President Putin was “all done” on several occasions, but Zelensky wouldn’t negotiate, the US leader has said
Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants to make a [peace] deal” to resolve the Ukraine conflict, US President Donald Trump has stated.
In an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday, Trump recounted how he “had cases where I had Putin all done and Zelensky wouldn’t make the deal, which shocked me.”
“Then I’ve had cases where it was the reverse,” the US president added.
He concluded that “now they both want to make a deal,” while refusing to provide any specific timeline as to how long it might take Washington to settle the Ukraine conflict.
In late December 2025, Trump met with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky in Miami for discussions on a possible peace roadmap. During a press conference, the US president said that “we’re doing very well” and that “we could be very close,” with 95% of all the topics agreed upon.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later concurred with Trump’s assessment of the Ukraine peace process.
Russian officials, including Putin, have repeatedly stated that Moscow would prefer to resolve the Ukraine conflict through diplomatic means but will have to continue using force if its key objectives cannot be achieved through diplomacy alone.
US-mediated negotiations involving Russian and Ukrainian representatives have intensified in recent months, after Trump’s initial 28-point peace plan was leaked to the media in November 2025. The roadmap reportedly envisaged Kiev ceding the remainder of Donbass to Moscow as well as renouncing its NATO membership aspirations and capping the size of its military, among other points. Since then, the US plan has undergone several changes, with input from both Russia and Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters earlier in mid-December, Trump claimed that “other than President Zelensky, his people loved the concept of the deal… that would have stopped the killing of thousands of people every month.”
Several days earlier, the US president urged the Ukrainian leader to “get on the ball and start accepting things,” noting that Russia had the “upper hand” in the conflict.
He made the remarks after Zelensky ruled out territorial concessions to Russia.
