Kremlin aide praises Trump’s ‘peace efforts’ after Zelenskyy meeting, Putin call

LONDON — Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev praised US President Donald Trump’s “peace efforts” after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to the White House on Sunday to discuss a possible peace deal to end Russia’s large-scale invasion of the country.

“The whole world appreciates the peace efforts of President Trump and his team,” Dmitriev, who also serves as executive director of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and has been closely involved in negotiations with US representatives, said in a post for X.

Dmitriev also criticized what he called “UK and EU warmongers” for their continued support for Ukraine, echoing the Kremlin’s established narrative that seeks to frame US diplomatic efforts as undermined by NATO and European allies.

Trump and Zelenskyy met Sunday at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

Before the meeting, Trump spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov. The call was “organized at Trump’s initiative,” Russian state news agency Tass quoted Ushakov as saying.

After his meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump told reporters that negotiating teams are getting “very close, maybe very close” to reaching a peace deal to end the full-scale invasion of Russia, which Moscow launched in February 2022.

“We had a fantastic meeting. We discussed a lot of things. As you know, I had a great phone call with President Putin that lasted over two hours. We discussed a lot of points and I think we’re getting a lot closer,” Trump said.

The president said the two leaders covered “95%” of the issues needed to end the war. Trump then detailed a call with European leaders after his bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy, indicating that it went well.

The thorniest negotiating issues still appeared unresolved after the White House meeting. Both Trump and Zelenskyy said the issue of Ukraine’s territorial concessions, specifically regarding the eastern Donbas region, had not yet been agreed upon.

Russia wants Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the entire Donbass, which is made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in exchange for a peace deal. Zelenskyy has instead proposed a “demilitarized zone” covering the area.

Trump also again ruled out the idea of ​​an immediate ceasefire to facilitate subsequent peace negotiations, which Ukraine has repeatedly proposed. Instead, Trump indicated sympathy for Putin’s demand for a comprehensive peace deal before any cessation of fighting.

“He feels that look, you know, they’re fighting and stopping and then if they have to start over, which is a possibility, he doesn’t want to be in that position,” Trump said of Putin. “I understand that position.”

However, Zelenskyy gave a positive reading of his White House visit in subsequent social media posts.

“Thank you to President Trump and his team for the negotiations,” he wrote on Telegram. “Thank you to the United States for your support. Together, we have and can implement our vision of a series of steps toward peace.”

Zelenskyy described the talks as “a wonderful meeting,” which included “meaningful discussion on all issues and I very much appreciate the progress made by the Ukrainian and American teams over the past few weeks.”

Zelenskyy also thanked presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who have been leading the White House’s recent shuttle diplomacy.

“We discussed all aspects of the peace framework and achieved significant results. We also discussed the sequence of future actions,” Zelenskyy said.

“We agree that security guarantees are key to achieving lasting peace, and our teams will continue to work on all aspects. We agree that our teams will meet next week to finalize all the issues discussed,” he added.

Trump, Zelenskyy said, agreed to host Ukrainian and European leaders in Washington, D.C., in January to continue talks. “Ukraine is ready for peace,” Zelenskyy said.

Trump said that if things go “really well,” a peace deal could be reached in “a few weeks.” It’s also possible that a breakthrough will never happen.

“But you know, in a few weeks we’ll know one way or another,” Trump said, adding, “It’s been a very difficult negotiation.”

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin and Trump will speak by phone again “in the very near future.” Peskov said the Kremlin did not yet know the outcome of Sunday’s talks in Florida, but said Moscow agrees with Trump’s statement that peace is “significantly closer.”

Regarding a possible call between Putin and Zelenskyy, Peskov said: “There is no talk of such a conversation at the moment.”

Responding to reporters’ questions while returning from Florida on Monday, Zelenskyy gave more details about the ongoing peace talks.

When asked by ABC News if Ukraine has a plan B, Zelenskyy said: “Ukraine has always had a plan A, which is peace.”

“We never wanted war. And in Russia, plan A was war. Therefore, in my opinion, Russia should already think about plan B, about ending the war,” he continued.

Zelenskyy also said he was open to a phone call with Putin, as well as “any option.” that can help end the war.

Talks are underway about U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, Zelenskyy said. The current term of the proposed guarantee is 15 years with the possibility of extension, he added. kyiv is pushing to extend that deadline to 30 or 40 years, Zelenskyy said.

kyiv and Moscow continued their exchange of long-range nighttime attacks into Monday, although their scale was somewhat moderate compared to the large attacks of recent days.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 25 drones into the country overnight, of which 21 were shot down or suppressed. Four drones hit two locations, the air force said.

Sunday night’s attack was the smallest since one launched the night of June 27-28, according to Air Force data analyzed by ABC News.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down at least 112 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Flight restrictions were introduced at airports in Krasnodar, Kaluga and Pskov during the night attacks, Russia’s federal air transport agency Rosaviatsiya said.

ABC News’ Natalia Kushnir, Nataliia Popova, Yulia Drozd and Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.