For Zelensky, the simple fact that Trump keeps talking is already a victory

However, for Zelensky, even a deadlock in discussions counts as a measure of success.

Following setbacks in U.S. support for Ukraine this year, one of Zelensky’s top priorities in meeting with Trump has been to prevent talks from going off the rails.

After Sunday’s meeting, Trump indicated that he would continue to participate in the negotiations, a victory for Ukraine given his repeated threats to withdraw.

Trump also stopped short of setting another deadline for reaching a peace deal, having previously mentioned Thanksgiving and Christmas as deadlines.

“I have no deadlines,” Trump told reporters as he hosted Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, for talks.

“Do you know what my deadline is? End the war.”

Most important for Ukraine, Trump did not echo Russia’s maximalist demands to stop the fighting, a change from early in his term when he often appeared to align himself with the Kremlin.

The change was also notable because Trump had spoken with the Russian president, Vladimir Putinjust before meeting with Zelensky, the kind of last-minute Russian intervention that has already dashed Ukrainian hopes.

That outcome could give Zelensky hope that Ukraine and Washington have become more closely aligned in peace negotiations.

Several European leaders also participated by phone in Sunday’s talks, and Zelensky said the United States could host a new round of negotiations next month that could include them.

“The fact that they are talking is a victory in itself,” Harry Nedelcu, senior director at Rasmussen Global, a research organization, said of the presidents of the United States and Ukraine.

Still, Zelensky acknowledged Monday that there is some division between them, noting that while Trump agreed to help protect Ukraine, he offered such guarantees only for 15 years, less than the several decades Zelensky and the Ukrainians are seeking.

“The challenge for Zelensky is to demonstrate to Trump that he is doing everything possible to deal with Trump’s version of the peace plan and at the same time make it digestible for Ukrainian society,” Nedelcu said.

At the heart of Zelensky’s challenge are key points of conflict, primarily the fate of Ukrainian-controlled territory in the eastern Donetsk region.

Russia wants Ukraine to cede the territory, something Trump has encouraged Ukraine to do, but opinion polls show that most Ukrainians oppose territorial concessions.

After Sunday’s meeting, Zelensky expressed hope.

“We had an excellent conversation on all topics and appreciate the progress made by the American and Ukrainian teams in recent weeks,” Zelensky stated.

Still, he acknowledged that several proposals remained unresolved in the draft peace agreement, including Donetsk and control of a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant.

When Zelensky arrived in Florida, some Ukrainians feared he would attend another meeting where Trump would pressure him to reach a quick peace deal under conditions imposed by Moscow.

Concern increased when the White House announced unexpectedly that Trump had spoken with Putin.

In October, Trump had a similar unannounced call with Putin shortly before meeting with Zelensky to discuss supplying Ukraine with powerful US cruise missiles.

In that call, Putin appeared to dissuade Trump from selling the missiles. Trump later told Zelensky that Ukraine would not receive weapons during a meeting that European officials described as tense.

Trump said Sunday’s call with Putin had been “good and very productive.”

Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s main foreign policy adviser, declared at a press conference that the conversation had lasted more than an hour.

Ushakov also reiterated the Kremlin’s position that Ukraine should give up territory in Donetsk to achieve peace.

Still, Trump on Sunday refrained from repeating the Kremlin’s demands and did not publicly pressure Ukraine to cede territory and reach a deal quickly.

“This is not a one-day deal,” Trump told reporters.

“It’s a very complex issue.”

Putin and Trump will have another call “in the near future,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.

In Moscow, Putin ordered his generals to continue their advance to capture the city of Zaporizhzhia, in an apparent attempt to increase pressure on Zelensky.

Zaporizhzhia, the regional capital of about 700,000 inhabitants, was relatively far from the scene of the most intense fighting in eastern Ukraine, but Russian troops have recently advanced towards it.

Putin issued the order during a meeting on Monday with senior commanders, who presented reports on the situation on the front.

This was the third time in two weeks that Putin publicly discussed the state of fighting in Ukraine with his senior commanders, highlighting the Kremlin’s effort to project strength and demonstrate to Washington that had an advantage on the battlefield.

On Sunday, Zelensky claimed the peace plan was 90% complete, the same progress he reported before flying to Florida.

He added that Ukraine and its American and European allies were very close to reaching an agreement on the security guarantees Ukraine seeks to prevent further Russian aggression.

The current draft peace plan says the United States, NATO and Europe will provide Ukraine with so-called Article 5-like guarantees, a reference to NATO’s mutual defense clause that requires members of the military alliance to help each other in the event of an attack.

Zelensky claimed that Trump had agreed to give Ukraine guarantees only for 15 years.

“We would very much like the guarantees to be longer,” he told reporters on Monday.

“And I told him we’d really like to look at the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years.”

Nedelcu was more cautious about progress on security guarantees.

He said European allies have not yet agreed on what they could realistically provide to Ukraine to deter another Russian attack, and that talks continue on deploying European troops to Ukraine, a red line for Moscow in any negotiations.

An Article 5-like commitment to defend Ukraine could also prove too vague to be a effective deterrent.

Regarding the territorial issue, Ukraine has offered as a compromise solution the creation of a demilitarized zone from which both Ukrainian and Russian troops would withdraw.

Zelensky said Ukrainians should vote on the proposal in a referendum before a peace deal is finalized, a step that would first require a ceasefire.

Russia has rejected the idea of ​​a ceasefire and has shown no signs of being willing to accept anything short of Ukraine giving up the Donetsk region, including areas that Ukraine still controls.

Asked about progress on resolving the territorial issue, Trump said on Sunday:

“I wouldn’t say ‘agreed’, but we are getting closer to an agreement on that.”

Perhaps the most promising development for Ukraine was Trump’s apparent willingness to hold another round of talks next month in the United States, possibly with European leaders at the table.

In previous negotiations, European leaders were summoned to rescue talks after disagreements between Zelensky and Trump.

Their presence as full participants, rather than late fixers, could help Ukraine strengthen its position.

On Monday, Zelensky outlined an action plan to keep talks on track and reinforce that alignment.

He said he expected American, European and Ukrainian advisers to meet in the coming days, followed by a meeting of European and Ukrainian leaders.

Subsequently, another round of talks would be held with the United States, this time with European participation.

“And after that, if everything moves forward step by step, there will be a meeting in one format or another with the Russians,” Zelensky said.