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The much-anticipated talks lasted two and a half hours, which was an achievement in itself. President Trump and President Zelensky have never been in the same room for so long before, negotiating.
Mar-a-Lago has since expressed optimism. Donald Trump said it was a “great meeting.” Volodymyr Zelensky agreed, calling it a “great meeting” with “excellent discussions on all topics.”
But even as the two presidents sound more optimistic than before, we still haven’t heard any evidence of progress – just like all previous talks held this year.
The key question of whether Ukraine must give up territory in exchange for peace promises remains unanswered. This is one of the main demands made by Russia and is clearly supported by the United States, so it is good news for Ukraine that Zelensky has not accepted it – at least not publicly. He did appear to leave open the possibility of territorial concessions, however, saying a referendum might be held to ratify any deal to end the war.
Another key issue is also unclear: safety assurance. Although President Zelenskyy said they agreed “100 percent” with the United States, we don’t know what they were or whether they would be enough to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again.
Equally important, whatever deals President Trump and President Zelensky might reach, there is no reason to think Russia would accept them. In fact, it has rejected a key idea floated ahead of the Florida talks: declaring a ceasefire and deploying multinational forces to Ukraine for monitoring.
This begs the question: What is Donald Trump prepared to do if Russia rejects his deal with Volodymyr Zelensky. So far, Ukraine’s leader has borne the brunt of his stress, anger and rage. Donald Trump’s continued positive rhetoric about Vladimir Putin (who the US president said today is “serious” about peace and “wants to see Ukraine succeed”) suggests that this situation is unlikely to change.
Ultimately, what all this means is that, despite the optimism of Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, we are seeing no signs that lasting peace will be achieved in Ukraine anytime soon.
