KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said Friday that he would meet this weekend with President Donald Trump, as Ukraine and the United States try to maintain momentum in U.S.-led efforts to end the war with Russia.

There was no immediate confirmation from the White House. But in a post on social media announcing the meeting, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was busy pushing ahead with the peace talks, adding that “a lot can be decided before the New Year.”

Speaking later with reporters, Zelenskyy cited a “broad agenda” for the meeting with Trump, which the Ukrainian leader said would take place in Florida, most likely on Sunday. Topics of discussion, he said, will include what he has called the two biggest sticking points between Washington and Ukraine in the peace negotiations: the fate of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and control of a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant.

Ukraine has been pushing for a meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump for weeks, as the United States restarted its diplomatic efforts. Trump had said he would meet with Zelenskyy only once the two sides were close to reaching an agreement on a peace deal.

This week, Zelenskyy unveiled a revised 20-point plan to end the war. The proposal, developed with the United States, covers a wide range of issues, including security guarantees that Ukraine wants to prevent future Russian aggression.

While Zelenskyy has acknowledged the sticking points on territory and the power plant, an even bigger issue is whether Russia will agree to the draft at all. Analysts have said the Kremlin is unlikely to accept it.

‘Slow but Stead’

A spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that there had been “slow ​but steady progress” in negotiations with the United States.

Moscow, though, has shown little indication that it is willing to end the war, continuing its bombardment of Ukrainian towns and cities unabated. On Friday afternoon, Russian glide bombs hit a busy road in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. Local Ukrainian authorities said at least two people were killed and several others injured in the attack, which set cars ablaze.

Zelenskyy said Friday he could not spend time thinking about whether Russia would ultimately agree to the peace plan.

“Why? Because Russia is constantly looking for reasons not to agree,” he said. “The answer is very simple: If Ukraine demonstrates its position and it is constructive, while Russia, for example, does not agree, then it means the pressure is insufficient. And this is also something I want to discuss with the president of the United States.”

To draw a contrast with the unbending Russian position, Zelenskyy has been eager to show that he is fully behind Trump’s push for peace and is willing to make compromises, including on the territorial issues. The Ukrainian leader has said that Russia should face severe consequences, including new sanctions and increased Western military support for Ukraine, if it rebuffs the latest peace efforts.

Talks between Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators have continued after Zelenskyy detailed the 20-point plan this week. He said it would be presented by the United States to the Kremlin.

In his nightly address Thursday, Zelenskyy said that diplomacy in the coming weeks could be “intensive.” He added that he had spoken for nearly an hour earlier that day with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.

“We went into many details; there are good ideas, which we discussed,” Zelenskyy said. “We have some new ideas in terms of formats, meetings, and, of course, timing on how to bring a real peace closer.”

The 20-point plan is a result of the Trump administration’s latest flurry of diplomacy, which got underway in the fall. Trump initially set a deadline of Thanksgiving for Ukraine to agree to a peace deal with Russia.

But even as Trump has claimed on several occasions this year that a settlement could be close, he has been frustrated by President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to give ground on his far-reaching demands. Those include Putin’s insistence that Russia be handed Ukrainian territory that Moscow’s forces have been unable to capture, and his demand that Ukraine agree to measures that would undermine its sovereignty.

Earlier this week, Zelenskyy told reporters that he was willing to pull his troops back from areas of the Donbas region still under Ukraine’s control and turn those areas into a demilitarized zone as part of a possible peace deal. He would do so, he said, only on one condition: that Russia pull its forces from an equivalent area of land.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Cassandra Vinograd/Tyler Hicks
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