WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – In a significant diplomatic gesture, President Donald Trump is set to welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Scheduled for Sunday, this meeting aims to forge a peace agreement to halt the nearly four-year conflict ignited by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This high-stakes dialogue takes place as Trump enjoys the holiday season predominantly engaged in golf.

The agenda for the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy primarily focuses on security and economic accords, with an emphasis on the contentious territorial issues that have kept Moscow and Kyiv at loggerheads, particularly concerning the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Despite the festive setting, the seriousness of their discussions is underscored by recent escalations in the conflict.

In the days leading up to this crucial meeting, Russia has intensified its offensive on Ukraine, launching missile and drone attacks on Kyiv. These aggressive maneuvers are widely seen as attempts to pressure Zelenskyy amidst negotiations.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy, in a post on X, expressed Ukraine’s determination to seek a resolution: “Ukraine is willing to do whatever it takes to stop this war. We need to be strong at the negotiating table.” His message conveyed a duality of peace aspiration and the stark reality of Russia’s continued aggression.

Further emphasizing Ukraine’s stance, Zelenskyy declared, “We want peace, and Russia demonstrates a desire to continue the war. If the whole world — Europe and America — is on our side, together we will stop” Russian President Vladimir Putin. These words highlight the critical role of international support in Kyiv’s strategy.

In a related development, Zelenskyy met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Saturday. During their discussions, Zelenskyy articulated that the path to peace hinges on exerting pressure on Russia and ensuring robust backing for Ukraine. In a show of solidarity, Carney pledged an additional $2.5 billion Canadian (approximately US$1.8 billion) in economic aid to assist Ukraine’s recovery efforts.

Denouncing the “barbarism” of Russia’s latest attacks on Kyiv, Carney credited both Zelenskyy and Trump with creating the conditions for a “just and lasting peace” at a crucial moment.

Trump and Zelenskyy sitting down face-to-face also underscored the apparent progress made by Trump’s top negotiators in recent weeks as the sides traded draft peace plans and continued to shape a proposal to end the fighting. Zelenskyy told reporters Friday that the 20-point draft proposal negotiators have discussed is “about 90% ready” — echoing a figure, and the optimism, that U.S. officials conveyed when Trump’s chief negotiators met with Zelenskyy in Berlin earlier this month.

During the recent talks, the U.S. agreed to offer certain security guarantees to Ukraine similar to those offered to other members of NATO. The proposal came as Zelenskyy said he was prepared to drop his country’s bid to join the security alliance if Ukraine received NATO-like protection that would be designed to safeguard it against future Russian attacks.

‘Intensive’ weeks ahead

Zelenskyy also spoke on Christmas Day with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. The Ukrainian leader said in a post on X that they discussed “certain substantive details of the ongoing work” and cautioned in a subsequent post that “there is still work to be done on sensitive issues” and “the weeks ahead may also be intensive.”

The U.S. president has been working to end the war in Ukraine for much of his first year back in office, showing irritation with both Zelenskyy and Putin while publicly acknowledging the difficulty of ending the conflict. Long gone are the days when, as a candidate in 2024, he boasted that he could resolve the fighting in a day.

After hosting Zelenskyy at the White House in October, Trump demanded that both Russia and Ukraine halt fighting and “stop at the battle line,” implying that Moscow should be able to keep the territory it has seized from Ukraine.

Before Sunday’s meeting, Zelenskyy said the key issues that remain unresolved between Ukraine and the U.S. include questions surrounding territory, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and funding for Ukraine’s postwar recovery. He said there also are outstanding technical matters related to security guarantees and monitoring mechanisms.

Ukraine has conveyed its position to the U.S., Zelenskyy said, adding that Trump administration officials would relay that to Russia.

Zelenskyy also said last week that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday that the Kremlin had already been in contact with U.S.

“It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue,” he said.

Putin wants Russian gains kept, and more

Putin has publicly said he wants all the areas in four key regions that have been captured by his forces, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory. He also has insisted that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow’s forces haven’t captured. Kyiv has publicly rejected all those demands.

The Kremlin also wants Ukraine to abandon its bid to join NATO. It warned that it wouldn’t accept the deployment of any troops from members of the military alliance and would view them as a “legitimate target.”

Putin also has said Ukraine must limit the size of its army and give official status to the Russian language, demands he has made from the outset of the conflict.

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told the business daily Kommersant this month that Russian police and national guard would stay in parts of Donetsk -– one of the two major areas, along with Luhansk, that make up the Donbas region — even if they become a demilitarized zone under a prospective peace plan.

Ushakov cautioned that trying to reach a compromise could take a long time. He said U.S. proposals that took into account Russian demands had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.

Trump has been somewhat receptive to Putin’s demands, making the case that the Russian president can be persuaded to end the war if Kyiv agrees to cede Ukrainian land in the Donbas region and if Western powers offer economic incentives to bring Russia back into the global economy.

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Kim reported from Washington and Morton from London. Associated Press writers Illia Novikov in Kyiv and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.