President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is ready to sign a peace agreement with Russia wherever US President Donald Trump chooses, including at the White House Oval Office or his Mar-a-Lago residence.
“Yes, I’m ready. I’ve always told President Trump that I’m ready to come to the US, to the Oval Office or to Mar-a-Lago. It depends on President Trump,” Zelensky told conservative US commentator and Trump ally Laura Loomer during an interview in Kyiv.
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He added that the real issue is not the venue, but when such an agreement can be reached.
Zelensky said saving Ukrainian lives remains his overriding priority. While Ukraine wants to prevail against Russia, he said ending the fighting sooner would be preferable to continuing the war for another decade or two at the cost of more Ukrainian lives.
His remarks come as Washington and Kyiv seek to revive diplomatic efforts aimed at ending Russia’s war.
Witkoff and Kushner return to peace track
Zelensky spoke this week with Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about intensifying diplomatic efforts with Moscow.
US and Ukrainian officials are also discussing a possible air ceasefire that could form part of a renewed proposal to Russia.
Previous ceasefire initiatives have failed to produce a broader settlement. But officials involved in the latest discussions believe Ukraine’s increasingly deep long-range strikes inside Russia may be adding pressure on Moscow to reconsider its position.
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The diplomatic push could accelerate in the coming days, with Trump and Zelensky expected to meet in Washington.
Vatican meeting became turning point
The prospective meeting comes against a markedly different backdrop from the confrontation between Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office in February 2025.
Zelensky told Loomer that their private conversation at the Vatican in April 2025 became a turning point in their relationship and helped ease the tensions that had built up after the Oval Office clash.
According to Zelensky, the tone between the two leaders changed significantly after their brief private meeting.
“The tension subsided, and the conversation went great,” he recalled, while declining to disclose details of what was discussed.
Zelensky said subsequent conversations with Trump improved and expressed the view that the US president came to understand that Ukraine wanted to end the war, while Russia remained unwilling to halt the fighting.
Moscow claimed US still has ‘obligations’ from Alaska summit
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed the US still has unfulfilled “obligations” stemming from the August 2025 summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska.
Speaking after talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Manila, Lavrov again pointed to proposals discussed in Anchorage as a basis for further negotiations.
The full substance of those talks has never been publicly disclosed, but Russian officials have repeatedly invoked what they call the “spirit of Anchorage” while arguing that Washington has not formally abandoned the framework.
At the same time, Moscow maintains that Russian forces will continue pursuing their military objectives until what it considers an acceptable diplomatic alternative is reached.
Rubio: Anchorage proposals failed and remain unacceptable to Ukraine
Rubio said the territorial proposals discussed during last year’s Anchorage summit had failed because Ukraine did not accept them and were unlikely to provide a basis for a settlement now.
He referred to what Russia had described as the “3+2” approach, involving territorial arrangements, and stressed that no peace agreement could work without the consent of both sides.
He added that the same approach was likely even less acceptable to Kyiv today, making new proposals necessary.\
Ukraine’s intensified long-range strikes deep inside Russia have strengthened its leverage, while Kyiv has consistently maintained – both before and after the Anchorage summit – that it will not accept Russian occupation of its territory.
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