of the Trump administration after Moscow received U.S. proposals about a possible peace deal, the Kremlin said on Friday.
Asked how Moscow viewed the documents, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not want to comment as Russia felt making remarks in public could undermine the negotiations.
Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported that Putin told some of Russia's top businessmen that he might be open to swapping some territory controlled by Russian forces elsewhere in Ukraine, but that in exchange he wanted the whole of the Donbas.
Even as the talks proceeded, Russia continued hammering Ukraine's energy infrastructure and stepped up attacks on the southern region of Odesa, the site of Ukraine's main seaports. On Friday, a Russian attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv killed two people.
Zelenskyy said he planned to raise with Trump the issue of placing additional pressure on Russia.
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