Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on December 26 that he has agreed to hold a meeting with US President Donald Trump "in the near future," as Washington accelerates efforts to broker a peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow.
Zelenskyy announced the planned meeting on social media, saying he received a report from National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov about new contacts with US officials.
“We are not losing a single day. We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level –- with President Trump in the near future,” Zelenskyy said, adding that “much could be decided before the New Year.” Trump has not publicly confirmed plans for such a meeting.
Zelenskyy is expected to travel to Florida as early as December 28 for high-stakes talks at Mar-a-Lago, sources told the Kyiv Post.
The announcement came a day after Zelenskyy said he had held a phone call with Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss “good ideas for lasting peace.” According to Zelenskyy, the call also included Umerov, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Andriy Hnatov, and Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha.
“We discussed some key details of the work. There are good ideas that could help achieve a common result and lasting peace. Real security, real recovery, real peace -- that’s what we all need,” Zelenskyy wrote.
This comes as US, Ukrainian, and European negotiators work on a 20-point peace framework aimed at ending the war with Russia.
The plan, unveiled by Zelenskyy earlier this week, includes provisions on security guarantees for Ukraine, reconstruction, and a roadmap to cease hostilities. Representatives from Russia also took part in US-hosted discussions in Miami on December 20–21, though the Kremlin later cautioned against viewing the talks as a breakthrough.
Bloomberg, citing a source close to the Kremlin, reported that Moscow intends to seek amendments to the current 20-point plan to secure guarantees against NATO’s further eastward expansion and to ensure Ukraine will maintain a neutral status if it joins the European Union.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on December 26 that Moscow had analyzed information provided to Russian President Vladimir Putin by his special envoy Kirill Dmitriev after talks in Miami, and that, on Putin's instructions contacts have already taken place between Russian and US officials.
Peskov added that the sides had agreed to continue the dialogue, noting that Russia was represented by Yury Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy aide, while the White House was represented by several interlocutors.
Meanwhile, according to Ukrainian officials, Russia has continued to strike Ukraine in recent days, escalating attacks on the southern Odesa region.
Russian forces launched an Iskander-M missile and 99 attack drones at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force reported.
"Today, the enemy attacked our city again," Serhiy Lysak, the head of the Odesa military administration said on December 26, adding that a drone attack hit an infrastructure facility in the city, causing a fire.
The Russian overnight strikes damaged vessels flying the flags of Slovakia, Palau, and Liberia in ports in Ukraine's Odesa and Mykolayiv regions, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba reported on Telegram.
The Russian Army carried out a missile strike on the central Ukrainian city of Uman in the Cherkasy region, according to the regional authorities.
Six people, including two children, were injured, and residential infrastructure was damaged, the governor of Cherkasy region, Ihor Taburets, wrote on Telegram on December 26.
A bipartisan group of US senators has condemned Russia's attacks on Ukrainian civilians during the Christmas holiday.
"We condemn Russia's brutal attacks on Kherson, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, Donetsk, and Kryviy Rih waged on innocent Ukrainians," the statement released on December 25 said.
"Even for countries at war, there is a long history of Christmas cease-fires, including notably during World War I. Today's decision by Putin to launch attacks rather than hold fire is a sobering reminder for us all: Putin is a ruthless murderer who has no interest in peace and cannot be trusted," the statement added.
