Trump Says Putin and Zelensky "Seriously" Discuss Russia-Ukraine War

JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he believed Ukrainian and Russian leaders were serious about peace when they spoke to him, in what he called the final stage of efforts to end the two countries' war.

President Trump said he had no deadline, but was embarking on an intensive effort ahead of the end of the year, as he welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Mar-a-Lago resort, Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday.

As with the previous visit of the Kyiv leader in October, Russian President Vladimir Putin also spoke by phone with President Trump, who immediately expressed renewed hope to work with Moscow, which has sought to avoid stronger pressure from Ukraine's allies in Washington and Europe.

Asked if President Putin was committed to peace despite the attack, President Trump replied: "He is very serious," AFP reported (29/12).

"I can say, I believe Ukraine has also done some very powerful attacks, and I'm not saying that negatively. I think you might have to say it," explained President Trump.

The renewed Republican president's optimistic tone comes despite widespread skepticism in Europe about President Putin's intentions, after Russia carried out another massive bombardment of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, just as President Zelensky was heading to Florida.

In a social media post before the dialogue began, President Trump wrote that his conversation with President Putin was "very productive."

After meeting with President Zelensky, President Trump said there was significant progress in efforts to end Russia's war with Ukraine.

"We have discussed, maybe it can be said 95 percent. I don't know what percentage it is, but we have made a lot of progress in ending that war, which is really the deadliest war since World War II, maybe the biggest war since World War II," he said, launching Anadolu.

President Trump said. the remaining parts of the peace plan could be agreed upon in "a few weeks" if the work goes "very well."

He said one or two "very tricky issues" remained in efforts to end the war, with one related to land seized during the conflict.

Meanwhile, President Zelensky in turn said that 90 percent of the 20-point peace plan had been agreed, the US-Ukrainian security guarantee was 100 percent agreed, and the US-European-Ukrainian security guarantee was almost agreed, noting that the military dimension was 100 percent agreed and the prosperity plan was being finalized.

"We also discussed the order of further actions, and we agreed that security guarantees are an important milestone in achieving lasting peace," said President Zelensky.

However, he acknowledged the difficult choices ahead, saying: "If this plan is going to be very difficult for our people, our people have to choose, because this is their land, not one person's."

The Kyiv leader said that after talks with President Trump and European leaders, "we agreed that our teams will meet in the coming weeks to finalize all the things that have been discussed."

He added that President Trump will host Ukrainian and European leaders in Washington in January to discuss the US plan to end the conflict that has lasted nearly four years.