U.S. President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at his Mar-a-Lago club on December 28, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump invited Zelensky to his private club to work on the U.S.-proposed peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, as the conflict approaches four years since the sudden full-scale invasion by Russia on February 24, 2022. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
President Trump said at the top of his Sunday meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the U.S. is “in the final stages” of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
The meeting comes at the height of Trump’s diplomatic push to reach a peace agreement that will end the war in Ukraine.
Two hours before the meeting with Zelensky, Trump spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed the U.S. peace plan.
Zelensky told Axios on Friday that he hopes to agree on a framework with Trump for ending the war during today’s meeting.
Zelensky also revealed he’s willing to bring that plan up for a referendum if Russia agrees to a ceasefire of at least 60 days.
While Zelensky emphasized that significant progress has been made, Trump’s plan still demands painful territorial concessions from Ukraine in the Donbas region, which borders Russia.
Zelensky is still hoping to improve those terms and said he’ll need to seek approval of the Ukrainian people if they can’t get to a “strong” position on territory.
Zelensky said a 60-day ceasefire is a minimum for both preparing and holding the referendum and to allow security so Ukrainians may campaign and vote without the threat of attacks. Without it, he said, the result of the vote would be illegitimate.
AXIOS
