{"id":8712,"date":"2025-12-28T15:35:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T15:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/28\/trump-to-meet-with-zelenskyy-at-mar-a-lago-as-peace-talks-advance-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T15:35:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T15:35:33","slug":"trump-to-meet-with-zelenskyy-at-mar-a-lago-as-peace-talks-advance-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/28\/trump-to-meet-with-zelenskyy-at-mar-a-lago-as-peace-talks-advance-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump to meet with Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago as peace talks advance – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are set to meet in Florida on Sunday afternoon as both leaders look to make progress on a potential peace deal to end the war in Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are currently some of the most active diplomatic days of the year, and much can be decided before the New Year,\u201d Zelenskyy wrote in a post on Telegram Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether decisions will be made depends on our partners \u2014 on those who help Ukraine and on those who put pressure on Russia so that the Russians feel the consequences of their own aggression,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Palm Beach, the White House said Sunday, and comes just over a day after Russia launched a massive missile attack on Ukraine\u2019s capital<\/a>, killing at least one person and injuring at least 20, according to Kyiv\u2019s mayor.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Zelenskyy said in a post on X<\/a> that the Russian attack involved almost 500 drones and 40 missiles aimed at Kyiv.<\/p>\n

Following a Saturday meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on his way to Florida, Zelenskyy said that \u201csufficient pressure\u201d should be placed on Russia following this weekend\u2019s attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia continues to mock our cities and people. Moscow has rejected even the proposals for a Christmas ceasefire and is increasing the ferocity of its missile and drone strikes. This is a clear signal of how they really feel about diplomacy,\u201d Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram<\/a>. \u201cSo far, it has not been taken seriously enough. Therefore, Ukraine needs sufficient support. And sufficient pressure needs to be put on Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a WhatsApp chat with journalists on Friday, Zelenskyy outlined his agenda for the meeting, which he said would include discussing security guarantees he hopes the U.S. can promise to Ukraine to dissuade Russia from ever invading again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to discuss several nuances regarding security guarantees,\u201d Zelenskyy said, adding that there are already \u201cseveral\u201d drafted agreements for security guarantees in place between Ukraine, the U.S. and European allies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still need to discuss them again. And, as I said, changes are being made daily to all these documents by our negotiating teams,\u201d the Ukrainian president added.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Zelenskyy told reporters in a new WhatsApp chat that any negotiations on security guarantees depend on Trump\u2019s buy-in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis primarily depends on President Trump. The question is what security guarantees President Trump is ready to provide to Ukraine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A Ukrainian official familiar with the planning of the meeting told NBC News on Friday that in addition to security guarantees, the Ukrainian side is prepared to discuss economic prosperity and reconstruction of the war-torn country.<\/p>\n

There are also talks of a joint news conference with Trump and Zelenskyy following the meeting, not necessarily to announce anything new but to discuss the results of the talks, the Ukrainian official said.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy had said in the WhatsApp chat with journalists that a 20-point peace plan they had been working on was \u201c90% ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump told Politico<\/a> on Friday that Zelenskyy \u201cdoesn\u2019t have anything until I approve it, so we\u2019ll see what he\u2019s got.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meeting comes weeks after Trump said in a post on Truth Social<\/a> that he would be open to meeting with Zelenskyy or Russian President Vladimir Putin, \u201cONLY when the deal to end this War is FINAL or, in its final stages.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. officials met separately with Russian envoys and Ukrainian and European officials in Florida for peace talks this month. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff summarized the gatherings with Ukrainian officials in a post on X<\/a> as \u201ca series of productive and constructive meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUkraine remains fully committed to achieving a just and sustainable peace,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In a separate post, Witkoff characterized<\/a> meetings with Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev as \u201cproductive and constructive.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the sticking points in the ongoing peace talks is territory, with Russia wanting to keep the Ukrainian land it has seized in the war and Ukraine refusing to give up the contested territories.<\/p>\n

But Zelenskyy has expressed some openness to compromise in recent weeks. He told reporters last week that he <\/a>would be willing to withdraw forces from the country\u2019s eastern industrial heartland if the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces, and Russia also pulls out.<\/p>\n

Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., last week expressed skepticism that Russia would accept a peace deal with robust security guarantees for Ukraine, telling NBC News\u2019 \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d \u201cWe keep engaging Russia, we keep trying to lure Putin to the peace table, and he rebuffs all of our efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putin has promised to continue his military campaign<\/a> in Ukraine if peace talks fail, and he told NBC News<\/a> during a press event earlier this month that \u201cthe ball is entirely in the court\u201d of Ukraine and its Western allies in peace talks.<\/p>\n

He also blamed Ukraine for starting the war, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. \u201cWe do not consider ourselves responsible for the loss of life, because it was not us who started this war,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Putin continued his attacks on Ukrainian leadership, saying while visiting a military outpost, \u201cThe ringleaders of the Kyiv regime are in no hurry today to solve this conflict peacefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Putin in Moscow<\/a> for a five-hour meeting that yielded no compromise.<\/p>\n

That came weeks after the Trump administration set off a firestorm by revealing a proposed peace plan<\/a> that Ukrainian leaders, European allies and U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle<\/a> criticized, saying it was too favorable to Russia.<\/p>\n

Trump and Zelenskyy have met several times in the past year, most notably in February<\/a>, when a televised meeting between the two leaders and Vice President JD Vance devolved into a shouting match.<\/p>\n

Trump then met with Putin in Alaska<\/a> in August.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
<\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n

Alexandra Marquez is a politics reporter for NBC News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Elmira Aliieva<\/p>\n

, <\/p>\n

Julie Tsirkin<\/p>\n

, <\/p>\n

Raquel Coronell Uribe<\/p>\n

, <\/p>\n

Jay Marques<\/p>\n

and <\/p>\n

Sean Nevin<\/p>\n

contributed<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are set to meet in Florida on Sunday afternoon as both leaders look to make progress on a potential peace deal to end the war in Ukraine. \u201cThese are currently some of the most active diplomatic days of the year, and much can be decided before the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}