Trump and Zelenskyy project optimism about prospects for a Ukraine-Russia peace deal despite 'thorny issues'

( NBC )

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated after a face-to-face meeting Sunday that they are close to a potential peace deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine but did not announce any major breakthroughs.

During a news conference following their sit-down at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, Trump and Zelenskyy struck an optimistic tone while acknowledging that challenges remain.

“You can say 95%, but I don’t like to say percentages. I just think we’re doing very well,” Trump said. “There are one or two very thorny issues, very tough issues, but I think we’re doing very well. We made a lot of progress today.”

Zelenskyy echoed the sentiments.

"We had a really great discussion," he told reporters. "We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework."

He added that the deal as a whole was 90% agreed to, saying U.S., Europe and Ukraine security guarantees are “almost agreed.” Before the meeting, Zelenskyy had given a similar measure of progress, telling journalists in a WhatsApp chat that a 20-point peace plan they had been working on was “90% ready.”

Still, Trump said Sunday that Ukraine and Russia are “closer than ever before” to a deal.

As for a timeline to finalize a potential deal, he said the best-case scenario is in “a few weeks.”

"I think we’ll get it done," he said. "I don’t want to say when, but I think we’ll get it done."

Trump noted that he and Zelenskyy spoke with European leaders after their meeting at Mar-a-Lago.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on X that several European leaders had a "good, one-hour long call" with them.

"There was good progress, which we welcomed," von der Leyen wrote. "Europe is ready to keep working with Ukraine and our US partners to consolidate this progress."

She added that paramount to the deal would be "ironclad security guarantees from day one."

Asked by reporters what the "thorniest issues" are, Trump said it was "the land," referring to the Donbas region, which Russia has demanded Ukraine cede.

"I think the land you're talking about, some of that land has been taken. Some of that land is maybe up for grabs," he said.

One of the sticking points in the ongoing peace talks is territory, with Russia wanting to keep the Ukrainian land it has seized in the war and Ukraine refusing to give up the contested territories.

But Zelenskyy has expressed some openness to compromise in recent weeks. He told reporters last week that he would be willing to withdraw forces from the country’s eastern industrial heartland if the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces and Russia also pulls out.

The U.S. offered this month to create a “free economic zone” if Ukraine ceded the region, but Zelenskyy said at the time that there wasn’t a common understanding about the issue.

Zelenskyy said Sunday that teams will meet in the coming weeks to finalize the matters discussed at Mar-a-Lago, and that Trump will host that meeting, perhaps in Washington. Later in the news conference, Trump confirmed he would host them, "in Washington or someplace."

Sunday's meeting was the fourth between Zelenskyy and Trump this year. Talks to end Russia's war in Ukraine, which began in 2022, have been going on since shortly after Trump returned to office, with a February meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump at the White House ending in a tense confrontation.

On the campaign trail last year, Trump repeatedly said he could end the war "on day one" or perhaps even before he started his second term. He later said that those remarks were "an exaggeration" and that he said them "figuratively," "to make a point."

Trump on Sunday characterized the Russia-Ukraine war as "a very complex one," calling negotiations to end the conflict "very difficult" and "very detailed."

The Mar-a-Lago meeting comes just over a day after Russia launched a massive missile attack on Ukraine’s capital, killing at least one person and injuring at least 20 other people, according to Kyiv’s mayor.

Zelenskyy said Saturday on X that the Russian attack involved almost 500 drones and 40 missiles aimed at Kyiv.

Following a meeting Saturday with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on his way to Florida, Zelenskyy said “sufficient pressure” should be placed on Russia after this weekend’s attacks.

“Russia continues to mock our cities and people. Moscow has rejected even the proposals for a Christmas ceasefire and is increasing the ferocity of its missile and drone strikes. This is a clear signal of how they really feel about diplomacy,” he wrote on Telegram. “So far, it has not been taken seriously enough. Therefore, Ukraine needs sufficient support. And sufficient pressure needs to be put on Russia.”

Hours before his meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump said on Truth Social that he spoke with Putin on Sunday morning in what he characterized as a “good and very productive telephone call.”

Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago that his message to Putin was that the two sides “gotta make a deal. Gotta get it done. Too many people died, and I think both presidents want to make a deal.”

Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide, told reporters that Trump initiated the phone call with Putin, and that it lasted for over an hour.

Ushakov added that the two presidents spoke about a potential ceasefire, agreeing that a temporary ceasefire “will only prolong the conflict and risk a resumption of hostilities.”

Trump confirmed that Russia had not agreed to a ceasefire, telling reporters Sunday that it was "one of the points we're working on right now," and that Putin felt "strongly" about it.

"He feels that, look, you know, they're fighting, and to stop, and that if they have to start again, which is a possibility, he doesn't want to be in that position. I understand that position," Trump said.

Trump also said that Russia would help with reconstructing Ukraine as part of a peace deal.

“They’re going to be helping. Russia is going to be helping. Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed,” he said. “President Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy, electricity and other things at very low prices.”

Trump added that he plans to speak with Putin again after Sunday's meeting with Zelenskyy.

In a WhatsApp chat with journalists Friday, Zelenskyy outlined his agenda for the Mar-a-Lago meeting, which he said would include discussing security guarantees he hopes the U.S. can promise Ukraine to dissuade Russia from ever invading again.

“We want to discuss several nuances regarding security guarantees,” Zelenskyy said, adding that there are already “several” drafted agreements for security guarantees in place among Ukraine, the U.S. and European allies.

“Changes are being made daily to all these documents by our negotiating teams,” he added.

Zelenskyy told reporters Saturday in a new WhatsApp chat that any negotiations over security guarantees depend on Trump’s buy-in.

“This primarily depends on President Trump. The question is what security guarantees President Trump is ready to provide to Ukraine,” he said.

On Sunday, as he was greeting Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago, Trump told reporters, “There will be a security agreement.”

“It’ll be a strong agreement. The European nations are very much involved, and they’ll be very much involved in protection, etc., but the European nations have been really great. They’re very much in line with this meeting and getting a deal done,” he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday night said that European leaders were making headway on security guarantees, adding that the so-called Coalition of the Willing — a group of nations prepared to offer security guarantees for Ukraine — will meet in Paris early next month to finalize their proposed contributions.

A Trump ally, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., expressed skepticism last week that Russia would accept a peace deal with robust security guarantees for Ukraine, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” “We keep engaging Russia, we keep trying to lure Putin to the peace table, and he rebuffs all of our efforts.”

U.S. officials met separately with Russian envoys and Ukrainian and European officials in Florida for peace talks this month. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff summarized the gatherings with Ukrainian officials in a post on X as “a series of productive and constructive meetings.”

“Ukraine remains fully committed to achieving a just and sustainable peace,” he added.

In a separate post, Witkoff characterized meetings with Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev as “productive and constructive.”

Putin has promised to continue his military campaign in Ukraine if peace talks fail, and he told NBC News at a media event this month that “the ball is entirely in the court” of Ukraine and its Western allies in peace talks.

He also blamed Ukraine for starting the war, which began when Russia invaded it nearly four years ago. “We do not consider ourselves responsible for the loss of life, because it was not us who started this war,” he told reporters.

On Saturday, Putin continued his attacks on Ukrainian leadership, saying as he was visiting a military outpost, “The ringleaders of the Kyiv regime are in no hurry today to solve this conflict peacefully.”

Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Putin in Moscow this month for a five-hour meeting that yielded no compromise.

That came weeks after the Trump administration set off a firestorm by revealing a proposed peace plan that Ukrainian leaders, European allies and U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle criticized, saying it was too favorable to Russia.

Trump and Zelenskyy have met several times in the past year, most notably in February, when a televised meeting between the two leaders and Vice President JD Vance devolved into a shouting match.

Trump then met with Putin in Alaska in August.

Trump said on Truth Social in late November that he would be open to meeting with Zelenskyy or Putin, “ONLY when the deal to end this War is FINAL or, in its final stages.”