Zelensky, Trump signal near deal on ending Ukraine war

New York, Dec 29 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said a peace plan to end the war was “90 per cent” ready, while US President Donald Trump asserted they were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close”, after their meeting to find a path to ending the four-year conflict.

Their meeting on Sunday was preceded by massive air strikes by Russia on Ukraine and by Kyiv on Moscow’s oil refinery, showing how fragile Trump’s peace initiative is.

Trump also introduced a note of caution about the prospects of peace that has eluded his diplomacy, telling reporters before their meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, “It’s possible it doesn’t happen (and) in a few weeks, we’ll know one way or another”.

The negotiation would continue, all sides agreed.

Zelensky wrote on X that the US-Ukraine teams would meet “as early as next week to finalise all discussed matters” and Trump will hold a meeting with Ukrainian and European leaders in Washington next month.

A Kremlin spokesperson, Yury Ushakov said that the US would continue its through two working groups — one on security issues, and the other on economic matters – and their terms will be finalised “most likely in early January.”

Zelensky, who came with a 20-point peace proposal, said on X after their meeting, “We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework and achieved significant results. We also discussed the sequence of further actions”.

“We agreed that security guarantees are key on the path to achieving a lasting peace, and our teams will continue working on all aspects”, he wrote.

During their meeting, Trump and Zelensky held a conference call with European leaders including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain.

Ukraine receives strong support from Western European countries and Canada that are allies of the US, applying pressure on Trump.

Von der Leyen wrote on social media Bluesky, “There was good progress, which we welcomed”.

Echoing Zelensky, she emphasised that “paramount” to a peace deal is “ironclad security guarantees”.

It would include Western European countries providing military support and Ukraine wants the US to underwrite it with a bilateral security agreement.

Undergirding the guarantee would be Ukraine’s membership in the European Union.

Trump endorsed the idea of a guarantee, though not the specifics, saying, “There will be a security agreement. It will be a strong agreement. The European nations are very much involved in that”.

Before the meeting with Zelensky, Trump spoke more than an hour with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who had started the war.

“He wants to see it happen”, Trump said about Putin’s attitude to a peace deal, adding, “I believe him”.

Ushakov, said that Putin told Trump “a bold and responsible political decision from Kiev” that aligns with Russia’s position expressed in the discussions with the US.

He also said that Trump told Putin that “the Ukrainian crisis has been his most formidable foreign policy challenge”.

During his election campaign last year, Trump repeatedly said that he would end the Ukraine War within 24 hours of taking office, but 11 months later, after a summit with Putin, several meetings with Zelensky, and months of diplomacy conducted through his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, the war rages.

After hectoring Zelensky and appearing to tilt slightly to Russia, Trump hardened his stance on Moscow imposing sanctions directly on Russian oil companies, Kremlin’s financial lifelines, after the failure of the highly promoted summit with Putin in Anchorage in August.

Besides security guarantees for Ukraine short of NATO membership, the future of Ukraine’s Donbas region, partially occupied by Russia, is one of the roadblocks on the way to a deal.

Russia wants all of the region, including those it has not captured.

Trump had at one time giving all of it over to Russia, but Zelensky has countered it with an offer to make it a demiltarised zone.

Putin seemed steadfast in getting all of Donbas through military force.

Ushakov warned, “Given the evolving situation on the front lines, it would be in the Ukrainian regime’s interest to make such a decision regarding Donbass without further delay”.

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