WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the two sides are "getting a lot closer, maybe very close" to a peace deal to end the Ukraine crisis.
However, there is little sign that any major breakthrough is emerging, though Trump described the talks as "excellent" with "a lot of progresses" made.
WHAT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE?
"This is not a one-day process deal. This is very complicated stuff," Trump said at a joint press conference with Zelensky after the meeting.
"In a few weeks, we will know one way or the other, I think," Trump said. "It's been a very difficult negotiation."
"We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework," Zelensky said of his meeting with Trump at the press conference, noting that the 20-point peace plan now was "90 percent" complete -- the same figure he mentioned earlier this month.
Regarding security guarantees for Ukraine, Zelensky said the United States, Ukraine and Europe are close to 100 percent agreement on the terms.
Trump said that he does not like to say percentages, but "thinks it could be close to 95 percent" on the security issue.
"We could be very close. There are one or two very thorny issues, very tough issues, but I think we're doing very well," Trump said. Neither Trump nor Zelensky specified the issues.
Although Trump and Zelensky praised each other at the press conference, they provided few details on the progress made.
WHAT DID RELEVANT PARTIES SAY?
During the meeting, the two leaders also had a joint phone call with key European leaders, including the chiefs of NATO and the European Union.
Zelensky said Trump may meet him and European leaders in Washington in January as he and Trump "agreed that our teams will meet in upcoming weeks to finalize all discussed matters."
Just ahead of his meeting with Zelensky, Trump said he "had a good and very productive telephone call" with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday morning.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin's top foreign policy aide, said in Moscow that during the lengthy phone call, Putin and Trump agreed that a long-term peace settlement was better than the temporary ceasefire proposed by the Ukrainians and the Europeans.
Putin has agreed to a U.S. offer to create two working groups for the peace deal: one focused on security issues and the other on economic issues, Ushakov was quoted as saying in a New York Times report.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that she "welcomed" the "good progress" achieved in the talks.
"Europe is ready to keep working with Ukraine and our U.S. partners to consolidate this progress," She said, adding that "paramount to this effort is to have ironclad security guarantees from day one."
French President Emmanuel Macron declared that allies supporting Kiev would convene in Paris next month to deliberate on security assurances, which form a component of a prospective peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
"We will bring together the countries of the Coalition of the Willing in Paris in early January to finalize each one's concrete contributions," Macron said on X after speaking with Zelensky and Trump.
WHAT STALEMATES STILL NEED TO BE RESOLVED?
When welcoming Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago, Trump refused to say whether he expects a peace deal will be reached by the end of this year to end the Ukraine crisis.
The most contentious issues are widely seen to include a potential timetable for a ceasefire, the establishment of a proposed demilitarized zone, the management of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
Trump specifically cited disagreements over "land," alluding to the deep schism between Moscow and Kiev over possible territorial concessions, reported the Financial Times.
He said that the issue of a possible "demilitarized zone" -- or "economic zone" in the Donbas region as Zelensky has referred to it in recent weeks -- remains "unresolved."
Ukrainian forces would withdraw to establish an economic zone, provided Russian troops reciprocated, said Zelensky, noting that any such zone would have to remain officially Ukrainian territory under the oversight of an international peace force.
Acknowledging the sensitivity of the matter, he emphasized that any territorial concessions would necessitate approval through a national referendum.
Zelensky said Friday he was willing to put a peace plan to end the Ukraine crisis to a referendum if Russia agrees to a ceasefire of at least 60 days, according to U.S. media outlet Axios.
Putin was open to collaborating with Kiev on the contentious issue of who should control the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant -- the biggest in Europe -- as part of a peace deal, Trump was quoted by the Financial Times as saying. Russian forces currently control the plant in south-eastern Ukraine.
Russia has already made it clear that it will reject any amendments proposed by Ukraine to the 28-point plan drafted by Trump in the autumn, said the report.
The meeting came a day after a major missile and drone attack by Russia on Kiev, which killed two people, wounded dozens and cut power and heating to more than a million of the region's residents during freezing temperatures, said Ukraine authorities.
Zelensky said some 500 drones and 40 missiles had pounded the Ukrainian capital and its surrounding region.
The same day, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin wrote on Telegram that 21 drones flying toward Moscow were destroyed. Enditem
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