On the last Sunday of 2025, Volodymyr Zelenskyy travels to Donald Trump's Florida retreat, Mar-a-Lago, carrying the weight of a war now approaching four years old. Both men are hoping to turn a twenty-point draft that Kyiv calls nearly complete into a signed settlement, yet the hardest questions still sit where they have always sat: the fate of Donbas, the nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia, and who will pay to rebuild. It is a moment when diplomacy and bombardment move side by side, and the outcome will show whether a tired world can finally trade exhaustion for an agreement.
Zelenskyy and Trump Meet at Mar-a-Lago as Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks Stall Over Territory
Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv killed at least one person in the days before the meeting.
Nearly four years of war, and the hardest 10% may be what's left
Mark
Zelenskyy says the draft is about 90% ready. Why does that figure matter?
Mimi
It signals momentum. U.S. officials used the same number in Berlin earlier this month, so both sides are describing a nearly finished document before this meeting.
Luke
But it's a self-described number, not a measurement. Nobody has said what the missing 10% contains, and the source suggests it holds the hardest items: territory, the Zaporizhzhia plant, funding.
Mark
What did Ukraine actually concede?
Mimi
Zelenskyy said he'd drop the NATO bid if Ukraine got NATO-like protection, and last week offered to pull troops from the Donbas if Russia did too, under international monitoring.
Luke
Those are Ukraine's stated offers. Russia hasn't accepted either, and Ushakov said Russian police and national guard would stay in parts of Donetsk even in a demilitarized zone. That's a direct conflict with the idea.
Mark
Why would Russia escalate strikes on Kyiv now?
Mimi
The reporting says it appeared aimed at raising pressure on Zelenskyy before the meeting. At least one person was killed.
Luke
"Appeared aimed at" is interpretation. The strikes are confirmed; the motive isn't something Moscow has stated.
Mark
And Trump's position?
Mimi
He's been somewhat receptive to Putin's demands, and in October he urged both sides to stop at the battle line.
Luke
Worth noting we don't yet know what he'll say to Zelenskyy in Florida. The meeting hadn't happened when this was written.
Il Polso
- Russian missiles and drones struck Kyiv in the days before the meeting, and at least one person was killed, sharpening the sense that the talks are unfolding under fire.
- Zelenskyy and Trump sit down at Mar-a-Lago to close gaps over territory, the Zaporizhzhia plant, postwar funding, and security guarantees.
- Moscow still insists on keeping captured land and Crimea and on blocking Ukraine's NATO path, while Kyiv rejects those terms outright.
- A demilitarized zone in Donbas, monitored by international forces, has become the most watched proposal, and whether Russia accepts it may decide the next weeks.
- Zelenskyy has warned that the coming weeks will be intensive, and the trajectory now hinges on whether those weeks produce a signed deal or stall again.
On the last Sunday of 2025, Volodymyr Zelenskyy travels to Donald Trump's Florida retreat, Mar-a-Lago, carrying the weight of a war now approaching four years old. Both men are hoping to turn a twenty-point draft that Kyiv calls nearly complete into a signed settlement, yet the hardest questions still sit where they have always sat: the fate of Donbas, the nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia, and who will pay to rebuild. It is a moment when diplomacy and bombardment move side by side, and the outcome will show whether a tired world can finally trade exhaustion for an agreement.
On Sunday, December 28, 2025, Volodymyr Zelenskyy flies to Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach club where Donald Trump is spending the holidays, to try to close a peace agreement that would end nearly four years of war. The stakes are high, and the timing is grim. In the days before the meeting, Russia intensified missile and drone attacks on Kyiv, and at least one person in the capital was killed.
Zelenskyy has said he will raise security and economic arrangements, along with what he calls territorial issues, where Moscow and Kyiv remain furthest apart. Over the past weeks, Trump's negotiators and the two sides have traded drafts, and Zelenskyy says the 20-point plan is about 90 percent ready. In Berlin, the United States agreed to offer Ukraine security guarantees similar to those extended to NATO members, and Zelenskyy has said he would drop Ukraine's NATO bid in exchange for such protection. He has also been willing to pull troops from the eastern industrial heartland if Russia withdraws too and the area becomes a monitored demilitarized zone.
Russia's position has not moved. Putin wants all the territory his forces have seized in four regions, plus Crimea, recognized as Russian, and he rejects Western troops in Ukraine as legitimate targets. Kremlin officials say dialogue continues, but Putin's adviser warns that compromise could take a long time. Trump, who once promised to end the war in a day, has found it far harder than he admitted, and has at times suggested the battle line itself might serve as a stopping point. As the talks resume, the question is whether Moscow will accept a demilitarized zone in Donbas and whether the coming weeks will bring a signature or another delay.
On Sunday, December 28, 2025, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Florida, where the U.S. president is spending the holidays on a schedule mostly made up of daily rounds of golf. The purpose of the visit is to try to close a peace agreement that would end nearly four years of war, which began with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said the two would discuss security and economic agreements, and that he would raise what he called "territorial issues." That is where Moscow and Kyiv remain furthest apart, specifically over the fate of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. In the days before the meeting, Russia stepped up its attacks on Kyiv with missiles and drones, in what appeared to be an effort to add pressure on Zelenskyy. One of those strikes killed at least one person in the capital.
On Saturday, Zelenskyy posted on X that Ukraine would do whatever it takes to stop the war and needed to be strong at the negotiating table. He wrote that Ukraine wants peace while Russia shows a desire to continue fighting, and that if Europe and America stand together with Ukraine, Vladimir Putin can be stopped. The same day, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he met Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and said peace depends on pressure on Russia and strong support for Ukraine. Carney announced a further 2.5 billion Canadian dollars (about US$1.8 billion) in economic assistance to help Ukraine rebuild. He condemned the "barbarism" of the latest attacks on Kyiv and credited both Zelenskyy and Trump with creating the conditions for a just and lasting peace.
The face-to-face meeting reflects progress made in recent weeks by Trump's top negotiators, as the sides traded draft plans. Zelenskyy told reporters on Friday that the 20-point draft under discussion is about 90% ready, a figure U.S. officials also conveyed when Trump's chief negotiators met him in Berlin earlier this month. In those talks, the U.S. agreed to offer Ukraine security guarantees similar to those given to NATO members. Zelenskyy, for his part, said he was prepared to drop Ukraine's bid to join the alliance if it received NATO-like protection against future Russian attacks. On Christmas Day he spoke with special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner about "substantive details," and later cautioned that sensitive issues remain and that the weeks ahead could be intensive.
Those unresolved issues, Zelenskyy said, include territory, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and funding for postwar recovery, along with technical questions about security guarantees and monitoring mechanisms. Ukraine has given the U.S. its position, he said, and Trump administration officials will relay it to Russia. Last week he said he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland if Russia pulled back too and the area became a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.
Russia's demands have not softened. Putin has said he wants all areas in four key regions that his forces have captured, plus Crimea, annexed illegally in 2014, recognized as Russian territory. He also insists Ukraine leave some eastern areas Russian forces have not taken. Kyiv has publicly rejected all of this. The Kremlin also wants Ukraine to give up its NATO bid, and has warned that it would treat any troops from NATO members deployed in Ukraine as a "legitimate target." Putin has also demanded limits on the size of Ukraine's army and official status for the Russian language, as he has since the start of the war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Moscow had already been in contact with the U.S. and that it was agreed to continue the dialogue. Yet Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told the business daily Kommersant this month that Russian police and national guard would remain in parts of Donetsk, one of the two areas making up the Donbas along with Luhansk, even if it became a demilitarized zone. He warned that compromise could take a long time, and said U.S. proposals reflecting Russian demands had been "worsened" by changes from Ukraine and its European allies.
Trump has spent much of his first year back in office on this war, showing irritation with both leaders and admitting how hard it is, a long way from his 2024 campaign boast that he could end it in a day. After hosting Zelenskyy at the White House in October, he urged both sides to "stop at the battle line," implying Russia could keep seized territory. He has been somewhat receptive to Putin's demands, arguing Putin can be persuaded if Kyiv cedes Donbas land and the West offers economic incentives to bring Russia back into the global economy. What to watch is whether Moscow accepts a demilitarized zone in the Donbas, and whether the intensive weeks ahead produce a signed deal.
Citazioni salienti
Ukraine is willing to do whatever it takes to stop this war. We need to be strong at the negotiating table.— Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on X
It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue.— Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman
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