Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said a peace plan to end the war was 90 per cent ready, while US President Donald Trump asserted they were getting a lot closer, maybe very close, after their meeting to find a path to ending the four-year conflict. Their meeting on December 28 in Florida was preceded by massive air strikes by Russia on Ukraine and by Kyiv on Moscow’s oil refinery, showing how fragile Trump’s peace initiative is.
Trump also introduced a note of caution about the prospects of peace that has eluded his diplomacy, telling reporters before their meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, “It’s possible it doesn’t happen (and) in a few weeks, we’ll know one way or another”. The negotiation would continue, all sides agreed.
Zelensky, who came with a 20-point peace proposal, said on X after their meeting, “We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework and achieved significant results. We also discussed the sequence of further actions”. “We agreed that security guarantees are key on the path to achieving a lasting peace, and our teams will continue working on all aspects”, he wrote.
Zelensky wrote that the US-Ukraine teams would meet as early as next week to finalise all discussed matters” and Trump will hold a meeting with Ukrainian and European leaders in Washington next month. A Kremlin spokesperson, Yury Ushakov said that the US would continue its through two working groups — one on security issues, and the other on economic matters – and their terms will be finalised “most likely in early January.”