Palm Beach, Florida, December 28 (ANI): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump later on Sunday at Mar-a-Lago, even as Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, came under fresh Russian missile and drone attacks, underscoring that hostilities continue alongside intensified diplomatic efforts to end the war.
The meeting, set for 1:00 p.m. ET, was announced just two days ago and aims to narrow differences in a peace framework first proposed by Trump last month, CNN reported. Ukraine has since revised the original 28-point proposal to 20 points, with US envoys working intensively to shape a plan that could be acceptable to both Kyiv and Moscow.
Trump, who has been in Palm Beach since December 20, will pause his holiday break to hold the talks. The meeting was arranged after Zelenskyy held an hour-long phone call last week with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s foreign envoy, and Jared Kushner, who is involved in finalizing the peace proposal, according to CNN.
Earlier this month, Trump indicated that talks with Zelenskyy or European leaders would only be useful if negotiations were nearing a breakthrough, signaling what US officials described as an advanced stage of discussions. American officials have said substantial progress has been made, with one US official stating that about 90 percent of the deal’s terms had been settled, a figure Zelenskyy publicly confirmed on Friday, CNN reported.
“It isn’t easy. No one is saying that it will be 100 percent right away, but nevertheless, we must bring the desired result closer with every such meeting, every such conversation,” Zelenskyy said.
The remaining unresolved issues include land concessions to end the nearly four-year war, with Russia maintaining demands that Ukraine cede the entire eastern Donbas region. Zelenskyy has said he is no longer ruling out concessions entirely and would submit the peace plan to a referendum if Russia agrees to a ceasefire, in line with Ukraine’s constitutional requirements.
US officials have floated what were described as “thought-provoking” ideas to address the impasse, including the creation of an economic free zone in eastern Ukraine, CNN reported.
Another unresolved issue is the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Zelenskyy has said Kyiv has proposed operating the facility as a joint US-Ukraine enterprise, with half of the electricity allocated to Ukraine and the remainder distributed by the United States.
Russia will not be represented at Sunday’s meeting, and it remains unclear whether Moscow is prepared to accept an immediate ceasefire. Trump has repeatedly said that both sides have acted as obstacles to peace. Speaking a day before the meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if Kyiv is unwilling to resolve the conflict peacefully, Russia would achieve all the objectives of its special military operation by military means, according to Russian state media cited by CNN.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 519 drones and 40 missiles overnight into Saturday. Zelenskyy said the continued attacks demonstrated that Russia’s actions on the battlefield contradicted its participation in talks.
US officials expressed hope that Sunday’s meeting would be productive following a week of intensive engagement between American and Ukrainian negotiators, though no specific outcome was publicly outlined, CNN reported.
Zelenskyy said he wants to finalize a framework to end the conflict, including securing concrete security guarantees from Washington to prevent further Russian aggression. US, European, and Ukrainian officials have discussed guarantees similar to NATO’s Article 5, including deterrence measures, monitoring mechanisms, and consequences for violations.
“This is the most robust set of security protocols they have ever seen. It is a very, very strong package,” a senior US official said, adding that Trump is willing to take US-backed guarantees to Congress. Another official described the proposal as the “platinum standard” of what Washington could offer.
US officials also said Russia has indicated openness to Ukraine joining the European Union as part of a peace agreement. Sunday’s meeting is not expected to include European leaders, unlike some previous engagements, CNN reported.
Trump said in an interview with Politico on Friday that he expects the meeting with Zelenskyy to “go good,” but added that the Ukrainian president “doesn’t have anything until I approve it.”
European officials said they were cautiously optimistic about the talks but acknowledged uncertainty. “There is no low-risk scenario with Trump,” a NATO official said.
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