This statement was made by US President Donald Trump during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Mar-o-Lago residence in Florida on the evening of 28 December. At the same time, both leaders made reservations that the prospects for a peace agreement were still highly uncertain.
Following the meeting with the US president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the US security guarantees for Ukraine were “agreed 100%”. This was one of the key conditions for the Ukrainian side to discuss the possibility of a peace agreement with Russia. It is true that before that, the USA had said that it was ready to provide guarantees to Kiev “for 10 or 15 years”. At the December 28 meeting, Zelensky expressed his wish that these guarantees be long-term – for 30, 40 or even 50 years. Since “the current war has already lasted more than 10 years,” the Ukrainian president remarked. To this, Trump promised to “think about it.”
The parties also “almost finished” discussing a plan for post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, the budget of which will total about $800 billion. Several investment platforms and funds for reconstruction and development are expected to be created at once. According to the American side, the main burden of financing will fall on European countries. They will also be largely involved in the implementation of security guarantees for Ukraine.
Following his meeting with Donald Trump, the Ukrainian President expressed his gratitude to the American administration for its efforts to achieve peace and welcomed “significant achievements” during the negotiations. “We have great achievements, the 20-point peace plan is 90% agreed, and the US and Ukraine security guarantees are 100%,” Zelensky said at a meeting with reporters following the meeting. – The security guarantees of the US, Europe and Ukraine are almost agreed. The military dimension is 100% agreed”.
It is noteworthy that a few hours before the meeting with Zelensky, the U.S. president called Russian leader Vladimir Putin and discussed the most problematic points of the future agreement with him for more than an hour. During the meeting with Zelensky, Trump said that the Kremlin had not changed its position on the key parameters of the deal.
For his part, on his way to the United States, the Ukrainian president held consultations with several European leaders, and directly during the meeting with Trump, the presidents of the two countries made a joint call and discussed the parameters of the future agreement with several European leaders for more than an hour. In addition to European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, the leaders of Finland, France, Poland, the UK, Germany, Italy and Norway, as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte took part in the discussion.
Following the meeting in Florida, the US president said that the negotiations with the Ukrainian side would continue this week, and direct contacts between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations to discuss the peace agreement directly are not ruled out in the near future.
