Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy said they made substantial progress during Sunday’s meeting at Mar-a-Lago, with the Ukrainian president saying that a peace plan is 90 per cent agreed. But major obstacles remain in the way of an agreement, chief among them Vladimir Putin’s apparent unwillingness to compromise on Russia’s core demands.
Sunday’s meeting was part of a diplomatic effort led by the United States that has involved European powers as well as Ukraine and Russia. Meetings in Geneva, Berlin and Miami have revised and narrowed a 28-point peace plan drafted by US and Russian representatives to make it more acceptable to Ukraine and Europe.
The framework discussed by Trump and Zelenskiy is a 20-point plan that includes security guarantees for Ukraine, the demilitarisation of some disputed territories and funding for postwar reconstruction. But a number of important issues remain unresolved.
Zelenskiy has softened his opposition to ceding control of some territory in eastern Ukraine that Russia has failed to capture during its campaign. He supports a US proposal for such areas to become free economic zones but insists there should be no Russian military presence there.
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Among the most difficult issues is the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, which Russian took control of in 2022 but has not been able to connect to its own electricity grid. The plant is not providing electricity to Ukraine either but has to be kept operating at a low level to avoid a nuclear accident.
Trump has offered a 15-year security guarantee described as similar to Nato’s Article 5 mutual assistance pact but Zelenskiy wants it to be agreed for up to 50 years. But the details of the US commitment are unclear and Trump has suggested that European forces will play the leading role.
Russia has rejected any proposal to station Nato forces on Ukrainian territory and is seeking a moratorium on the alliance’s expansion. Trump spoke to Putin before and after his meeting with Zelenskiy but do not appear to have agreed on anything of substance.
Moscow has accused Kyiv of launching a drone attack against one of Putin’s official residences and warned that it would revise its negotiating position as a result. Ukraine has denied ordering any such attack, accusing Russia of seeking an excuse to scupper the peace talks.
Trump said that working groups from the US, Ukraine and Russia would meet in January, although it remains unclear if there will be face to face talks. The EU’s agreement this month to borrow €90 billion to fund Ukraine strengthens Kyiv’s hand in the coming negotiations but as the discussion moves on to broader questions of security architecture, it is essential that Europe should itself have a seat at the table.
