Trump Welcomes Zelensky to Mar-a-Lago, Says Putin Is Serious About Peace

President Donald Trump welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Sunday and expressed that he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about peace.

In a video posted to X by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, Trump was seen greeting Zelensky and shaking hands with him. As the two are seen standing next to each other, a reporter can be heard asking if Trump thinks “Putin is serious about peace this time.”

“Mr. President, do you think Putin is serious about peace this time?” a reporter asks.

“I do,” Trump answered. “I think he is. I think they both are.”

CNN reported that while Trump said, “Negotiators are getting ‘closer’ to a deal ending” the war between Russia and Ukraine, he also said there were “thorny issues”:

• Zelensky’s visit: President Donald Trump says negotiators are getting “closer” to a deal ending the Ukraine war after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at his Florida resort today, though he acknowledged that “thorny issues” remain and did not disclose any specific breakthroughs.

Trump also revealed in a post on Truth Social that he “had a good and very productive telephone call with President Putin.”

“I just had a good and very productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia prior to my meeting, at 1:00 P.M. today, with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine,” Trump said.

Breitbart News’s Simon Kent reported that Zelensky had revealed that he would be meeting with Trump “before the New Year” as part of an effort to negotiate an end to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

“We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level – with President Trump in the near future,” Zelensky said in a social media post. “A lot can be decided before the New Year.”