Mar-a-Lago talks target peace deal by new year

European leaders may take part online tomorrow as Zelensky looks to 'finalise' an agreement he says is '90% completed'

- ALEX CROFT

Volodymyr Zelensky will meet US president Donald Trump at his residence in Florida tomorrow for crucial talks amid growing optimism in Kyiv that a peace deal may be nearing completion.

The Ukrainian president announced yesterday that he would meet Mr Trump at his Mara-Lago resort to discuss critical stumbling blocks, including territorial disputes and security guarantees.

“This meeting is specifically for the purpose of finalising everything as much as we can,” Mr Zelensky said, adding that “a lot can be decided before the new year”.

“As for the sensitive issues: we will discuss both Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. We will certainly discuss other issues as well,” he told reporters in a WhatsApp chat.

Mr Zelensky said that his 20-point peace plan was “90 per cent ready”, expressing hopes that it could be signed off by Mr Trump ahead of the new year. European leaders may join the talks online, he added.

Moscow has spoken with Washington about the Ukrainian proposals for a peace deal, the Kremlin said, after Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev brought back copies of the proposals from Miami last week.