Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump will meet in Florida on Sunday to hammer out a plan to end the war in Ukraine.
Zelenskiy has told journalists that he plans to discuss the fate of the Donbas region during the meeting at Trump’s Florida residence, as well as the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and other topics.
The Ukrainian president and his delegation arrived in Florida late on Saturday, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya said on X.
“Good evening, Florida!” Kyslytsya wrote, accompanying the post with a photo of an aircraft bearing the U.S. president’s surname on the fuselage.
The Ukrainian president told Axios on Friday he still hopes to soften a U.S. proposal for Ukrainian forces to withdraw completely from the Donbas. Failing that, Zelenskiy said the entire 20-point plan, the result of weeks of negotiations, should be put to a referendum vote.
Axios said U.S. officials viewed Zelenskiy’s willingness to hold a referendum as a major step forward and a sign that he was no longer ruling out territorial concessions, although he said Russia would need to agree to a 60-day ceasefire to allow Ukraine to prepare for and hold such a vote. A recent poll suggests that Ukrainian voters may also reject the plan.
Zelenskiy’s in-person meeting with Trump, scheduled for 1 p.m. (1800 GMT), follows weeks of diplomatic efforts. European allies have stepped up efforts to sketch out the contours of a post-war security guarantee for Kyiv that would be supported by the United States.
Zelenskiy said he would speak with European leaders again after his meeting with Trump.
