Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appears willing to give Russia almost anything it wants in order to secure peace.
"Ukraine is willing to do whatever it takes to stop this war," Zelenskyy wrote on X. "For us, priority number one – or the only priority – is ending the war. For us, the priority is peace. We need to be strong at the negotiating table. To be strong, we need the support of the world: Europe and the United States."
"In this war of Russia against Ukraine, we want peace, and Russia demonstrates a desire to continue the war. If the whole world – Europe and America – is on our side, together we will stop Putin. Because together we will all want the same thing: an end to the war, peace – a normal peace, a sustainable peace, safe for the whole world," he continued.
Zelensky will meet with Donald Trump on Sunday at the president's Mar-a-Lago estate, where a deal between the U.S. and Ukraine to end the war with Russia is expected to be finalized. The Ukrainian leader wants to put the issue of territorial concessions by Ukraine to a referendum, but says he needs a 60-day ceasefire to allow the voting to take place in a secure environment.
He told reporters that his primary goal in coming to see Trump and meet face-to-face will be to secure “legally binding security guarantees” in any final peace agreement that would prevent another Russian attack.
“And this depends primarily on President Trump,” Politico quoted him as saying. “The question is what security guarantees President Trump is ready to give to Ukraine.”
Zelensky wants a NATO-like, ironclad guarantee that if Russia invades again, Europe and the U.S. will send troops to rescue him. That's not what Trump wants, and, in the real world, it's immaterial if Europe promises to fight if Russia invades again. Russian President Vladimir Putin has nothing but contempt for the fighting abilities of NATO without the U.S.
If Trump wants Putin to go along with the deal he's negotiating with Zelensky, he's going to have to offer some carrots to entice Moscow to sign. That includes a gradual lifting of sanctions, allowing Russia to rejoin the international financial system, as well as lifting the numerous personal sanctions against Putin and his henchmen.
Yes, it means that Putin will have won the war (or at least this leg of it), but he's going to win anyway, so why not save thousands of lives and stop it now? Is Zelensky going to get a better deal down the road? In six months, if the war continues to grind on with Russia gradually winning territory, the land concessions will be harsher, and Ukraine's sovereignty will be threatened.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, wrote Saturday on X that Vladimir Putin “deliberately ordered a massive bombing of residential areas and critical infrastructure of Kyiv just as leaders of Ukraine and the US are preparing to meet and advance peace.”
Putin deliberately ordered a massive bombing of residential areas and critical infrastructure of Kyiv just as leaders of Ukraine and the US are preparing to meet and advance peace.
— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) December 27, 2025
Dozens of victims, power outages, and a third of the Ukrainian capital without heating amid… pic.twitter.com/sG82FwxlIq
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with state-run media that Europe had been the main obstacle to peace since Donald Trump returned to office.
In an interview with TASS published Sunday, the foreign minister praised Trump and sought to blame the Europeans for slow progress on peace talks to end the war with Ukraine.
“After a new administration came to power in the United States, Europe and the European Union emerged as the main obstacles to peace. They are making no secret of the fact that they are getting ready to fight it out with Russia on the battlefield,” Lavrov said.
The interview comes amid a renewed push to bring about an end to the war with Ukraine and ahead of Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday in Florida.
Lavrov said he appreciated Trump's efforts.
“Russia appreciates efforts by President of the United States Donald Trump and his team to achieve a peace settlement. We are committed to continuing to work with the American negotiators to devise lasting agreements for addressing the conflict’s root causes,” he said.
This is not the endgame of negotiations. Putin will reject any peace deal that does not give him everything he wants. Look how much he's gotten from Trump and Zelensky without agreeing to anything?
Trump must now decide whether Putin is a reliable partner for peace. If Putin isn't careful, Trump could ratchet up the pressure on Russia to unbearable levels. There are a host of sanctions that the U.S. and Europe have refrained from imposing, including the "nuclear option" to formally designate Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, which would trigger near-total automatic sanctions and ban virtually all dual-use exports.
Trump still has tools in the toolbox to entice/force Putin to the table. Whether he uses them remains to be seen.
