Trump meets with Zelensky to talk peace in Ukraine

US President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday for discussions aimed at finding a peaceful solution to Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

"I do believe we have the makings of a deal that's good for Ukraine, good for everybody," Trump said before the meeting. "We're going to get it done."

The two met at Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida about 1 pm local time in an effort to find agreement on security and economic issues.

Before the meeting, Trump told reporters that the war would either "end" or "go on for a long time". 

The US delegation included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, while Economy Minister Oleksii Sobolev was present for the Ukrainians.

Trump said that before meeting Zelensky he'd had a "good and very productive" call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In the past few weeks, draft peace proposals have been announced — including a 28-point plan believed to originate in Moscow and a 20-point plan from Kyiv.

"Ukraine is willing to do whatever it takes to stop this war," Zelensky posted on Saturday on X. "We need to be strong at the negotiating table."

The United States recently said it would offer security guarantees to Ukraine similar to those offered to NATO members. Zelensky has said he would drop a bid by Ukraine to join the alliance if Ukraine received similar NATO-like protection.

When asked about security guarantees before the meeting, Trump responded: "There will be a security agreement. It will be a strong agreement. The European nations are very much involved in that."

On Christmas Day, Zelensky also spoke with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Zelensky said they had discussed "certain substantive details", though cautioning in a post on X that "there is still work to be done on sensitive issues" and "the weeks ahead may also be intensive."

Putin has said he wants to keep the areas captured in four key regions, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, and has insisted that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO, warning that Russia wouldn't accept the deployment of any NATO troops in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the Kremlin had been in contact with Washington.

"It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue," he said.

shiguang@chinadailyusa.com