Trump cites 'progress' in peace dialogue as deal edges closer

United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday that his meeting with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky was "terrific", though he admitted there were still "thorny issues" that stood in the way of a peace deal in the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.

Few details were available after the meeting at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Florida, but the US president told a news conference afterward that "we made a lot of progress today".

Zelensky said "great achievements" had been made, adding that security guarantees were close to being agreed upon between the US, Europe and Ukraine.

"We agreed that a security guarantee is the key milestone in achieving lasting peace, and our teams will continue working on all aspects," Zelensky said after the meeting.

He said on Monday that the US has offered Ukraine "solid" security guarantees for 15 years with a possibility of an extension.

"We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework," Zelensky said, adding that about 90 percent of the peace plan had been agreed to.

Neither Trump nor Zelensky provided a deadline for completing a peace deal, though Trump said it would be clear "in a few weeks" whether negotiations to end the conflict will succeed. He said a few "thorny issues" around territory must be resolved.

"It's unresolved, but it's getting a lot closer," he said. "That's a very tough issue, but one that I think will get resolved."

Trump said that before meeting Zelensky, he had a "good and very productive" call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kremlin spokesman Yury Ushakov said Trump and Putin had a "broadly similar view" during their call that a temporary ceasefire would "prolong the conflict", and urged Ukraine to decide on the Donbas region "without delay".

Putin has said he wants to keep the areas that have been captured in four key regions, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, and has insisted that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO, warning that Russia would not accept the deployment of any NATO troops in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Ukraine should withdraw its troops from Donbas if it wanted peace, and that if Kyiv did not strike a deal then it would lose yet more territory.

European allies' meeting

After their talks, Zelensky and Trump spoke jointly by telephone with key European leaders.

Zelensky said he and European leaders could return jointly for talks with Trump in Washington next month. French President Emmanuel Macron also announced a new meeting of Kyiv's allies in early January in Paris.

In the past few weeks, competing draft peace proposals have been announced, including a 28-point plan believed to originate in Moscow and a 20-point plan from Kyiv.

"Ukraine is willing to do whatever it takes to stop this war," Zelensky posted on Saturday on X. "We need to be strong at the negotiating table."

The US recently said it would offer security guarantees to Ukraine similar to those offered to NATO members. Zelensky has said he would drop a bid by Ukraine to join the alliance if Ukraine received similar NATO-like protection.

When asked about security guarantees before the meeting, Trump responded: "There will be a security agreement. It will be a strong agreement. The European nations are very much involved in that."

On Christmas Day, Zelensky also spoke with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Zelensky said they had discussed "certain substantive details", though cautioning in a post on X that "there is still work to be done on sensitive issues" and "the weeks ahead may also be intensive".

The US delegation on Sunday included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, while Minister of Economy Oleksii Sobolev was present for the Ukrainians.

Trump said much of the progress achieved on Sunday had been made over the past month.

"This is not a one-day process deal. This is very complicated stuff," Trump said at the news conference."Russia would like to see it end, and Ukraine would like to see it end, and I think it's time to end."

Agencies contributed to this story.