Everything was ready this Sunday at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s private residence in Florida, his “winter White House”, to receive the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, when the Republican president once again introduced a last-minute twist of script with the announcement that he had spoken by phone with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. He told it in a message in Truth, in which the Republican spoke of a “positive and very productive” call.
Zelensky brings to Florida the 20-point peace plan proposed by Washington weeks ago and retouched. And two issues stand out on the agenda: the fate of Donbas, a semi-occupied region in the east of the attacked country, whose total cession Trump requests for Russia, and the control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, now in the hands of Moscow. “There is a lot to decide before the end of the year,” Zelensky declared on Sunday, defining these days as among those of “most diplomatic activity” in the last 12 months. “Whether decisions are made or not depends on our partners, those who help Ukraine and those who put pressure on Russia,” he added, as a message to Trump.
It is not clear, despite the wishes of the Ukrainian president, that a great achievement on the path to peace will emerge from Mar-a-Lago. The slow but sure advances of Russian forces in recent weeks indicate that their leader, Vladimir Putin, is still not ready to accept a diplomatic solution to a war that is heading towards its fourth anniversary. The Kremlin has not openly rejected the plan, and continues to call for more negotiations while its attacks continue.
It won’t be long until one year after Trump’s inauguration. During the campaign that brought him back to the White House, he repeatedly promised that he would be able to end the war in Ukraine on his first day in the Oval Office. And he insists that this conflict would never have started had he been at the helm in Washington. On Friday, the American president warned in a brief interview with Politico that Zelensky “has nothing until he approves it” himself. “We will see what he has,” added the Republican, who assured that
Zelensky arrived in Palm Beach on Saturday, after stopping in Canada, where he met with another ally, this one less voluble: Prime Minister Marc Carney announced additional aid of 2.5 billion dollars (about 2.1 billion euros) for Ukraine. Later, from the city of Halifax, Zelensky met by videoconference to prepare for Sunday’s meeting with European leaders such as the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the Council, António Costa, the German Friedrich Merz,
On Sunday, Zelensky recalled in his X account that Putin “has even rejected proposals for a Christmas ceasefire and is intensifying the brutality of his missile and drone attacks.” “This is a clear sign of how they really conceive diplomacy, he added. “So far, they are not taking it seriously enough.” It takes place a day after the Kremlin launched a huge 10-hour night bombardment. It had kyiv as its main target, but not only: drones and missiles once again brought destruction to the entire country. To underline that he is not giving up his warmongering, Putin visited a military installation this Saturday.
Security guarantees
Zelensky aspires to take guarantees from Florida about the security that Ukraine would obtain after signing an agreement with Russia. kyiv conditions any decision about ending the war on the United States and its European partners guaranteeing it a level of defense protection. “The question is what security guarantees Trump is willing to give us,” Zelensky said this Saturday, according to the Ukrainian state agency Ukrinform.
Trump, for his part, wants that area to become a demilitarized zone. kyiv demands that the Russian army withdraw into an equivalent territory, something to which Moscow has not been willing.
Zelensky and Trump are also scheduled to talk about . The largest atomic plant on the European continent has been occupied by Russia since the first year of the invasion. The White House proposes that American companies manage the plant in coordination with Moscow and kyiv. Both Ukraine and Russia ask to exclude the other from the equation.
Zelensky also considers a hypothetical agreement with Russia. And to do this, he calls for a ceasefire of at least two months. Several Putin advisers have indicated in recent days that they do not intend to jump through that hoop either.
Trump’s ego also sits at the negotiating table this Sunday, who aspires to go down in history as a great peacemaker, and sees Ukraine and Russia as two obstacles on that path.
Hours before the meeting with Zelensky, the president of the United States wrote a message to exaggerate his achievements and take credit for the “momentary cessation of clashes between Thailand and Cambodia.” “It was a quick and decisive solution, as all these situations should be! The United States, as always, is proud to have contributed. With all the wars and conflicts that I have resolved and stopped in the last 11 months, EIGHT in total, perhaps the United States has become the true United Nations Organization, which has provided very little help in any of these conflicts, including the current catastrophe between Russia and Ukraine. The United Nations must start acting and getting involved in world peace!,” Trump wrote.
