President Donald Trump said while hosting President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Sunday that he believed Russia and Ukraine were “maybe very close” to ending a nearly four-year war, even as Russia rejected some terms sought by Ukrainian negotiators.

Trump met with Zelensky at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida to discuss a revised 20-point peace plan. Zelensky said that the latest proposal developed by Ukraine and the US was nearly complete, and both leaders stressed that the lengthy peace talks would continue.

Significant obstacles remain, chief among them the willingness of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to sign on to the peace framework pushed by Kyiv and Trump’s top negotiators.

“He wants to see it happen, he wants to see it,” Trump said Putin told him about his interest in reaching an agreement. The US President said that before greeting Zelensky he had spoken with the Russian leader for more than two hours. “He told me very strongly,” Trump said. “I believe him.”

Still, Trump seemed intent on Sunday to avoid raising expectations for an imminent deal too high as he fielded questions about when he wanted a peace agreement signed, and whether the Ukrainians could rely on security guarantees from the West should Russia try to continue or restart its invasion.

“It’s possible it doesn’t happen,” Trump said of a peace deal. “In a few weeks, we’ll know one way or another.”

Zelensky, for his part, described the talks as "a great meeting” with "a great discussion on all the topics", saying that the two sides had agreed on the importance of security guarantees for Ukraine. Trump was more circumspect but said European countries would take the lead. On other issues, there was little indication of a major breakthrough.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-nation European Union, wrote on social media that several European leaders had held an hourlong call with Trump and Zelensky to discuss the peace negotiation discussions.

“There was good progress, which we welcomed,” she said. “Europe is ready to keep working with Ukraine and our US partners to consolidate this progress,” she added. “Paramount to this effort is to have ironclad security guarantees from day one.”

Putin’s aides spent the day throwing cold water on several ideas put forth by Kyiv and its Western allies, including a proposal that European peacekeepers could be deployed to Ukraine.

New York Times News Service