{"id":8731,"date":"2025-12-29T16:11:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T16:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/29\/trump-offered-15-year-security-guarantees-but-donbas-zaporizhzhia-plant-unresolved-zelenskyy-says-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T16:11:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T16:11:25","slug":"trump-offered-15-year-security-guarantees-but-donbas-zaporizhzhia-plant-unresolved-zelenskyy-says-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/29\/trump-offered-15-year-security-guarantees-but-donbas-zaporizhzhia-plant-unresolved-zelenskyy-says-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump offered 15-year security guarantees but Donbas, Zaporizhzhia plant unresolved, Zelenskyy says – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The path to peace in Ukraine<\/a> was still tangled Monday by the “thorny issues” that President Donald Trump<\/a> said remained despite the optimism of his summit with Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ukraine’s leader offered more clarity about those unresolved questions following his trip to Florida, which ended with no breakthroughs but plenty of positivity from both sides. The Kremlin agreed with Trump\u2019s assessment that talks to end its war were in the final stage even as it stuck to its hard-line territorial demands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After nearly three hours behind closed doors<\/a> at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, the leaders emerged to say they were \u201cvery close\u201d to a deal, and \u201c90%\u201d of the way there. But it\u2019s those remaining \u201cone or two very thorny issues,\u201d as Trump put it, that will decide whether an agreement can be found between Kyiv and Moscow. <\/p>\n

Answering questions from reporters in a WhatsApp chat Monday, Zelenskyy outlined one key area where there does seem to have been progress. <\/p>\n

The Ukrainian leader said Trump was now offering Kyiv legally binding security guarantees that would last for 15 years, though he had asked for them to remain in place for up to half a century.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him that we have been at war for almost 15 years, and therefore we would very much like the guarantees to be longer,\u201d Zelenskyy said, referring to Russia\u2019s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backing of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine\u2019s east before a full-scale invasion in 2022. <\/p>\n

He said Trump indicated he would consider longer guarantees, adding that they include how a peace deal would be monitored as well as the \u201cpresence\u201d of partners. <\/p>\n

But while Ukraine appeared positive about this offer to guarantee its security against future Russian aggression, few details were made public and it was unclear how Russia would view the proposal.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy also made clear that the fate of key territory remains unresolved.<\/p>\n

Control over the eastern Donbas region and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant<\/a> remain crucial sticking points in Trump’s 20-point peace plan, a version of the original U.S. proposal<\/a> that has been modified through weeks of intense diplomacy.<\/p>\n

Ukraine still controls a chunk of Donbas and has vowed it won’t give up that land, but Russia wants the whole region \u2014 a major demand that President Vladimir Putin has shown no desire to compromise on. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe\u2019s largest, is occupied by Russia but each side wants control of it in a deal. <\/p>\n

\"Image:\"<\/picture>
The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is one of the 10 biggest in the world.<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

American negotiators have previously floated the concept of establishing a \u201cfree economic zone\u201d in Donbas, but Zelenskyy said Monday there is \u201cno detailed concept\u201d of how that would work yet, and that Ukrainian society would need to be consulted on any such agreement.<\/p>\n

In fact, he said the whole 20-point peace plan should be put to a referendum in Ukraine, which he said would require a ceasefire of at least 60 days. <\/p>\n

Moscow has ruled out agreeing to any temporary ceasefires, insisting that it was only interested in a permanent peace agreement \u2014 a position that Trump said Sunday he understood. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Image:<\/picture>
During a news conference after their talks, Trump and Zelenskyy struck an optimistic tone while acknowledging that challenges remain.<\/span>Jim Watson \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Before Trump met with Zelenskyy, he spoke on the phone with Putin for over two hours. Zelenskyy said Monday that Trump discussed the 20-point plan with the Russian leader during the call, \u201cpoint by point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said he believed Putin was serious about peace, but Zelenskyy was skeptical. \u201cIt is important that the actions and words of the Russian leader coincide,\u201d he said Monday.<\/p>\n

For its part the Kremlin agreed with Trump\u2019s assessment that peace in Ukraine was closer. <\/p>\n

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that another call between Trump and Putin was to follow \u201cin the very near future,\u201d after which he said it would be possible to assess the outcomes of the Trump-Zelenskyy talks. He also doubled down on Moscow\u2019s requirement that Ukraine withdraw fully from Donbas. <\/p>\n

Putin later received battlefield updates from his generals at a televised meeting and boasted his forces were in position to \u201cliberate\u201d the entire Donbas. \u201cVery important direction,\u201d Putin said, talking about the coveted region. \u201cYou are demonstrating a good tempo,” he added, addressing one of his commanders. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the kind of bullish rhetoric Putin has repeated since the start of negotiations, insisting he could take what he wants by force if Trump\u2019s diplomatic efforts fail. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In Kyiv, Ph.D. student Hanna Rutkovska also had her eyes on the battlefield. <\/p>\n

She told NBC News she followed the meeting between Trump and Zeleneskyy closely, but did not expect any major breakthroughs. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf Trump has leverage in communicating with Putin during the final stage of negotiations, then perhaps he will be able to push the talks toward a temporary ceasefire. However, I believe that at the moment most of the outcome is being decided on the battlefield,\u201d said Rutkovska, 31, in messages on Whatsapp. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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

Yuliya Talmazan is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Associated Press<\/p>\n

, <\/p>\n

Daryna Mayer<\/p>\n

and <\/p>\n

Artem Grudinin<\/p>\n

contributed<\/p>\n

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

Dec. 29, 2025, 9:19 AM EST\u00a0\/\u00a0Updated\u00a0Dec. 29, 2025, 10:10 AM EST The path to peace in Ukraine was still tangled Monday by the “thorny issues” that President Donald Trump said remained despite the optimism of his summit with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukraine’s leader offered more clarity about those unresolved questions following his trip to Florida, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8731","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\/8731","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=8731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}