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President Donald Trump speaks at a Kennedy Center Honors reception on December 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. | Photo Credit: AP
Mr. Trump was critical of Mr. Zelenskyy after U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators completed three days of talks on Saturday (December 6, 2025) aimed at trying to narrow differences on the U.S. administration’s proposal. But in an exchange with reporters on Sunday (December 7, 2025) night, Mr. Trump suggested that the Ukrainian leader is holding up the talks from moving forward.
“I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn’t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago. His people love it, but he hasn’t,” Mr. Trump claimed in an exchange with reporters before taking part in the Kennedy Centre Honours. The President added, “Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I’m not sure that Zelenskyy’s fine with it. His people love it it. But he isn’t ready.”
To be certain, Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t publicly expressed approval for the White House plan. In fact, Mr. Putin last week had said that aspects of Mr. Trump’s proposal were unworkable, even though the original draft heavily favoured Moscow.
Mr. Trump has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Mr. Zelenskyy since riding into a second White House term insisting that the war was a waste of U.S. taxpayer money. Mr. Trump has also repeatedly urged the Ukrainians to cede land to Russia to bring an end to a now nearly four-year conflict he says has cost far too many lives.
Mr. Zelenskyy said Saturday (December 6, 2025) he had a “substantive phone call” with the American officials engaged in the talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Florida. He said he had been given an update over the phone by U.S. and Ukrainian officials at the talks.
“Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace,” Mr. Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
Mr. Trump’s criticism of Mr. Zelenskyy came as Russia on Sunday (December 7, 2025) welcomed the Trump administration’s new national security strategy in comments by the Kremlin spokesman published by Russia’s Tass news agency.
Dmitry Peskov said the updated strategic document, which spells out the administration’s core foreign policy interests, was largely in line with Moscow’s vision.
“There are statements there against confrontation and in favour of dialogue and building good relations,” he said, adding that Russia hopes this would lead to “further constructive cooperation with Washington on the Ukrainian settlement.”
The document released Friday (December 5, 2025) by the White House said the U.S. wants to improve its relationship with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah and that ending the war is a core U.S. interest to “reestablish strategic stability with Russia.”
Speaking on Saturday (December 6, 2025) at the Reagan National Defense Forum, Mr. Trump’s outgoing Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, said efforts to end the war were in “the last 10 metres.”
He said a deal depended on the two outstanding issues of “terrain, primarily the Donbas,” and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Russia controls most of Donbas, its name for the Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk regions, which, along with two southern regions, it illegally annexed three years ago. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and is not in service. It needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel, to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.
Mr. Kellogg, who is due to leave his post in January, was not present at the talks in Florida.
Separately, officials said the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Germany would participate in a meeting with Zelenskyy in London on Monday (December 8, 2025).
Published – December 08, 2025 08:01 am IST
