President Donald Trump expressed skepticism toward a newly proposed 20-point peace plan from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of their scheduled meeting Sunday at Mar-a-Lago. “He doesn’t have anything until I approve it,” Trump told Politico. “We’ll see what he’s got.”Trump is optimistic about having a productive meeting with Zelensky and hopes to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin soon. “I think it’s going to go good with him,” Trump told Politico. “I think it’s going to go good with Putin.”
The president said he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin “as much as I want.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s latest proposal is a 20-point plan that would freeze the conflict along current front lines while allowing Ukraine to withdraw some troops from eastern regions, where demilitarized buffer zones could be established, according to details Zelenskyy disclosed this week.Zelenskyy recently met with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, a meeting he described as a “good conversation.”A senior U.S. official characterized the discussions as “positive and constructive” in comments to Axios, saying the administration has made more progress over the past two weeks than in the previous year of stalled diplomatic efforts.
The upcoming meeting between Zelensky and Trump is also expected to address management of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and territorial control of Donbas, the eastern region claimed by Moscow, Zelensky said.
Zelensky’s proposal also calls for Russia to withdraw its forces from part of the Donetsk region.
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On Friday, Russia accused the Ukrainian leader and his European Union backers of attempting to undermine a U.S.-brokered effort to halt the fighting.
Russian officials also signaled opposition to the plan ahead of the Florida talks. The Kremlin said foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov held telephone discussions with U.S. officials, while Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov publicly criticized Zelensky’s position.
“Our ability to make the final push and reach an agreement will depend on our own work and the political will of the other party, especially in a context where Kyiv and its sponsors — notably within the European Union, who are not in favor of an agreement — have stepped up efforts to torpedo it,” Ryabkov said on Russian TV.
He stated that the proposal created with Zelenskyy’s contribution “differently radically” from the points originally devised by U.S. and Russian officials during discussions this month.
“Without an adequate resolution of the problems at the origin of this crisis, it will be quite simply impossible to reach a definitive accord,” Ryabkov added.
Zelensky told Axios that he is open to presenting a potential peace plan in a referendum, provided that Russia agrees to a ceasefire of at least 60 days. He indicated that a 60-day ceasefire is the “minimum” time needed for his legislature to consider and approve the proposal.“I think now we are at the next level, and that’s why we need to negotiate with presidents,” he said. “We want to finish it as quickly as possible. That’s why I count on this meeting.”
Zelensky expressed hope that the meeting would capitalize on the momentum generated by previous team meetings to establish a framework for ending the war, including a timeline for its conclusion. He also said it wasn’t clear if Putin would agree to the 20-point framework.
“I have some intelligence,” Zelensky said. “But I’m at the moment when I want to believe only the words of leaders.”
In an interview with the New York Post, Trump added, “I think they want to do it now, and I think that Russia wants to do it. But every time one wants to do it, the other doesn’t. I settled eight wars, and this is the most difficult of them all. But I think we’ll get it done.”
