Washington
\nThe US has offered Ukraine security guarantees for 15 years, Volodymyr Zelensky has said, during talks on a revised peace plan with Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday.
\nThe US president said an agreement on this point was \u201cclose to 95%\u201d done, but Ukraine\u2019s leader has since said he would like guarantees for up to 50 years.
\nPresident Zelensky outlined territorial issues and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as the last unresolved matters, with little said on the future of Ukraine\u2019s contested Donbas region.
\nRussia has previously rejected key parts of the plan, but a Kremlin spokesman agreed on Monday with Trump\u2019s assessment that peace is closer, Russian-owned news agency Tass reported.
\nAddressing reporters at Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago resort after Sunday\u2019s meeting, Zelensky repeated his belief that an overall peace agreement was 90% of the way there, a figure he had given in the lead up to the visit.
\nBoth the US and Ukrainian leaders also indicated that there had been progress on one key sticking point – security guarantees for Ukraine. News agency Reuters reported that he hoped any security guarantees would begin the moment Kyiv signed a peace deal.
\n\u201cWithout security guarantees, this war cannot be considered truly over. We cannot acknowledge that it has ended, because with such a neighbour there remains a risk of renewed aggression,\u201d Zelensky explained, according to news agency AFP.
\nHe added that he wanted the US to further \u201cconsider the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years\u201d.
\nThe US has not yet commented on the time frame. On Sunday, Trump said an agreement was close and that he expected European allies to \u201ctake over a big part\u201d of that effort with support from the US.
\nFor President Zelensky, two core issues now remain unresolved within the plan – the question of territories and the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant which is in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.
\nMoscow currently controls about 75% of the Donetsk region, and some 99% of the neighbouring Luhansk. The two regions are known collectively as Donbas.
\nSpeaking to reporters after their meeting, Trump said a deal on Donbas remained \u201cunresolved, but it\u2019s getting a lot closer\u201d.
\nIts fate has been a major obstacle throughout negotiations, with Russia consistently unwilling to compromise on its aim to seize full control of Donbas.
\nOn Monday, the Kremlin again said Ukraine should withdraw its troops from the part of the region that Kyiv still controls. Ukraine has insisted the area could become a free economic zone policed by its forces – but Zelensky has underlined that any talks on this should include the Ukrainian people, Reuters reported.
\nThe US president has repeatedly changed his own position on Ukraine\u2019s lost territories, and in September stunned observers by suggesting that Ukraine might be able to take it back. He later reversed course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington The US has offered Ukraine security guarantees for 15 years, Volodymyr Zelensky has said, during talks on a revised peace plan with Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday. The US president said an agreement on this point was \u201cclose to 95%\u201d done, but Ukraine\u2019s leader has since said he would like guarantees for up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477795,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-522876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n