For the fourth time in 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled this weekend to the United States to meet with Donald Trump, arriving at Mar-a-Lago yesterday. Onlookers could be forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu about this latest round of diplomacy over the Russia-Ukraine war.
As on his previous visits, Zelensky came hoping to extract commitments from the US on security guarantees and promises of post-war economic and military support for his weary nation. Once again, his meeting with the American side was preempted by a phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which occurred just hours earlier. Once again, Trump and Zelensky consulted European leaders. And once again, Zelensky left mostly empty-handed.
Though all sides called the discussions “constructive”, the day had no winners. Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on the terms of a deal, and Washington’s ad hoc approach to brokering an agreement has largely failed. As the year ends, peace in Ukraine seems barely closer than when Trump returned to the White House 11 months ago. A radical change in strategy will be required if his administration hopes for a better result in 2026.
The purpose of yesterday’s meeting was to discuss the “20-point peace plan”, negotiated over recent weeks between the US, Ukrainian, and European delegations and said to represent a convergence of the American and Ukrainian positions. The meeting was doomed before it began, and still managed to disappoint.
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