U.S., Ukraine close to agreeing on ‘lengthy’ security guarantees

Dec. 29 (UPI) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that he asked U.S. President Donald Trump to extend America’s security guarantee against future Russian aggression by an additional 35 years during key peace negotiations at Mar-a-Lago.

Zelensky said the request was to increase the duration of the guarantee to 50 years from the 15 years in the current 20-point-plan under discussion at Sunday’s two-and-a-half-hour-long talks, which senior European leaders joined remotely.

In an upbeat news conference afterward, both men hailed what they said was the great progress that had been made but with a slight gap in their assessment, with Trump saying they were “close to 95%” agreed on the issue, whereas Zelensky said it was “100% agreed.”

Neither Zelensky nor Trump referenced specific durations of time regarding guarantees, but Trump stressed that he expected European countries to step up and “take over a big part” of the responsibility for the guarantees — with U.S. support.

However, the pair conceded other “thorny issues” remained, principally land, including the question of Ukraine’s Donbas region, with an ongoing gap between the Russians who want Ukraine to hand it over — including areas it still controls — and Ukraine, which has ruled it out.

“Some of that land has been taken. Some of that land is maybe up for grabs, but it may be taken [captured] over the next period of a number of months, and you are better off making a deal now,” Trump said.

Zelensky said a compromise plan under which areas from which Ukrainian forces withdrew would become a demilitarized economic zone might work but that it would have to be approved by the Ukrainian people, or parliament at a minimum.

Russia has already ruled out parts of the 20-point-plan, among others, the security guarantees and a cease-fire to allow Ukraine to hold a referendum.

Trump said that following a phone call with Putin prior to Sunday’s talks, he was clear on Putin’s position, including his opposition to a cease-fire, saying he understood Putin’s thinking on the issue.

However, he said talks between the United States, Russia and Ukraine, previously thought to be out of the question due to Putin and Zelensky ruling it out, would be possible “at the right time”.

Sunday’s developments received a mixed response from Moscow and European capitals.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it would only be possible to know how the talks went after Trump and Putin held a follow-up phone call, which he said they had agreed on.

“After these talks, the two presidents — I mean the President of Russia and the President of the United States — agreed to have a phone call again. Then we’ll get the information.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told European partners the Florida talks had yielded “good progress” but reiterated the need for “ironclad security guarantees” for Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Kyiv’s allies would take up the issue of security guarantees at a meeting scheduled to take place in Paris in January.

Sunday’s convivial talks hosted at Trump’s home in Palm Beach were in marked contrast to a tense meeting in the White House in February, which descended into a yelling match between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelensky.