These are the key developments from day 1,404 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.Published On 29 Dec 202529 Dec 2025Click here to share on social mediashare2ShareHere is where things stand on Monday, December 29:Diplomacy
United States President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and said the two leaders were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump and Zelenskyy reported progress on two of the most contentious issues in the peace talks: security guarantees for Ukraine and the division of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region that Russia has sought to capture.
On security guarantees, Zelenskyy said that a deal had been reached, while Trump said they were 95 percent of the way to such an agreement.
Both Trump and Zelenskyy said that the future of the mostly Russian-occupied Donbas had not been settled, though the US president said discussions were “moving in the right direction”. “It’s unresolved, but it’s getting a lot closer. That’s a very tough issue,” Trump said.
The two leaders did not offer further details or a deadline for completing the deal, but Zelenskyy said any peace agreement would have to be approved by Ukraine’s parliament or by a referendum.
Shortly after the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, wrote on X that the “whole world appreciates” Trump and his team’s peace efforts.
Ahead of the meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump and Putin spoke for more than two hours on the telephone. The US president described the call as “excellent” and “productive”.
Trump said he would call Putin again after the meeting with Zelenskyy.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said the initial call was “friendly” and that Putin had told Trump that a 60-day ceasefire, proposed by the European Union and Ukraine, would simply prolong the war.
Ushakov said that a “bold, responsible, political decision is needed from Kyiv” on the Donbas region and other disputed matters for there to be a “complete cessation” of hostilities.
European leaders, including those from Finland, France, Germany, Poland an …
