Meeting between Donald Trump and Volodimir Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago, December 28, 2025 – Europa Press/Contact/Hu Yousong
European leaders demand “firm” security guarantees for kyiv “from day one” at Sunday summit in Florida MADRID, 28 (EUROPA PRESS)
The presidents of the United States and Ukraine, Donald Trump and Volodimir Zelensky, agreed this Sunday after their meeting in Florida (United States) that a possible agreement to end the war with Russia is “very close”, even if the North American president acknowledged that there remained “one or two very thorny issues to discuss”.
“We’ve solved 95 percent of the problems, although I don’t like to talk about percentages,” Trump said at the start of their joint media appearance. “It seems to me,” he insisted at another point in the hearing, “that we are much closer than ever between the two parties.”
Trump and Zelensky held a two-hour meeting at the US president’s residence in Palm Beach, featuring a summit video call with top European leaders, starting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and the leaders of Germany, France and the United Kingdom, Fredrich Merz, Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer.
Von der Leyen, in an initial reaction, noted during the video conference “good progress” towards a peace deal in Ukraine, but insisted that kyiv must be fully protected in the future to allay the concerns of its European partners.
“Considerable progress has been made and this is something we celebrate. Europe is ready to continue working with Ukraine and our American partners to consolidate them,” von der Leyen said.
The President of the European Commission, however, ended up recalling that, for these efforts to bear fruit, it is “fundamental” that Ukraine and, by extension, Europe, “have solid security guarantees from day one”.
A POSSIBLE REFERENDUM
Returning to the conversation between Trump and Zelensky, the Ukrainian president once again put on the table the possibility of holding a plebiscite so that the Ukrainians would have the final say on a possible agreement with Russia that would include the definitive admission of having lost the territories conquered by Russia, but this time he clarified that it was only an option to be considered.
Zelensky, however, indicated that the Ukrainian people or Parliament will have to have a say if the plan becomes “excessively difficult” to digest. “Our society must vote because this is our land. It does not belong to one person. It is land that belongs to generations,” the Ukrainian president said.
Trump, finally, ended by warning that peace is needed immediately and that the next few weeks of delegation-level talks will be absolutely crucial. “Because if ultimately we don’t make something happen, people will continue to fight and continue to die, and we don’t want that to happen,” he said.
PREVIOUS CONVERSATIONS Trump and Putin
Just hours before the meeting began, Trump surprised by announcing that he had had a preparatory conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which will continue with a second dialogue in the coming hours.
Although Trump did not want to go into details, Russian President Yuri Ushakov assured that the two leaders had expressed serious doubts about the viability of the European and Ukrainian counter-proposal to the North American president’s plan to end the conflict.
“The Russian and American presidents have very similar views that the temporary ceasefire proposed by the Ukrainians and Europeans, under the pretext of preparing for a referendum, will only prolong the conflict,” Ushakov said.
About The Author
