PALM BEACH, Florida – A flurry of calls, cameras, and claims of progress filled Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, where US President Donald Trump portrayed himself as steering Ukraine toward a potential peace deal.
After a two-hour, closed-door meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky at the president’s private club, Trump emerged to declare that a deal to end Russia’s war on Ukraine could be wrapped up “within weeks” – a characteristically confident assessment of a conflict that has resisted nearly four years of diplomacy, sanctions and battlefield gambits.
“If it went really well, you know, maybe a few weeks,” Trump told reporters inside the club.
“And if it went poorly, longer. In a few weeks, we will know one way or the other, I think,” he added.
It was vintage Trump: no firm deadlines, just momentum – and a finish line he insists is suddenly in view.
But beneath the palm trees and polished optimism, the same unresolved questions that have doomed previous peace efforts remain firmly on the table: territory, security guarantees and whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to compromise at all.
‘Very close’ – with caveats
Trump described the negotiations as “very difficult,” warning that even now a single unresolved issue could still derail the talks.
“We could have something where one item that you’re not thinking about is a big item, breaks it up,” he said. “Look, it’s been a very difficult negotiation.”
Still, he repeatedly insisted the parties were edging toward an agreement.
Zelensky struck a similarly upbeat tone, calling the meeting “great” and later highlighting that the talks had delivered “significant results.”
Ukrainian and American teams, he said, have nearly completed a 20-point peace framework that is “90% agreed.”
That remaining 10%, however, contains the war’s most explosive elements.
Security guarantees: 100% vs. 95%
The clearest divergence between the two leaders came over security guarantees – the linchpin of any deal intended to prevent Russia from regrouping and attacking again.
Zelensky said US-Ukraine security guarantees were “100 percent agreed,” including the military component of the plan.
Trump was more circumspect, putting the figure at “95 percent” and declining to detail what those guarantees would actually entail.
Pressed before the meeting by Kyiv Post’s correspondent on whether he was prepared to sign a security agreement immediately, Trump bristled.
“Well, it depends what the security agreement says,” he said. “Nobody even knows what the security agreement is going to say. But there will be a security agreement. It’ll be a strong agreement.”
He emphasized – repeatedly – that Europe would shoulder much of the responsibility.
“The European nations are very much involved in protection, et cetera,” Trump said, praising European leaders as “terrific people” who are “all in” on getting a deal done.
A senior Western official involved in Sunday’s follow-up calls described the discussions as “the most structured and substantive conversation we’ve had on Ukraine in months,” but warned that security guarantees remain the deal’s stress point.
“Everyone agrees security has to be ironclad,” the official said. “The disagreement is who’s holding the anvil.”
Nuclear Rorschach test
One of the most striking moments of the day came when Trump addressed the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – Europe’s largest and a central sticking point in the negotiations.
Trump said Putin is “working with Ukraine on getting it open” and praised the Russian leader for being “very good in that sense.”
“He hasn’t hit it with missiles,” Trump added.
Standing beside him, Zelensky appeared to shake his head slightly, maintaining a tight, controlled expression.
Ukraine has repeatedly ruled out joint operations with Russia at the facility, which Moscow has controlled since the early days of the invasion.
Zelensky’s proposal, according to officials, would split control between Kyiv and Washington – a plan the Kremlin has so far rejected.
What Trump framed as cooperation, Kyiv views as occupation.
Donbas dilemma
On territory, neither leader suggested a breakthrough.
Asked directly whether Ukraine would make concessions, Zelensky stressed that decisions about land could not be made by leaders alone.
“We have to respect our law and our people,” he said, adding that Ukraine holds “a different position to Russia” on Donbas.
Any territorial compromise, Zelensky said, would require a national referendum.
“Of course, our society has to choose,” he emphasized. “Because it’s their land – not of one person. It’s the land of our nation, for a lot of generations.”
Trump acknowledged the issue remains unresolved.
“That’s the issue they have to iron out,” he told Kyiv Post’s correspondent, declining to say what pressure – if any – he would apply to Moscow if talks stall.
“We’ll see. I don’t want to talk about that because we’re getting very close,” he emphasized.
Flurry of calls – and a new war room
The Mar-a-Lago meeting capped a frenetic day of diplomacy. Trump and Zelensky followed their face-to-face talks with calls to a slate of European leaders, including officials from the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Finland and Norway, as well as EU leadership.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen later welcomed “good progress” while stressing that “ironclad security guarantees from day one” remain essential.
Trump also announced an expansion of US-Ukraine working groups, naming Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff as key figures. The teams, Trump said, will begin engaging directly with Russia.
“To work with ourselves doesn’t really solve much of a problem,” Trump said. “They’ll be working with Russia.”
Zelensky said the groups would reconvene in the coming weeks, with Trump agreeing to host Ukrainian and European leaders in Washington in January.
Kyiv visit – maybe
Trump also left open the possibility of traveling to Ukraine, though he suggested it was not currently planned.
“I have no problem with it,” he said. “We’d like to get the deal done and not necessarily have to go.”
He added that he has offered to address Ukraine’s parliament if it would help move negotiations forward.
“If that would help save 25,000 lives a month or whatever it may be, I would certainly be willing to do that,” Trump said.
Zelensky quickly responded that Trump would “always” be welcome in Ukraine.
The final 5 percent
For now, Trump is projecting confidence – and command.
“I don’t have deadlines,” he said earlier in the day. “You know what my deadline is? Getting the war ended.”
But even he conceded that the final stretch is the most perilous.
“There are one or two thorny issues, very tough issues,” Trump said. “But I think we’re doing very well.”
As one senior Western official put it late Sunday, “95 percent of a peace deal is easy. The last 5 percent is where wars usually decide whether they’re actually over.”
At Mar-a-Lago, Trump is treating that final 5 percent not as a warning, but as a wager – that pressure, persuasion and a compressed timeline can succeed where years of diplomacy have failed.
Whether that gamble delivers peace, or simply reframes an unfinished war, is the question now looming over his latest push.