FIRST REACTION FROM THE KREMLIN AFTER THE FLORIDA MEETING: Here is what Ukraine should do if it wants peace!

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that a new telephone conversation between Vladimir Putin and the US president is expected soon, following their conversation yesterday ahead of the summit in Florida.

On Monday, the Kremlin said that Ukraine should withdraw its troops from parts of Donbas that it still holds if it wants peace and warned that otherwise it could lose even more territory. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that another telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Donald Trump is planned soon, after Trump held a meeting yesterday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

After Sunday’s talks, which he called productive, the American president said that he would speak again with his Russian counterpart following talks with Ukraine.

The Kremlin, as reported, agrees with Trump’s claim that peace is much closer, and Peskov added that negotiations on Ukraine are in their final phase.

However, they reiterated their demand that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the Donbas region if it wants peace, and that if Kyiv fails to reach an agreement, it will lose more territory.

Zelensky asked Trump for 50-year security guarantees

The Ukrainian president told reporters that the peace plan includes US security guarantees for 15 years. However, Zelensky asked Trump for guarantees of up to 50 years, indicating differences between the parties, Sky News writes.

Given that Zelensky said at a press conference that security guarantees between the US and Ukraine are now “100% agreed,” it can be concluded that the Ukrainian president accepted Trump’s fifteen-year offer.

However, it should be noted that it is still unclear exactly what the US is offering in terms of these guarantees.

Conclusions of the Florida meeting

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky said that progress toward ending the war in Ukraine was made during talks in Florida, but the American president acknowledged that the issue of territory remains “unresolved.”

While both Trump and Zelensky described the meeting as “excellent,” Trump warned that “one or two very sensitive issues” remain open—primarily land and border issues.

Speaking to reporters at Mar-a-Lago, Zelensky said that “90 percent” of the 20-point peace plan has been agreed, while Trump claimed that security guarantees for Ukraine are “almost 95 percent complete.”

Zelensky later added that American and Ukrainian negotiating teams will meet next week to continue talks on issues aimed at ending Russia’s nearly four-year war with Ukraine.

“We had a substantive conversation on all topics and greatly appreciate the progress that the Ukrainian and American teams have made over the past few weeks,” Zelensky said in a statement published on Telegram.

Donbas – the stumbling block to peace

The proposal to turn the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, which Russia largely controls, into a demilitarized zone remains “unresolved,” Trump said.

“Part of that territory has already been occupied,” he told reporters after the meeting. “Fighting is still ongoing over part of it—it can be the subject of negotiations or it can be occupied in the next few months.”

Russia currently controls about 75 percent of the Donetsk region and nearly 99 percent of the neighboring Luhansk region. These regions are jointly known as Donbas.

Moscow demands that Ukraine withdraw from the small portion of Donbas it still controls, while Kyiv insists that the area could become a free economic zone under the control of Ukrainian forces.

Trump has repeatedly changed his stance on lost Ukrainian territories. In September, he surprised analysts by saying that Ukraine could regain these territories, only to later retract that claim.

“It is an extremely difficult issue,” he said. “But an issue that will be resolved.”