Ukraine's Zelenskyy says progress in US-led peace talks is 'quite solid'

Initial drafts of U.S. proposals for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia meet many of Kyiv's demands, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, although he suggested that neither side in the almost four-year war is likely to get everything it wants in talks on reaching a settlement.

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"Overall, it looks quite solid at this stage," the Ukrainian leader said of recent talks with U.S. officials who are trying to steer the neighboring countries toward compromises.

"There are some things we are probably not ready for, and I'm sure there are things the Russians are not ready for either," Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv.

U.S. President Donald Trump has for months been pushing for a peace agreement, but the negotiations have run into sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday he held "productive and constructive" talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives, though Trump was less effusive the following day, saying, "The talks are going along."

"We are talking. It's going OK," Trump said Monday while on vacation at his Mara-Lago estate in Florida. Asked if he planned to speak to Zelenskyy or Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump didn't say, offering only of the fighting, "I'd like to see it stopped."