On 28 December, US President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida for a bilateral meeting focused on ending Russia’s war against Ukraine. Despite Russia continuing its invasion and launching deadly strikes on Ukrainian cities, Trump insisted both leaders want peace and appeared to equate Ukrainian military actions with Russian attacks.
Trump says peace talks will continue
Standing next to Zelenskyy, Trump told reporters he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about ending the war.
“I think he is. I think they both are,” Trump said. “You’ve got to make a deal. I think both presidents want to make a deal.”
During the press appearance, Trump confirmed he would call Putin after the meeting with Zelenskyy and said he expected negotiations to continue.
“This gentleman has worked very hard, he’s very brave, and his people are very brave,” Trump said about Zelenskyy. “Very rarely has a nation ever had to go through this. We’re gonna have a very good meeting today, I think. And I’m also calling President Putin back after the meeting, and we’ll continue the negotiation.”
Trump equates Ukrainian and Russian air strikes
Asked whether the recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities proved that Putin was not serious about peace, Trump rejected the idea and pivoted to Ukrainian strikes inside Russia.
“No, he’s very serious,” Trump replied. “I believe Ukraine has made some very strong attacks also, and I don’t say that negatively. I think you probably have to. I don’t say that negatively.”
He added:
“But there have been some explosions in various parts of Russia, and it looks to me like... I don’t think it came from the Congo. I don’t think it came from the United States of America. It possibly came from Ukraine, but I haven’t asked that question.”
Ukraine has never denied its deep-strike campaign in Russia. Trump’s remarks appeared to draw an equivalence between Russia’s deliberate missile strikes on Ukrainian civilian areas and Ukraine’s targeted attacks on Russian military and fuel infrastructure.
Mocking reporters, Trump offers vague promises
“That depends what the security agreement says. What a dumb question. Nobody even knows what the security agreement is going to say,” the US President said. “But there will be a security agreement. It’ll be a strong agreement. And the European nations are very much involved in that.”
Meeting held behind closed doors
BBC reported that reporters were earlier briefly allowed inside the room where the meeting took place. Zelenskyy and his delegation sat across from the US team, which included US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine, Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. Any further press access was quickly shut down when Trump directed his adviser Margo Martin to escort reporters out.
