US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he believes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is “reasonably close” to agreeing to his administration’s plan to end the Russian war.
“We think we have a way to make peace, he’s going to have to approve it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he hosted New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
“I think they’re reasonably close, but I don’t want to make predictions,” he added.
Earlier on Friday, Zelensky said Kiev had intensified talks with Washington on the US proposal to end the war, after a nearly hour-long call with US Vice President J.D. Vance and US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.
In a statement on Telegram, Zelensky said the sides had “managed to cover a lot of the details of the US side’s proposal to end the war,” adding that Ukraine was working to ensure that the path forward was “dignified and really effective for achieving lasting peace.”
He expressed gratitude to Washington for its “attention and readiness to cooperate with us and our partners,” noting that Ukraine, the United States and European states agreed to continue coordination “at the level of national security advisers to make the path to peace truly achievable.”
“Ukraine has always respected and continues to respect the desire of US President Donald Trump to end the bloodshed, and we look positively at any realistic proposal,” he said, stressing that the parties agreed to maintain constant contact and that the teams were “ready to work 24/7.”
Zelensky’s statements come amid discussions on the outlines of the proposal drawn up by the United States and Kiev’s insistence that any solution must guarantee a sustainable and just peace.
Trump had previously said he thought November 27 was an “appropriate” deadline for Ukraine to respond.
