US President Donald Trump reported a good and very productive phone conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“I just had a good and very productive phone conversation with Putin before my meeting today with Ukrainian President Zelensky,” he wrote on his social media accounts.
Trump added that the press was invited to the meeting.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the phone conversation between the Russian and US presidents did take place, but did not give details.
The Russian president’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev, commenting on the report of the conversation, wrote in a telegram that
“A very important dialogue continues.”
Putin aide Yuri Ushakov later said the conversation, which lasted an hour and 15 minutes, was organised at Trump’s initiative. According to him,
Putin and Trump agreed to have another prompt phone conversation following the US president’s meeting with Zelensky.
In the US state of Florida on 28 December will be held talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky. The beginning of the meeting is scheduled for 20: 00. It is expected that the meeting will be devoted to security guarantees that the United States is ready to provide Ukraine, writes Politico.
Zelensky earlier wrote that he intends to discuss the 20-point peace plan, developed during meetings with representatives of the United States and the European Union. US President Donald Trump said in a conversation with Politico that he expects a productive meeting.
Axios believes the meeting is a sign of significant progress in the talks. Trump previously said he would only meet with Zelensky if he thought a deal was close to being finalised. Zelensky said that Trump’s plan is “90 per cent agreed” and “a lot can be resolved before the New Year”.
The main obstacle is Russia’s demand for control over the entire territory of Donbass, Axios notes. The US has proposed turning the areas from which Kiev will be asked to withdraw its troops into a demilitarised “free economic zone”. Zelensky insists on a mirrored withdrawal of Russian troops from the current line of contact and emphasises that territorial concessions must be approved in a referendum.
Politico writes that Russia has so far shown no willingness to accept any of the peace plan proposals Zelensky has outlined. But Trump noted that Moscow would have to agree to certain concessions because Russia’s economy is struggling.
The Russian leader donned a military uniform on 27 December to hold a meeting at the Joint Forces Grouping Control Point. There he heard a report from Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
Putin was told that Russian troops had taken control of the towns of Gulyaypol in the Zaporizhzhya region and Mirnograd in the Pokrovsky district of the Donetsk region. The Ukrainian General Staff noted that “the haste of such blitz-crimes is conditioned by the upcoming meeting of the Ukrainian and US presidents, which is to take place in the near future”.