President Trump on Sunday suggested he would be willing to go to Ukraine to convince its parliament to concede land to Russia in a bid to end the war after meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky —while declaring peace is “closer than ever before.”
The two leaders held a wide-ranging discussion over lunch at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday afternoon, including about how to end the nearly four-year-old conflict, which Trump called “the biggest war since World War II” and “certainly the most deadly war” since then.
Trump said the US and Ukraine were “95 percent” in agreement about many of Zelensky’s proposed 20-point peace plan but acknowledged that certain issues, such as control of Ukraine’s Donbas region, would be harder to resolve.
“There are one or two very thorny issues, very tough issues,” Trump said, citing Donbas in particular as an “issue they’re gonna have to iron out, but I think it’s moving in the right direction.
You’re better off making a deal now,” he said, referring to Ukraine.
Zelensky pointed to Ukraine obtaining security guarantees from the US, NATO and European allies as the “key milestone” to achieving lasting peace.
Trump said that he believes Russia will play a role in rebuilding Ukraine after hostilities conclude and that the Kremlin “wants Ukraine to succeed.”
He revealed he spoke to Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin ahead of the Mar-a-Lago summit but was coy when asked by reporters what the two discussed.
“We didn’t talk about the weather,” Trump said.
At the conclusion of their talks, Trump said the pair held phone calls with “great leaders” including European heads of state French President Emmanuel Macron, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Polish President Karol Nawrocki, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Also included in the discussions were European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Trump said he expected to hold a powwow with Ukraine and European leaders sometime next month to keep peace talks moving along.
