The United States has offered Ukraine "strong" security guarantees for 15 years as part of a peace deal to end the war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after talks with US President Donald Trump, with Kyiv looking for a longer pledge from Washington to keep Moscow in check.
"I told him (Trump) that we already have a war going on and it has been going on for almost 15 years. And so I really wanted the guarantees to be longer," Zelenskyy told reporters in a WhatsApp chat a day after meeting Trump in Florida.
He was referring to Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, which preceded Moscow's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
"I told him that we really want to consider the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years. The president said he would think about it," Zelenskyy added.
"Without security guarantees, this war is not really over. We cannot admit that it is over. Because there may be a risk of renewed aggression from such a neighbor."
The two leaders met at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on December 28 for talks on a deal to end Europe's longest and deadliest conflict since World War II, with both calling the session "productive" and "substantive" even though no breakthrough was reached.
Zelenskyy said in his chat with reporters that some issues of the 20-point peace plan remain unresolved and he called for a meeting of national-security advisers from the two countries, as well as from Europe, in the "coming days."
Trump's meeting with Zelenskyy was the culmination of weeks of phone and shuttle diplomacy in efforts to end Russia's full-scale war on Ukraine -- which has killed or wounded more than 1.5 million soldiers on both sides in nearly four years.
The meeting also marked the latest instance in which participants touted "progress" and "results" but did not provide details and vowed additional talks.
Following two hours of talks, Trump asserted that peace discussions were "moving in the right direction." He did not mention the possibility of hosting leaders in Washington in January.
Trump and Zelenskyy also conducted a call with European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and NATO chief Mark Rutte.
Zelenskyy told reporters that any peace plan must be signed by Ukraine, Europe, the United States, and Russia, adding that Kyiv hoped to "move forward quickly" and was "open" to any format of meetings.
Kyiv has been adamant in receiving security guarantees -- particularly from the United States but also from Europe -- and has resisted the Kremlin's hard-line demands that include ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia.
One of the critical issues at the heart of negotiations over territory is the fate of the eastern Donbas region.
Most of that territory is under Russian control, and Moscow has demanded that Kyiv turn over the parts Russia does not hold. That includes two major cities -- Kramatorsk and Slovyansk -- which are linchpins for Ukrainian defenses in the area.
During the joint news conference, Trump said that territorial issues -- including the future of the Donbas region -- had not been settled and were proving to be "a very tough issue."
Amid the diplomacy and negotiations, Russia has shown little inclination for compromise, even refusing to consider a Christmas truce proposed by Zelenskyy.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists in Moscow on December 29 that he agreed with the assessment that the talks were in the final stage, but he also reiterated Putin's stance that Ukraine should withdraw its troops from Donbas to move the process forward.
Trump, who said during his election campaign he could settle the war in one day, has been frustrated by his inability to use what he sees as his businessman’s acumen to end the conflict.
He has dispatched his chief envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Moscow six times to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump himself met with the Russian leader in Alaska in August.
Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump son-in-law Jared Kusher, and defense chief Pete Hegseth joined the Trump meeting with Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian's third with the US president since January.
Shortly before the December 28 talks began, Trump and Putin spoke by phone, a surprise call that the Kremlin said lasted more than an hour and was done at Trump's request. In a post to social media, Trump described it as "good and very productive."
Peskov said the two leaders would hold another call "very soon."
Putin's chief foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, said Putin and Trump agreed to not support a push for a temporary cease-fire ahead of a settlement -- a call Zelenskyy reiterated in his December 29 session with journalists.
Zelenskyy said a 60-day cease-fire was needed to allow for a referendum to be held in Ukraine over any peace plan.
Russia isn't interested in any type of cease-fire, "for now," Zelenskyy added.
Last month, the White House proposed a 28-point plan that was seen as heavily favorable to Russia. Zelenskyy and his negotiators -- along with Kyiv’s European allies -- have sought to draft counterproposals.
Zelenskyy’s 20-point plan, released last week, paved the way for the Ukrainian leader to fly to the United States and meet with Trump.
