Trump expects outcome for Russia-Ukraine talks in weeks

French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Ukrainian allies, under the umbrella of the Coalition of the Willing, will meet in Paris in early January.

The meeting aims to "finalize each country's concrete contributions" regarding security guarantees to Ukraine.

"We are making progress on the security guarantees that will be central to building a just and lasting peace," Macron said.

Earlier during a meeting with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Donald Trump asserted that there would be a "strong agreement" to provide security guarantees to Ukraine involving the participation of European countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he and Donald Trump discussed "the sequence of further actions" during their meeting in Florida on Sunday.

"We agree that security guarantees are key to achieving lasting peace, and our teams will continue to work on all aspects," Zelenskyy said in a social media statement.

"We agreed that our teams will meet next week to finalize all the issues discussed. We also agreed with President Trump that he will host Ukrainian and European leaders in Washington in January."

Zelenskyy added that he and Trump had "a meaningful conversation on all issues" during the meeting.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sent a positive signal after Donald Trump's meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida.

Von der Leyen and other European leaders held an hour-long call with Zelenskyy and Trump to discuss the meeting.

"There was good progress, which we welcomed," she said in a statement.

"Europe is ready to keep working with Ukraine and our US partners to consolidate this progress. Paramount to this effort is to have ironclad security guarantees from day one."

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was also on the call.

"The prime minister reaffirmed the United Kingdom’s unwavering support for Ukraine and its commitment to achieving a just and lasting peace," his office said in a statement.

Zelenskyy said that he could return to the US with European leaders for more talks with Trump in January.

US President Donald Trump said he had "no problem with traveling to Ukraine" in order to advance peace negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow. 

"I’ve offered to go and speak to their parliament, and you know, if that would help, I don’t know that would help … but I don’t even know if that’s welcome," Trump said. 

"I'm not sure that it would be really necessary, but if it would help save 25,000 lives a month, or whatever it may be, I would certainly be willing to do that."  

In response, Zelenskyy told Trump: "You are welcome."

US President Donald Trump said the outcome of peace talks with Ukraine and Russia could be clear within weeks after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida.

"If it went really well, you know, maybe a few weeks, and if it went poorly, longer," Trump told reporters after the meeting.

He added: "In a few weeks, we will know one way or the other, I think." 

However, Trump cautioned that a few outstanding issues could still prevent a final agreement.

"We could have something where one item that you’re not thinking about is a big item, breaks it up. Look, it’s been a very difficult negotiation," he said. 

US President Donald Trump said "a lot of progress" had been made in talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday.

Trump said Ukraine and Russia were getting "closer" to agreeing on the status of the Donbas.

"We're getting a lot closer, maybe very close" to ending the conflict, he told reporters.

Zelenskyy told reporters he had a "great" meeting with Trump, who would meet with European leaders in January.

Zelenskyy also said US-Ukraine security guarantees had been "100%" agreed upon, while Trump weighed in and said they were "95%" agreed upon.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy meets US President Trump at Mar-a-Lago to discuss ending the war with Russia. Analyst Rachel Rizzo of Observer Research Foundation breaks down what's on the table and the biggest hurdles to peace.

US President Donald Trump said that diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine were close to a breakthrough.

He made the comments while meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in the southeastern US state of Florida.

"I think we're in [the] final stages of talking, and we're going to see. Otherwise it's going to go on for a long time," Trump said, adding he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was "very serious" about ending the war.

"Both presidents want to make a deal," Trump said, referring to Zelenskyy and Putin.

He stressed, however, that there was no "deadline" for the process.

Trump added that he would call Putin following his meeting with Zelenskyy after having already called the Russian president earlier on Sunday.

'Strong agreement' for Ukraine security guarantees

The US president asserted that there would be a "strong agreement" to provide security guarantees to Ukraine involving the participation of European countries.

Security guarantees have been among the major stumbling blocks in negotiations, with Kyiv demanding them as a condition to any peace deal and with Russia rejecting any stationing of troops from NATO countries in Ukraine.

Previous rounds of talks, including a meeting between Trump and Putin in Anchorage, Alaska in mid-August, have seemingly produced little measurable progress toward bringing about a cessation of hostilities.

US President Donald Trump and Russia President Vladimiar Putin "share the same view" on the current position held by Ukraine and the European Union on ending the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin's diplomatic advisor, Yuri Ushakov, said.

Ukraine and its European allies have called for a ceasefire as part of ongoing peace negotiations. Russia has rejected the idea, saying it would only allow Kyiv to regroup.

In comments to journalists on Sunday, Ushakov said that Moscow and Washington shared the same assessment on any temporary cessation of hostilities.

"Russia and the United States share the same position which is that the Ukrainian and European proposal for a temporary ceasefire (...) would only prolong the conflict and lead to a resumption of hostilities," he said.

He also said that the Kremlin considered that Ukraine needed to make a decision regarding the eastern Donbass region "without delay, taking into account the evolving situation on the frontlines."

Russia has called for Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the Donbas, which is in turn made up of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, as a condition for any peace deal. Russian forces already control the vast majority of the Luhansk region and some three-fourths of the Donetsk region.

Earlier on Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized European governments as the "main obstacle" to peace.

Russian forces have intensified their offensive in eastern Ukraine in recent days, which Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European leaders argue indicates that Moscow is not serious about peace negotiations.

US President Donald Trump held a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his meeting with Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"I just had a very good and productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia," Trump posted on Truth Social.

Zelenskyy is expected at Trump's Florida estate at 1:00 local time (19:00 CET).

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he held a conversation with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the phone ahead of his meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Zelenskyy took to X to say he "informed" Starmer on the situation on the frontline in the country's war with Russia and the consequences of Russia's large-scale strikes from the few nights.

The Ukrainian army said that only part of the southeastern town of Huliaipole in the Donetsk region was under Russian control.

This contradicts an earlier statement by Russia that the city had been taken by Moscow.

Ukraine's southern command said in a statement that the situation in the city is "very difficult," but that Russia does not have full control over the town.

According to the statement, fighting is also ongoing in Stepnohirsk in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia. Moscow also claimed to have taken control of the settlement.

Besides Huliaipole and Stepnohirsk, Russia's Defense Ministry said earlier on Sunday that its forces had taken the towns of Myrnohrad, ‌Artemivka, Rodynske and ‌Vilne in the Donetsk region.

The battlefield reports could not be independently verified.

Speaking ahead of his talks with President Donald Trump, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on his official Telegram channel that he was doing everything he could to end the war, but that in the end success depended on Kyiv's partners as well.

"These ‌are some of the ‌most ⁠active diplomatic days of the year, and much can ‍be resolved before the ​New ​Year, and we are doing everything for this, but whether there will be decisions depends on the partners," he ‍wrote.

Zelenskyy added that allies needed to put even more pressure on Moscow, "so ‌that ‌the Russians feel the consequences of their own aggression".

The major topic of discussion between Trump and Zelenskyy will be the latter's 20-point ceasefire plan. Working off of an original 28-point list drawn up by the Trump administration, Zelenskyy hopes his version will provide a framework for a future truce with Russia.

Here are some of the main points:

• Ukraine’s sovereignty will be reaffirmed.
• There will be a condition of absolute non-aggression between Ukraine and Russia.
• Ukraine will maintain its military at its present strength of 800,000 — the original proposal by Trump called for Kyiv to reduce the size of its armed forces.
• Ukraine will continue on the path to EU membership.
• The US and NATO will provide security guarantees for Ukraine.
• Ukraine will receive aid to rebuild the areas destroyed by Russian shelling.
• The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will be administered by the US and Ukraine, not Moscow.
• Territorial changes will be halted at current battle lines — this is a major sticking point, with Russia insisting that Ukraine cede all of Donbas.
• All prisoners of war will be exchanged.
• Russia will not restrict Ukrainian access to the Dnipro river.

The plan also calls for elections in Ukraine as soon as the war is over. Elections had been due in 2024, but were suspended due to the ongoing conflict.

Ukraine's largest private energy provider says power has been restored to more than one million households in and around Kyiv.

The statement comes a day after Russian missile and drone strikes forced emergency outages across the region.

The attack early Saturday killed two people and knocked out electricity in large parts of the capital and surrounding areas.

DTEK reports 748,000 homes in Kyiv and 347,000 outside the city now have power again.