Territory remains sticking point as Trump, Zelensky discuss how to end Russo-Ukrainian war

As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump are set to meet in Florida to hammer out a plan to end the war in Ukraine, the two leaders face differences on major issues, including territorial, as Russian air raids put increased pressure on kyiv.

Russia struck the capital and other parts of war-torn Ukraine. hundreds of missiles and drones Saturday, cutting power and heat to parts of the city. Zelenskyy called it Russia’s response to U.S.-brokered peace efforts.

Zelensky told reporters he planned to discuss the fate of eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbass region during the meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, as well as the region’s future. Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and other topics.

The Ukrainian president and his delegation arrived in Florida on Saturday evening, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya said on the X social media platform.

“Good evening, Florida!” » wrote Kyslytsya, accompanying the message with a photo of a plane with the name of the American president on the fuselage.

Russia claims more progress on the battlefield

Moscow has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine cede all of Donbas, even areas still under kyiv’s control, and Russian officials have objected to other parts of the latest proposal – raising doubts about whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept the results of Sunday’s negotiations.

Putin said on Saturday that Moscow would continue its war if kyiv did not seek a quick peace. Russia has made steady progress on the battlefield in recent weeks and months, claiming control of several more colonies on Sunday.

Ukraine’s president told Axios on Friday that he still hopes to soften the U.S. proposal for Ukrainian forces to completely withdraw from Donbass. Failing that, Zelensky said the entire 20-point plan, the product of weeks of negotiations, would have to be put to a referendum vote.

The US news site said US officials viewed Zelensky’s willingness to hold a referendum as a major step forward and a sign that he was no longer ruling out territorial concessions – although it said Russia would have to agree to a 60-day ceasefire to allow Ukraine to prepare for and hold such a vote.

A recent poll suggests that Ukrainian voters may also reject the plan.

kyiv residents interviewed by Reuters on Sunday expressed a mix of hope and skepticism about the talks.

“I want this to end, but this is what our side wants,” said Stanyslav, a 44-year-old soldier who declined to give his last name. “We have no leverage in this situation.”

Zelensky’s in-person meeting with Trump, scheduled for 1 p.m. ET, follows weeks of diplomatic efforts. European allies, although sometimes kept on the sidelines, have intensified their efforts to outline the contours of a post-war security guarantee for kyiv that would be supported by the United States.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has often featured in these allied efforts, and on Saturday, before a meeting in Halifax with Zelenskyyhe announced an additional $2.5 billion in economic aid for Ukraine.

Writing on

Points of friction on the territory

kyiv and Washington have agreed on many issues, and Zelensky said Friday that the 20-point plan was 90% complete. But the question of what territory, if any, will be ceded to Russia remains unresolved.

While Moscow insists on recovering the entire Donbas, kyiv wants the map frozen at the current battle lines.

The United States, seeking a compromise, proposed a free economic zone if Ukraine left the zone, although it remains unclear exactly how this zone would work in practical terms.

He also proposed shared control over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where repairs to power lines began after a new local ceasefire brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the agency said Sunday.

Zelenskiy, whose past meetings Relations with Trump have not always been smooth, and his European allies fear the US president will sell out Ukraine and leave European powers footing the bill for supporting a devastated nation, after Russian forces took 12 to 17 square kilometers of its territory per day in 2025.

Russia controls all of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and since its invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago, it has taken control of about 12 percent of its territory, including about 90 percent of Donbass, 75 percent of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and fragments of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to Russian estimates.

Putin said on December 19 that he believed a peace deal should be based on the conditions he had set in 2024: Ukraine withdrawing from all regions of Donbass, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, and kyiv formally abandoning its goal of joining NATO.

Ukrainian officials and European leaders view the war as an imperial-style land grab by Moscow and have warned that if Russia gets its way with Ukraine, it will one day attack NATO members.

The 20-point plan comes from a 28-point plan led by Russiaresulting from discussions between American special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev, and which was made public in November. Subsequent discussions between Ukrainian officials and U.S. negotiators resulted in a 20-point plan, more favorable to kyiv.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who spoke with Zelensky and other European leaders on Saturday, said on social media that their common goal remained “a just and lasting peace” that preserved Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, while strengthening the country’s security and defense capabilities.

Zelensky said he would speak with European leaders after meeting with Trump.