More comments on the Trump - Zelensky meeting in December 2025

I have posted about this meeting before.

From the CNN / Yahoo!News: 

"Why Trump’s ‘terrific’ meeting with Zelensky was also pretty good for Putin

Analysis by Clare Sebastian, CNN, December 29, 2025

 

...Trump called the meeting “terrific” and asked if Zelensky and his general who “looks like central casting” had enjoyed the food. Awkward, yes, but a far cry from the open humiliation of the Ukrainian leader that played out in the Oval Office in February.

And yet, beneath the veil of politeness, there was rhetoric from the US president that suggests his default position in negotiations is still to pressure Kyiv, while appeasing Moscow.

On the toughest question of all – territory – Trump at one point suggested it might anyway be “taken” in the coming months, asking, “are you better off making a deal now?” It was a line eerily similar to that of Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, summarizing a call between President Vladimir Putin and Trump earlier on Sunday: “Given the situation on the front lines, it would make sense for the Ukrainian regime to adopt this decision regarding Donbas without delay.”

That echo wasn’t lost on the Kremlin. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted on a call with journalists that Trump “apparently reminded them (the Ukrainian side) that Ukraine is losing land and will continue to lose it.” While Russian forces continue to inch forward in the eastern Donbas region, Putin has demanded that Ukraine cede land that Russia has yet to seize.

The Kremlin would already have been confident in its power to sway the US president. In the lead-up to the Alaska summit between Trump and Putin in August, European leaders worked hard to bring Trump round to the idea that a ceasefire was needed before peace negotiations, something Moscow has always dismissed. In the end, it was Putin who won that argument, and, more than four months later, Trump still appears to support his view.

“He (Putin) feels that, look, you know, they’re fighting to stop and then if they have to start again, which is a possibility, he doesn’t want to be in that position. I understand that position,” Trump said Sunday...

No ceasefire then means no referendum, and no referendum could mean no territorial concessions from Ukraine, and ultimately no deal. So, we’re back on the diplomatic merry-go-round, buying more and more time for Russia to attack.

“Russia wants to continue to put pressure on us. And what does this continuation look like? War, missiles, artillery,” Zelensky said in comments to journalists Monday morning. As he spoke, most Ukrainian regions started a new week with regular blackouts, and more than 9,000 households in the Kyiv region woke up with no power at all.

Hardly surprising then, that the Ukrainian president shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other as he listened to Trump describe Putin as “very good” on the issue of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Russia seized by force in March 2022 and has occupied ever since.

“President Putin is actually working with Ukraine on getting it open. That’s a big step when he’s not bombing that plant,” said the US president...

Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, reiterated Monday that Russia wants “the withdrawal of the regime’s armed forces from Donbas beyond its administrative borders.” That, of course, includes territory Russia hasn’t been able to occupy in nearly four years of war. And in return Moscow continues to receive praise and diplomatic overtures from the White House, with Trump speaking to Putin both before and after his meeting with Zelensky..."

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And from the Politico / Yahoo!News: 

"Russia again appears to throw cold water on hopes for a Ukrainian peace deal

Eli Stokols and Diana Nerozzi, December 29, 2025

 

...Trump did not suggest, as he had previously, that Ukraine deserved equal blame for the war that began nearly four years ago with Russia’s invasion. But he continued to be a booster for Putin’s position, saying without evidence that the Russian president “wants to see [the war] ended.” He also said Putin, who has continued to pound Ukraine’s cities in recent days, is “going to be helping” with rebuilding Ukraine, and that Russia is interested in seeing its neighbor “succeeding” once the war has ended.

That comment elicited an eyeroll and chuckle from Zelenskyy, who stood at Trump’s side at a lectern during a short press conference after following their two hours of talks.

Trump also suggested that Ukraine’s refusal to cede additional territory could simply lead to Russia taking it by force in the future.

Peskov on Monday capitalized on Trump’s views. “Ukraine is losing lands and will lose them further,” he said.

One European official, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the state of negotiations, said any progress made is good. But, the person added, that the “bar is really low for what counts as a good meeting” between Trump and Zelenskyy.

“It’s good they seemed a bit closer, but listening to Trump go on and on about how he understands Putin and how he wants Ukraine to succeed — it’s beyond naive,” the official said.“And that’s actually the thing that’s preventing progress. Until Trump stops eating out of Putin’s hand and applying real pressure, he has no reason to really negotiate.”...

Trump, who backed off the idea of a deadline for the peace talks, did not directly answer a question Sunday about what, if anything, he’d do to increase pressure on Moscow if negotiations fail. He instead accepted the grim possibility that the war would continue and “millions” more people would die.

In Ukraine, Trump’s characterization of the talks landed with a thud.

“It is absolutely painful for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people when we are sitting without electricity, without heat and running water during the winter because Russia chooses to terrorize us, to attack our peaceful cities,” Kira Rudik, a member of Ukrainian parliament, said in a Monday interview on CNN. “And at the same time, Putin lies to President Trump and President Trump allows him to continue doing so and allows him to continue doing so.”"