Politics

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy are “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to reaching a deal to end the war in Ukraine. However, he noted that the situation in the disputed Donbas region is still a major unresolved issue. The two leaders held a joint news conference after their meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Sunday afternoon. They both reported progress on two key issues in the peace talks: security guarantees for Ukraine and the division of the Donbas region, which Russia aims to capture. While both leaders shared little information and did not set a deadline for a peace deal, Trump indicated that “in a few weeks” it would be clear if the negotiations to end the war would be successful. He mentioned that some “thorny issues” regarding territory still need to be addressed. Zelenskiy stated that they have reached an agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine. Trump was a bit more cautious, saying they are 95% towards such an agreement and expected European countries to “take over a big part” of that effort with support from the U.S. French President Emmanuel Macron, in a post on X after Trump and Zelenskiy’s meeting, mentioned that progress on security guarantees was made. Macron said that countries in the “Coalition of the Willing” will gather in Paris in early January to finalize their “concrete contributions.” Zelenskiy has previously expressed hopes to soften a U.S. proposal that Ukrainian forces completely withdraw from Donbas, a Russian demand that would require giving up some territory currently held by Ukrainian troops. While Moscow demands all of Donbas, Kyiv wants to maintain the current battle lines. On Sunday, both Trump and Zelenskiy confirmed that the future of the Donbas region has not yet been determined, though Trump said conversations are “moving in the right direction.” The United States, aiming for a compromise, has suggested creating a free economic zone if Ukraine withdraws from the area, but it is still uncertain how this zone would operate in reality.