Trump Indicates Peace Deal Between Ukraine, Russia Is Closer Than Ever

President Donald Trump is expected to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday as negotiations intensify around a U.S.-backed peace plan aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials confirmed. The anticipated meeting signals substantial momentum in talks that have accelerated under Trump’s leadership, Axios reported.

Trump has previously made clear that he would only meet with Zelensky if a deal was close to completion — a threshold that now appears to have been met. Zelensky confirmed the planned Sunday meeting and said the U.S. proposal is largely finalized.

He described the framework as “90%” agreed upon, while cautioning that nothing has yet been signed.

“We are not losing a single day,” Zelensky wrote on X after receiving a briefing from his chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov.

“We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level — with President Trump in the near future,” he added. “A lot can be decided before the New Year.”

The Mar-a-Lago meeting follows a weekend of high-level discussions in Florida involving Trump advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, along with senior negotiators representing both Russia and Ukraine. Those talks were part of an intensive diplomatic push that has unfolded over the past two months.

A senior U.S. official characterized the meetings with Umerov and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev as “positive and constructive.”

“We’ve gone as far as possible with the Russians and the Ukrainians,” the official said.

“We’ve made more progress in the last two weeks than the last year,” the official added. “We want to push the ball into the goal. We’re heading in the right direction.”

Negotiations did not pause for the holidays. Zelensky spoke Thursday with Witkoff and Kushner as talks continued through Christmas.

“We are truly working 24/7 to bring closer the end of this brutal Russian war against Ukraine,” Zelensky said following the call.

“I hope that today’s Christmas understandings and the ideas we discussed will prove useful,” he added.

Later that day, Witkoff and Kushner held additional meetings with Ukrainian negotiators and Russian officials. The Kremlin confirmed Friday that Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide, also spoke with U.S. counterparts.

Officials from both Washington and Kyiv say the majority of the agreement’s framework is now settled. That includes security guarantees Ukraine would receive from the United States and Europe as part of a post-war settlement.

A senior U.S. official confirmed that the Trump administration is prepared to submit a formal security guarantee to the U.S. Senate for ratification. The proposed arrangement is modeled on NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause.

“The U.S. and Europe will provide Ukraine with security guarantees,” Zelensky said earlier this week.

“If Russia invades Ukraine there will be a military response and sanctions will be reinstated,” he added.

Negotiators are still working through unresolved issues, including the future of Europe’s largest nuclear power facility in Zaporizhzhia. The most significant remaining obstacle, however, is Russia’s demand to control the entire Donbas region under any final agreement.

U.S. officials have floated a proposal that would convert areas vacated by Ukrainian forces into a demilitarized free economic zone. Zelensky has pushed back, insisting on a reciprocal withdrawal of Russian troops from current front lines.

He has also maintained that any territorial concessions would require approval through a national referendum.

According to the senior U.S. official, Russia has agreed that a ceasefire would be required to hold such a vote. Ukraine has proposed a 60-day truce, though Russia may seek a shorter pause in hostilities.

With talks now nearing the finish line, Trump’s hands-on diplomacy is once again placing him at the center of a major global peace effort — reinforcing his long-held claim that strong American leadership can end wars others allow to drag on indefinitely.