Trump held talks with Zelensky in the United States. The main thing

On Sunday, December 28, US President Donald Trump held talks with Vladimir Zelensky to discuss issues related to the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. The meeting took place in the main dining room of the Mar-a-Lago residence of the American leader in Florida. After a short interview for journalists, Trump and Zelensky began the closed part of the talks, which lasted about two hours. The main statements from the meeting are in the Izvestia article.

Statements after negotiations

About the settlement

After the talks, Donald Trump said that the negotiations had gone well, and the parties had come very close to resolving the conflict. According to him, the issue of providing Ukraine with security guarantees has been resolved by 95%.

"But I don't like to give percentage estimates, I just think we're progressing very well. We may be very close. There are still one or two very pressing, very difficult issues, but I think we are doing very well," Trump said.

Among the unresolved issues is the territorial issue.

Donald Trump urged to hurry up with a deal on Ukraine, saying that further losses of territories could occur in the coming months.

"Some of these territories have already been taken. Some of these territories may still be accessible, but they may be taken over in the next few months," he said.

Volodymyr Zelensky added that the Ukrainian position on territorial concessions still differs from the Russian one: "We must respect our law and our people, the territories that we control. Our position is clear, as President Trump said, this is a very difficult issue. Of course, Russia and I have different positions on this issue."

In general, according to Zelensky, the peace plan is 90% agreed.

"We discussed a lot of things, and I think we're getting closer, probably even very close (to a settlement in Ukraine)," Trump said.

The US president added that he plans to communicate frequently with Zelensky in the coming weeks, the next meeting will be held on December 29.

About the conversation with European leaders

Donald Trump also spoke about the call to the heads of European countries: "They are all great leaders, and we had a great conversation with them. After we finished, we decided it was appropriate to talk to them, and our meeting went great."

Volodymyr Zelensky added that Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with the Ukrainian delegation and European leaders in January.

"We have agreed that our teams will meet in the coming weeks to finalize all the issues discussed. We have agreed with President Trump that he will receive us, possibly in Washington, as well as European leaders and the Ukrainian delegation in January," he said.

As it became known later, after the talks, Trump and Zelensky had a telephone conversation with European leaders. The videoconference was attended by the Presidents of Finland, France and Poland (Alexander Stubb, Emmanuel Macron and Karol Nawrocki), the heads of Government of Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Norway (Keir Starmer, Friedrich Merz, Giorgia Meloni and Jonas Gareer), as well as the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The conversation lasted about an hour.

About the Zaporizhia NPP

The American leader admitted that Russia did not shell the Zaporizhia NPP.

"President Putin is actually working with Ukraine on its launch. <...> He wants it to be open, and he is not firing missiles at it, he is not firing anything at it. It's very dangerous for everyone, but they're working together to try to get it up and running very quickly. She's in pretty good condition," the American said.

About the referendum in Ukraine

Donald Trump said that the issue of the provisions for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine would require a referendum or a vote in parliament: "The plan will probably have to be put to a vote in parliament or a referendum. I know what they [Ukrainians] want. I saw a poll in which 91% of respondents were in favor of ending the war."

About security guarantees

Donald Trump said that Europe will assume a significant part of the security guarantees for Ukraine, and the United States will help. He also added that Russia will help in the reconstruction of Ukraine.

According to Volodymyr Zelensky, the security guarantees between the United States and Ukraine are 100% agreed.

"Security guarantees between the United States, Ukraine and Europe are almost agreed, and in the military context, they are 100% agreed," he added.

About the working group

Donald Trump also spoke about the conflict resolution working group.

"So, the working group will include Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces Dan — Ed.) Kane, Marco Rubio and several other people whom we are going to involve in the work. I think Pete Hegseth should be in this working group," he said.

Zelensky, in turn, said that the Ukrainian working group on the settlement would include Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andrei Gnatov and First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislitsa.

On trade relations with Russia

Donald Trump also pointed out that the resumption of trade relations with Russia opens up great opportunities for Washington.

"We were unable to trade in significant volumes or at all, which was very disappointing, because, as you know, trade with Russia could have brought great success. They have excellent lands, excellent minerals, and much more. And we have what they really need," the American leader said.

About the "Russian trace"

The American president said that the theory of the "Russian trace" during the American presidential elections in 2016 interfered with the interaction of the United States and Russia.

"But the "Russia, Russia, Russia" hoax, which was a terrible made-up, completely fictitious story... in fact, it prevented us from doing business with Russia. And Russia was also hindered from interacting with us. But despite this, we still get along (with Russian President Vladimir Putin — Ed.)," he said.

Statements before negotiations

About the conversation with Putin

The US president expressed his confidence in the serious attitude of the Russian leadership towards resolving the conflict in Ukraine. He also said that after the meeting with Zelensky, he intends to call Vladimir Putin again.

Donald Trump added that he called Vladimir Putin in order to reach a deal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and expressed the opinion that Russia appreciates the US mediation in the Ukrainian issue.

On conflict resolution

Donald Trump said that for him, the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine turned out to be the most difficult. He also suggested that the main outlines of the deal have already been outlined.

"I believe that we have the outlines of a deal that is good for Ukraine and good for everyone," the American leader said.

He also added that there are serious economic benefits for Ukraine: a large-scale recovery is ahead.

"The country has significant resources," Trump said.

The American leader also expressed the opinion that negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine are now in the final stages.

«<...> and we will see... either this conflict ends, or it will continue for a very long time and millions more people will be killed. No one wants this," the US president said.

He also added that he still has no deadlines on the issue of peace.

About European countries and security guarantees for Ukraine

Donald Trump noted that European countries will be very much involved in future security guarantees for Ukraine.

"Security measures and equipment will be provided, it will be a solid agreement. European countries are actively involved in this process," he said.

However, as Trump added, an agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine has not yet been determined.

"No one even knows what the security agreement will contain," Trump told reporters.

At the same time, the American leader did not specify whether it was a multilateral or bilateral agreement.

About Russian assets

Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday that a decision on the use of frozen Russian assets by Europe to rebuild Ukraine has not yet been made.

Context

On December 28, the fourth meeting in 2025 was held between Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky.

In addition to the president, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles and her deputy Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Kane and Commissioner of the Federal Procurement Service Josh Grunbaum also participated in the negotiations. US Vice President Jay Dee Vance, who participated in the very first meeting with Zelensky, which ended in an altercation, is not present at the current negotiations.

On the Ukrainian side, in addition to Volodymyr Zelensky, Secretary of the National Defense and Security Council (NSDC) Rustem Umerov, Head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Andrei Gnatov, Minister of Economy Andrei Sobolev, First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislitsa and Adviser to the Office of the President Alexander Bevz were also present.

The first meeting between Trump and Zelensky took place in February of this year and ended in a scandal, during which the guests from Kiev were declared ungrateful and kicked out. The next one took place in September, and the third one in October. At that time, Trump did not want to make a joint statement, Zelensky had to speak to the press outside the White House fence.

It is important to note that before the fourth meeting, the Financial Times, citing a source, reported that a number of members of Zelensky's team opposed his personal meeting with Donald Trump due to fears of a repeat of the February scandal in the White House.

Zelensky was not greeted by US officials upon arrival in Miami, only representatives of Ukraine.

On December 28, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump also had a telephone conversation, which, according to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, was friendly and businesslike. It lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes. The conversation was the first since October 16 and the ninth since the beginning of the year.

Trump called the conversation "good and very productive."

Yuri Ushakov noted that during the call, the Russian president agreed with the American side's proposal to continue work on resolving the Ukrainian crisis within the framework of specially created working groups. This was announced to journalists by Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. He also explained that one of them will deal with "various aspects of security issues," and the other with "economic issues."

"The parameters for the start of the functioning of these working groups will be additionally agreed in the near future, obviously at the very beginning of January," Ushakov added.

Kirill Dmitriev wrote on his social network X that supporters of the war began to panic after the phone conversation between Putin and Trump.