By Emmanuel Yashim
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that he plans to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida this weekend.
The Ukrainian newspaper Kyiv Post and US news portal Axios both cited Ukrainian sources, saying that Zelensky would likely meet Trump on Sunday at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
On Friday, Zelensky told journalists that the 20-point peace plan is now 90 per cent complete.
“Our task now is to finalize everything to 100 per cent,” he said, adding that talks with Trump could help achieve the desired outcome.
Earlier, Zelensky wrote on X that “a lot can be decided before the New Year.”
The White House has not yet confirmed the meeting.
Zelensky said this came after his lead negotiator Rustem Umerov had briefed him on the latest round of peace talks with the U.S., aimed at ending the war that Russia started nearly four years ago.
Trump, who has been pushing for a Nobel Peace Prize, wants to achieve an end to the war.
His negotiating team, consisting of special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, held intensive talks with Ukrainian officials.
Zelensky also spoke by phone with Witkoff and Kushner on Thursday.
In an interview with U.S. news website Axios, Zelensky indicated his willingness to hold a referendum on the peace plan, but only on condition that Russia agrees to a ceasefire lasting at least 60 days.
According to Axios, US officials favour a shorter period.
However, Zelensky has doubts as to whether Russia will agree to Trump’s plan.
“I have some intelligence … but I’m at the moment when I want to believe only the words of leader.”
Diplomatic activity has accelerated since U.S. President Donald Trump presented a 28-point peace plan in late November, which unsettled Kiev and its allies by echoing several Kremlin positions.
Zelensky and his partners have since worked on a revised 20-point framework, including during recent meetings in Berlin and Miami with senior Trump administration officials, while the United States has also held separate talks with Moscow.
After the peace plan had long been kept secret, Zelensky went public on Christmas Eve with a plan comprising 20 points.
The plan includes security guarantees for Ukraine that are similar to the mutual assistance clause in Article 5 of the NATO treaty.
Russian reactions to the negotiations in various places have been muted.
A main sticking point remains Moscow’s demand that it take control of Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbass region that it does not control militarily.
The Ukrainian military is defending itself there and does not want to vacate the territories.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Russian and U.S. representatives have held another telephone conversation to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, participated on behalf of the Russian presidential office, Peskov told the Russian state news agency TASS.
Earlier, special envoy Kirill Dmitriev had briefed Putin on his talks with U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner last weekend in Florida, it was reported.
Peskov did not comment on how the Russian leadership currently views the revised peace plan being discussed among United States, Ukraine and European countries.
However, he did confirm a report in the Kommersant newspaper that Putin has outlined his demands regarding Kiev during a meeting with Russian business leaders, though no details were provided.
According to the report, the Russian president reiterated Moscow’s long-standing claim to the entire Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine.
The report said Putin did not discuss the affiliation of the cities of Kramatorsk, Kostiantynivka, or Sloviansk, which form a strategically important defensive line for Ukraine.
Putin reportedly suggested that a Russian withdrawal from other Ukrainian territories could be negotiated in return.
Putin is also reported to have said that the U.S. proposed joint management of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
According to the report, the U.S. aims to use electricity from the plant for bitcoin production.
Ukraine, on the other hand, hopes to regain control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and operate it jointly with the U.S. (dpa/NAN)
