Trump Expresses Disappointment Over Zelenskyy's Response to US-Ukraine Peace Plan as Negotiations Continue

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not publicly expressed approval for the White House peace proposal aimed at ending the conflict.

President Donald Trump expressed disappointment with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday, claiming he "hasn't read" a US-authored peace proposal designed to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Following three days of negotiations between US and Ukrainian officials that concluded on Saturday, Trump criticized Zelenskyy during an exchange with reporters at the Kennedy Center Honours. Trump suggested the Ukrainian leader was impeding progress on the talks.

"I'm a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn't yet read the proposal; that was as of a few hours ago. His people love it. But he hasn't—Russia's fine with it," Trump told reporters. "Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I'm not sure that Zelenskyy's fine with it. His people love it, but he hasn't read it."

Contrary to Trump's assertions, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not publicly endorsed the White House plan. Putin actually stated last week that aspects of Trump's proposal were unworkable, despite the original draft reportedly favoring Moscow's position.

Trump's relationship with Zelenskyy has been inconsistent since beginning his second White House term. The US president has repeatedly characterized the war as a waste of American taxpayer money and urged Ukrainians to cede territory to Russia to end the nearly four-year conflict, which he claims has claimed too many lives.

For his part, Zelenskyy reported having a "substantive phone call" with American officials engaged in the Florida talks on Saturday. He stated he received updates from both US and Ukrainian representatives involved in the negotiations.

"Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace," Zelenskyy wrote on social media.

Trump's criticism of Zelenskyy coincided with Russia welcoming the Trump administration's new national security strategy. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia's Tass news agency that the updated strategic document aligned with Moscow's vision.

"There are statements there against confrontation and in favor of dialogue and building good relations," Peskov said, adding that Russia hopes this will lead to "further constructive cooperation with Washington on the Ukrainian settlement."

The White House document released Friday indicated the US wants to improve relations with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah. It stated that ending the war is a core US interest to "reestablish strategic stability with Russia."

At the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday, Trump's outgoing Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg claimed efforts to end the war were in "the last 10 meters."

He noted that a deal hinged on two outstanding issues: "terrain, primarily the Donbas," and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Russia controls most of Donbas, its term for the Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk regions, which it illegally annexed three years ago along with two southern regions. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant remains under Russian control since early in the invasion and is not operational. It requires reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel to prevent any nuclear incidents.

Kellogg, who will leave his position in January, did not participate in the Florida talks.

Officials announced that the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany would meet with Zelenskyy in London on Monday.

As the three-day negotiations concluded, Russian missile, drone, and shelling attacks overnight and Sunday killed at least four people in Ukraine.

A man died in a drone attack on Ukraine's northern Chernihiv region Saturday night, while a combined missile and drone attack on infrastructure in Kremenchuk caused power and water outages. Kremenchuk hosts one of Ukraine's largest oil refineries and is an industrial center.

Kyiv and its Western allies assert that Russia is attempting to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light, and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, what Ukrainian officials describe as "weaponizing" the cold.

Three people were killed and ten others wounded Sunday in Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, according to the regional prosecutor's office.