By Andrea Shalal and Gram Slattery
PALM BEACH, Florida, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday, hoping to forge a plan to end the war in Ukraine, but the American leader's call with Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly before the meeting suggests obstacles to peace remain.
Zelenskiy has said he hopes to soften a U.S. proposal for Ukrainian forces to withdraw completely from the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, a Russian demand that would mean ceding some territory held by Ukrainian forces.
Just before Zelenskiy and his delegation arrived at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, the U.S. and Russian presidents spoke in a call described as "productive" by Trump and "friendly" by Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.
Ushakov, in Moscow, said Putin told Trump a 60-day ceasefire proposed by the European Union and Ukraine would prolong the war. The Kremlin aide also said Ukraine needs to make a quick decision about land in the Donbas.
MEETING FOLLOWS RUSSIAN ATTACKS ON KYIV
Zelenskiy arrived at Mar-a-Lago early on Sunday afternoon, as Russian air raids pile pressure on Kyiv.
Russia hit the capital and other parts of Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drones on Saturday, knocking out power and heat in parts of Kyiv. Zelenskiy has described the weekend attacks as Russia's response to the U.S.-brokered peace efforts, but Trump on Sunday said he believes Putin and Zelenskiy are serious about peace.
"I do think we have the makings of a deal," Trump said. "We have two willing countries. We are in the final stages of talking," Trump said.
The U.S. president said he will call Putin again after meeting with Zelenskiy.
Zelenskiy had previously told journalists he plans to discuss the fate of the contested Donbas region with Trump, as well as the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and other topics.
RUSSIA CLAIMS MORE BATTLEFIELD ADVANCES
Putin said on Saturday Moscow would continue waging its war if Kyiv did not seek a quick peace. Russia has steadily advanced on the battlefield in recent months, claiming control over several more settlements on Sunday.
While Kyiv and Washington have agreed on many issues, the issue of what territory, if any, will be ceded to Russia remains unresolved. While Moscow insists on getting all of the Donbas, Kyiv wants the map frozen at current battle lines.
The U.S., seeking a compromise, has proposed a free economic zone if Ukraine leaves the area, although it remains unclear how that zone would function in practical terms.
U.S. negotiators have also proposed shared control over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Power line repairs have begun there after another local ceasefire brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the agency said on Sunday.
Russia controls all of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and since its invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago has taken control of about 12% of its territory, including about 90% of Donbas, 75% of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and slivers of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to Russian estimates.
Putin said on December 19 that a peace deal should be based on conditions he set out in 2024: Ukraine withdrawing from all of the Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and Kyiv officially renouncing its aim to join NATO.
Zelenskiy's past encounters with Trump have not always gone smoothly, but Sunday's meeting follows weeks of diplomatic efforts. European allies, while at times cut out of the loop, have stepped up efforts to sketch out the contours of a post-war security guarantee for Kyiv that the United States would support.
Asked by a reporter if he was prepared to sign a security guarantee on Sunday, Trump called that a dumb question. "No one knows what the security agreement will say," Trump said.
On Sunday, ahead of the Mar-a-Lago visit, Zelenskiy said he held a detailed phone call with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump and Zelenskiy will hold a phone call with European leaders at some point during the Florida meeting, Trump said.
The 20-point plan was spun off from a Russian-led 28-point plan, which emerged from talks between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev, and which became public in November.
Subsequent talks between Ukrainian officials and U.S. negotiators have produced the more Kyiv-friendly 20-point plan.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Palm Beach, Florida and Gram Slattery in Washington; Additional reporting by Dan Peleschuk and Vladyslav Smilianets in Kyiv; Editing by Sergio Non, Edmund Klamann, Christopher Cushing, William Maclean, Rod Nickel)
