US President Donald Trump has asserted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is “not ready” to approve a US-crafted peace plan intended to end the Russia-Ukraine war, expressing frustration that Zelensky has not yet fully engaged with the proposal.
Trump’s remarks came after three days of negotiations in Florida between US and Ukrainian officials aimed at narrowing differences over Washington’s plan. Speaking to reporters on Sunday night ahead of the Kennedy Center Honors, Trump suggested that Zelensky was holding up progress.
“I’m a little disappointed that President Zelensky still hasn’t read the proposal as of a few hours ago,” Trump said. “His people like it, but he hasn’t embraced it.”
He added, “Russia, I believe, is fine with it, but I’m not sure Zelensky is. His people support it. But he’s not ready.”
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not publicly backed the plan. In fact, he previously criticized elements of Trump’s proposal as unworkable, despite the initial draft reportedly leaning in Moscow’s favor.
Since beginning his second term, Trump has had a strained relationship with Zelensky, frequently arguing that the conflict is a misuse of US taxpayer funds. He has repeatedly urged Ukraine to concede territory to Russia to bring an end to the nearly four-year war, which he says has caused unacceptable loss of life.
Following the Florida talks, Zelensky said on Saturday that he had a “substantive phone call” with US and Ukrainian officials involved in the negotiations. He wrote on social media that Ukraine “remains committed to working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace.”
Trump’s comments coincided with Russia’s positive reception of the new US national security strategy. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the updated document—outlining the administration’s key foreign policy priorities aligns closely with Russia’s perspective.
Peskov highlighted that the strategy includes “statements against confrontation and in favor of dialogue and developing good relations,” expressing hope that it could foster “constructive cooperation with Washington on resolving the Ukraine issue.”
The White House strategy, released Friday, describes improving US-Russia relations and ending the war as central objectives necessary to restore “strategic stability.”
Meanwhile, outgoing US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday, suggested peace efforts were approaching a conclusion. He said two major issues remain unresolved: territorial questions primarily in the Donbas and the status of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Russia currently occupies most of the Donbas region, which it annexed three years ago, as well as the Zaporizhzhia facility, which is offline but still needs reliable power to keep its reactors cooled.
Kellogg did not participate in the Florida discussions and is set to leave his position in January.
Separately, the leaders of the UK, France, and Germany are scheduled to meet Zelensky in London on Monday.
As the Florida talks ended, Russian missile, drone, and artillery strikes late Saturday and Sunday killed at least four people in Ukraine. Attacks on infrastructure in Kremenchuk, a central city, caused power and water outages.
Kyiv and its Western partners accuse Russia of attempting once again to devastate Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter, a tactic Ukrainian officials describe as “weaponizing” the cold. Additionally, three people were killed and 10 wounded on Sunday in shelling in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
