United States President Donald Trump said this Sunday (28) that he was “very close” to reaching a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, shortly after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the American state of Florida.
“I think we are getting very close, maybe too close [de um acordo]” Trump said. “We’ve made a lot of progress toward ending this war,” he added.
Although he did not project a deadline, the American president said he believes there will be an agreement in “a few weeks”. “We are very close, no one thought it was possible,” he said at a press conference with journalists alongside Zelensky.
According to him, there are “one or two thorny issues”, but the countries would be “95%” close to an understanding.
Hours before receiving the Ukrainian at his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Trump said he had a “very productive” dialogue with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
“I just had a very productive telephone conversation with President Putin of Russia prior to my meeting today at 1 pm with President Zelensky of Ukraine,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network, where he often makes announcements.
Before meeting with Zelensky, the American president also said he believes that Putin is serious about trying to end the war in Ukraine and that there are bases for reaching a peace agreement.
Zelensky, in turn, thanked Trump, classified the meeting as “great” and said that the conversation brought “great progress”, without giving further details. For him, the peace plan is “90%” complete. “Our great goal is to achieve peace,” he said. According to him, a new meeting should take place in January.
During the meeting, the presidents also spoke with European leaders by telephone.
According to Trump, the participants were the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, the Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, the Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, the President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, the Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Store, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyer.
Before his meeting with Trump, Zelensky met in Canada with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who noted that negotiations to achieve a “just and lasting” peace in Ukraine are at a “crucial” moment.
The Canadian Prime Minister added that there are “the conditions and the possibility” for peace, but that to achieve it “the will” of Russia is necessary.
The peace plan drawn up by Ukraine together with the United States and European partners proposes a non-aggression pact, security guarantees for Kiev and entry into the European Union (EU) in the medium term. It also indicates that Russia and Ukraine irrevocably commit not to attack each other.
This Sunday’s meeting took place one day after a Russian attack left at least two people dead and knocked out power to a third of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. Electricity was restored on Sunday afternoon, according to Ukraine.
