Washington [US], December 29: The US and Ukraine say progress has been made and they are close to an agreement to end the fighting in Ukraine, while Russia says the world "appreciates" US President Donald Trump's peace efforts.
Reuters reported on December 29th that US President Donald Trump said he and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky were "much closer, perhaps very close" to an agreement to end the fighting in Ukraine, although the two leaders acknowledged they had not yet resolved some of the most contentious details.
The two leaders spoke at a joint press conference on the evening of December 28 (local time) after meeting at Trump 's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Trump said he would know whether the negotiations to end the conflict were successful "in the coming weeks."
Zelensky said an agreement had been reached on security guarantees for Ukraine. Trump was more cautious, saying they were 95% of the way to that agreement, and that he hoped European countries would "take on the majority" of the effort with American support.
"We had substantive discussions on all issues and appreciate the progress that the Ukrainian and American teams have made in recent weeks," Zelensky added on Telegram after the meeting.
Earlier, Zelensky expressed hope that he could de-escalate the US proposal for a complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, a demand from Russia that would entail ceding some territory controlled by Ukrainian forces.
Both Trump and Zelensky have said that the future of Donbass remains unresolved. "The problem isn't solved, but we're getting much closer. It's a very difficult problem," said Trump.
Just before Zelensky and his delegation arrived at the Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone call. Trump said the call was "productive," and Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov described it as "friendly."
Ushakov said Putin told Trump that the 60-day ceasefire proposed by the European Union (EU) and Ukraine would prolong the fighting. The Kremlin adviser said Ukraine needed to make a decision on Donbass "without further delay."
In addition, Ushakov said that the Russian government has agreed to establish working groups to resolve the conflict, focusing on economic and security issues.
Following the US-Ukraine summit, President Putin's special envoy Kirill Dmitriev stated that "the world appreciates" President Trump 's peace efforts.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
