President Donald Trump is expected to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday as both sides push to finalize a U.S.-backed peace plan, Ukrainian officials said. The planned meeting signals significant progress in negotiations aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, Axios reported.
Trump has previously said he would only meet Zelensky if a deal was close. Zelensky confirmed he would meet Trump on Sunday.
He said the U.S. proposal was “90%” agreed upon, but stopped short of saying anything would be 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 meeting follows a weekend of talks in Florida between Trump advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and senior negotiators from both Russia and Ukraine. Those discussions were part of a series of meetings held over the past two months.
A senior U.S. official described the talks 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 continued over Christmas, as Zelensky spoke Thursday with Witkoff and Kushner.
“We are truly working 24/7 to bring closer the end of this brutal Russian war against Ukraine,” Zelensky said after the call.
“I hope that today’s Christmas understandings and the ideas we discussed will prove useful,” he added.
Later Thursday, Witkoff and Kushner held additional discussions with Ukrainian negotiators and Russian officials.
The Kremlin said Friday that Yuri Ushakov, President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide, spoke with U.S. counterparts.
Officials from both the U.S. and Ukraine said most elements of the agreement have been settled. Those include the security guarantees Ukraine would receive from the United States and Europe.
A senior U.S. official confirmed the administration is prepared to send a security guarantee to the Senate for ratification.
The document is based 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.
Zelensky said negotiations are ongoing over the future of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia.
The main remaining sticking point is Russia’s demand to control the entire Donbas region under any agreement.
U.S. officials have proposed turning areas from which Ukrainian forces would withdraw into a demilitarized free economic zone.
Zelensky has insisted on a reciprocal withdrawal of Russian forces from current lines of control.
He has also said any territorial concessions would require approval through a referendum.
According to the senior U.S. official, Russia has agreed a ceasefire would be necessary to hold such a vote. Ukraine has proposed a 60 day truce, but Russia may push for a shorter ceasefire, the official said.
