Trump holds a call with Putin day after his meeting with Zelensky on peace deal

United States President Donald Trump on Monday held a “positive call” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“President Trump has concluded a positive call with President Putin concerning Ukraine,” she posted on X.

This comes after Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's meeting at Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that produced no definitive breakthrough, but the US president praised what he described as “a lot of progress” toward a potential peace agreement, according to Bloomberg.

After meeting the Ukrainian leader, Trump said he was confident that a deal was “getting a lot closer", though he noted it could take a few weeks to finalise and that there was no fixed timeline. Zelensky said on Sunday that the peace plan was “90% agreed".

‘Strong security guarantees from US, package of support for Ukraine after war ends’

Zelensky stated that they have been working with the United States on a sequencing plan that outlines the order of actions, explaining that their approach is to proceed step by step by deciding what needs to be finalised and when, in coordination with their partners.

"First and foremost, we now want to hold a meeting at the national security advisors' level in the coming days. Rustem Umerov has already reached out to the advisors - American and European. And I believe that this meeting will be held in Ukraine," he said.

He said the next step would be to prepare all documents at the advisers’ level, followed by a meeting of European leaders, initially with Ukraine and then in a broader format that would include the Coalition of the Willing and other partners.

Zelensky stated that discussions on this began immediately after his meeting with Trump, noting that he had already contacted President Macron and several other partners and would continue those consultations.

He said that at the meeting, the documents would be finalised at the leaders’ level, after which preparations would be made for a meeting with President Trump and European leaders. He mentioned that there was a serious commitment to holding these meetings in January and that, if the process moved forward step by step, it would eventually lead to a meeting with the Russians in one format or another, noting readiness for the formats already discussed.

"Our teams have discussed this, and yesterday we agreed with the President of the United States that we will have strong security guarantees from the United States. At present, they are not permanent. In the documents, the guarantees are set for 15 years, with the possibility of extension. I raised this issue with the President. I told him that our war has already been going on for more than a decade, and therefore, we would very much like the guarantees to last longer," Zelensky continued.

He said they wanted to explore the option of arrangements lasting 30, 40, or even 50 years, describing it as a potentially historic decision by Trump, and added that the US president indicated Washington would consider the proposal.

He also said the meeting with Trump resulted in confirmation of strong security guarantees, noting that Trump endorsed the details worked out by the negotiating teams and agreed that these guarantees would be put to a vote in the US Congress, calling it a very strong agreement.

"Second, we discussed a package of support for Ukraine's recovery after the war ends. An economic package. This includes the entry of American business, special conditions for Ukraine's development and reconstruction, and the development of a free trade agreement with the United States. The President of the United States also confirmed this. And we are very close to another result in the 20-point plan," he concluded.