Sunday December 28, 2025 | PALM BEACH, FLORIDA [Reporting from Canada] | Posted at 12:40 pm PT |Updated 2:15 pm PT
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Update 2 pm PT: Trump & Zelenskyy hold joint press conference after the meeting (starting around 1:58 pm PT).
- No concrete conclusions or peace plan, but both sides said they have made a lot of progress.
- Quotes by President Trump: “Jared and Mike are working very hard to get something done.” | “It’s time to end (the war between Russia and Ukraine) — a lot of people are dead.” | “President Putin is working with Ukraine to get it open” (re nuclear plant in Ukraine); that’s a big step when he’s not bombing that plant”. | “The Ukraine Working group will be working with Russia.” | “It’s a very complex one. It’s very detailed. I think we’ll get it done.” | “I’m doing it to save lives.” | He mentioned being pleased about a rare earth contract. | “I’m on the side of stopping the war.” | Trump said his [hone call discussion with Russian President Putin ahead of today’s meeting with Zelenskyy was 2.5 hours long.
- Comments by President Zelenskky: There are six documents. The Ukraine working group will continue. He highlighted the cost and complexity of necessary infrastructure.
As first posted at 12:40 pm Dec 28/25:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is being hosted by US President Donald Trump in Florida today.
A handshake photo-op was held outside the front doors of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home around 1:30 pm ET as well as a photo-op of the two leaders seated around a dining room table with administration officials and allies ahead of a working lunch about the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
More specifically, the details of a 20-point peace plan is up for discussion. Any visible evidence of success on that would be a sustained ceasefire which Russia — so far — has shown no interest (e.g. a major drone and missile attack on Kviv just two days ago).
Yesterday in Halifax, Zelenskyy was hosted by Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney as part of a virtual meeting with European and other leaders who participate in the Coalition of the Willing. That meeting showed backing and support for Zelenskyy one day ahead of the Ukrainian leader’s upcoming high-stakes meeting with Trump.
Outside of Ukraine itself, the Coalition of the Willing members are the countries that will be most directly impacted by continued conflict in Ukraine (by virtue of sharing borders or geographical proximity) and more broadly the countries that lead in terms of maintaining world democracy.
Points forward today:
US President Donald Trump told media that he believes that both Ukraine and Russia want to strike a deal and that negotiations are nearing their final stages.
Asked by media today wehther meeting will lead to a deal, Trump said: “It depends. I do believe we have the makings of a deal,” he said.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has proved “difficult” to solve, he added, but “we’re going to get it done; we’re going to have a great meeting today.”
Zelenskyy today will be expecting to hear more on security guarantees which will be needed for protecting Ukraine now, ending the war, and maintaining peace after a presumed coming end to the war.
Land concessions may be quite understandably the sticking point — will Ukraine need to give up some land invaded by Russia in order for active warfare to stop.
“This war will end or it will go on for a long time,” said Trump, as an indication of how delicate the negotiations are at this point.
The war started in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine, unprovoked.
Russia in today’s mix:
It’s presumed that a potential peace deal would require buy-in from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia’s President spoke with Trump by phone today ahead of Zelensky’s visit.
The two leaders have agreed to speak again after today’s meeting in Florida.
News media:
Reporters on site at Mar-a-Lago were offered lunch by Trump at the end of a brief photo-op in the dining room meeting.
While this might seem like an insignificant thing, it reflects some movement on the adversarial relationship between political leaders and mainstream media, where anything resembling a favour is considered worthy of suspect.
However, without media coverage, where would politicians be? Yes they can rely on their own public relations but the public needs journalism as the authenticity filter.
===== RELATED:
- Canada backs Ukraine with $2.5 billion to unlock financing for defence efforts (December 27, 2025)
- Carney to meet with Zelenskyy in Halifax Dec 27 (December 27, 2025)
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