“I Understand President Putin on This Point” – Trump’s “Peace” for Ukraine Begins with Humiliation and Ends Without a Deal

The day Donald Trump receives Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida smells of power and staging. While houses burn in Ukraine and people are pulled from rubble, flags are draped in Mar-a-Lago, an opulent dining hall prepared, cameras allowed in. Trump says Russia and Ukraine are “perhaps very close” to ending this war, almost four years after the invasion. He speaks of closeness while Russia simultaneously carries out new attacks. And he speaks of peace while what Zelenskyy is meant to take home from the United States is, above all, one thing: proof that Ukraine must still fight for dignity at this very moment, not only for land.

Trump did not send a delegation to receive Zelenskyy. The cameras even cut away, apparently so no one would see whether there was a red carpet at all

Zelenskyy lands in Miami in the morning. And from the outset, the reception feels underwhelming: based on what could be seen on the ground, there was no welcome befitting the office of a president of a country under attack. No clear, visible, high-ranking representative sending the message: you are not petitioners, you are partners. It is a detail, but on days like these, details are politics. Who picks up whom, and where, is a decision. Making someone wait is one as well.

Shortly afterward comes the second part of Trump’s logic: first the big phone moment, then the meeting. Trump reports that he spoke with Vladimir Putin before meeting Zelenskyy. At first it is said to have lasted more than two hours, Russian sources speak of over an hour. The tone was “friendly” and “businesslike.” Trump calls it “very productive.” What exactly was productive about it remains his secret. Because while words are spoken in Florida, bombs are falling in Ukraine.

Reports from the east of the country say that three guided bombs struck private homes in Sloviansk. One person was killed and four others injured, according to the governor of the Donetsk region, Vadym Filashkin. Two residential buildings were completely destroyed, and 42 more were damaged. Filashkin describes it as a targeted attack on civilians and calls it another war crime. These sentences stand like a cold counterpoint to Trump’s soothing rhetoric. Anyone who speaks of peace while residential homes are being reduced to dust must be judged on whether their diplomacy is more than a Trump mirage.

In Mar-a-Lago the two presidents finally meet for talks on a revised plan described as a “20-point plan.” Zelenskyy says the version developed by Ukraine and the United States is almost complete, about ninety percent. Trump and Zelenskyy emphasize that talks are continuing. At the same time, Trump tries to lower expectations: it could also fail. In “a few weeks” one would know, “one way or the other.” This sounds like caution, but it is also a kind of preemptive excuse. Because if you loudly announce that a solution is near and then end without results, you need sentences that later allow blame to be distributed.

Trump says Putin wants to “see it happen,” he wants it “really.” Trump claims Putin told him this “very clearly,” and Trump says: “I believe him.” This is one of the sentences of the day that sticks. Not because trust in diplomacy is inherently wrong, but because trust without visible reciprocity here feels like naivety, or intent. Because Putin’s circle pours cold water almost simultaneously on central points demanded by Ukraine and its partners. From Moscow comes a clear message: European peacekeeping troops in disputed areas? Unacceptable. Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov even has it stated that such troops would be a “legitimate target” for Russia’s armed forces. If that is the starting position, then Trump’s “closeness” is above all a word laid over a wall of steel.

The real points of contention lie openly on the table and are nevertheless handled cautiously: the land, the security guarantees, the question of whether an attack in a few years would simply be repeated. Zelenskyy speaks of a “very good meeting” and of a “big discussion about all topics.” He emphasizes that both sides recognized the importance of security guarantees. Trump sounds more reserved and hints that Europe will take the leading role. This is another sentence likely to land in Europe like an invoice: protection, yes, but others should pay and carry it.

The mood was very tense. Trump turns to the press during the meeting with Zelenskyy and stages a scene that is more mockery than hospitality. Whether journalists should not rather be sent outside, he asks loudly, where they could eat something. Then the add-on, half joke, half provocation: or would lunch already count as bribery, making honest reporting impossible? Finally he instructs a staff member to lead the press out and tell the kitchen to serve them a proper meal. No further comment needed.

After the meeting, a broad circle of European leaders is called, including EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the heads of government of several countries, including Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Finland. Von der Leyen later writes there had been “good progress” that one welcomed. Europe is ready to continue working with Ukraine and the United States to consolidate this progress. Decisive are “ironclad” security guarantees from day one. This is the language of those who know that every vague promise ultimately costs blood.

And yet the large block remains untouched: Donetsk, the Donbas, the territories occupied by Russia, which Putin not only wants to hold but, by his own account, fully obtain, including areas where his troops are not stationed. Putin also demands that Crimea be recognized as Russian territory, although it was annexed in violation of international law in 2014. He demands that Ukraine bury its NATO ambitions. He calls for limits on the Ukrainian army and an official status for the Russian language. These are demands that do not sound like compromise, but like a continuation of the war by other means: the political subjugation of what could not be fully taken militarily.

Around Mar-a-Lago, protests took place. More and more people are gathering to show their solidarity with Ukraine and at the same time reject Trump’s Russia-friendly course.

Zelenskyy has recently signaled that he is prepared to withdraw Ukrainian troops from parts of the contested east to create a demilitarized zone under international monitoring. Russia, meanwhile, signals that it has no intention of simply giving up control. On the contrary: Putin’s adviser Yuri Ushakov says Kyiv needs a “bold, responsible political decision” on Donbas and other disputed points for a “complete” cessation of hostilities to be possible. In Russian terms, that means: Ukraine should sign what Russia holds. And if it does not, it is “irresponsible.”

Amid all these hard lines, another point is being floated that in reality is a minefield: the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Trump paints a rosy picture and says Putin is interested in jointly working with Ukraine on restarting operations. Ukraine has repeatedly made clear that it does not want any cooperation with Russia on joint control of this facility. Trump essentially says it would be a big step if Putin “does not bomb this facility.” The cynical twist is obvious: Russia itself has a strong interest in not destroying the plant, because Russian forces occupy it. That is not a peace signal, that is self-protection.

Question: Did Putin agree to a ceasefire to allow a referendum?

TRUMP: No, no ceasefire - and that is exactly what we are still working on. I understand President Putin on this point.

In the background of these talks, an economic tone has also come to the fore, one that now accompanies every discussion: raw materials, rare metals, access. In American thinking, resources play a role that could become important in a postwar order. That the power plant is mentioned as a factor fits this picture. But it must not be confused: peace does not emerge by celebrating an occupied facility as a joint project. Peace emerges when occupation ends, or at least is frozen through reliable safeguards so that the aggressor cannot strike again at will.

Summary of the press conference in Mar-a-Lago: Trump addressed Zelenskyy with the words that he hoped the food had tasted good. “Your people enjoyed the food, I can tell you that. And your general over there looks like he came straight out of a film production.” - no comment needed - Trump went on to explain that he had experienced a “very interesting President Putin” that day. Putin wanted an agreement. He had told him that very clearly, and he believed him. Trump also recalled their shared time during the Russia affair. They had called each other and talked about whether one could believe what was being claimed at the time. In the end, it turned out everything had been made up. On the talks, Zelenskyy said that all aspects of the peace framework had been discussed. The 20-point peace plan was 90 percent agreed. The security guarantees between the United States and Ukraine were fully agreed. On security guarantees between the United States, Europe, and Ukraine, they were almost in agreement. In the military area there was complete agreement.

Trump nevertheless tries to sell the day as a success. He praises Zelenskyy as “brave,” speaks of close rapprochement, announces further talks with Putin. Zelenskyy thanks him. Both exchange compliments. And yet the result remains sober: no deal. No breakthrough. Only the indication that in “a few weeks” one will see whether it works. Meanwhile, attacks continue. There are dead, injured, destroyed houses.

From Norway comes a parallel assessment that sounds like a warning. Eirik Kristoffersen, Norway’s top military officer, says in an interview that Russia’s goal remains to conquer the entire Ukraine and overthrow its government. At the same time, he emphasizes that Russia has already failed with its aggressive goals: Ukraine is holding out, Zelenskyy remains in office, the country stands behind him, Finland and Sweden have joined NATO, the alliance is larger than before February 2022. This balance is important because it cuts through the fog of the Trump show. Anyone who pretends the war is just a misunderstanding that can be talked away with a “productive” phone call ignores that this war is a project - and one that does not simply end on its own without determined resistance.

And this is where the bitterest point of this Florida day lies: Ukraine is not only being attacked militarily, it is being pushed politically across the table. How far will it be pressed? How much humiliation will it swallow to continue sitting at the table at all? How many demands will be sold as “realism” until, in the end, a peace plan becomes a paper of capitulation? When a president first raves about a friendly phone call with Putin and then receives the attacked party without protecting the dignity of the moment, that is more than bad style. It is a message.

At the end stands the scene that should not be forgotten: inside, chandeliers, flags, delegations, a lunch in a sumptuous setting. Outside, the reports from Sloviansk, destroyed houses, one dead, four injured. And in between the phrases that are tossed back and forth in Washington and Moscow like coins: “very productive,” “very close,” “in a few weeks.” For the people in Ukraine, these are not coins. They are days. And every day without binding commitments is a day when someone may again be lying under rubble.

Trump’s peace, as he sells it on this Sunday, is not an end. It is a process in which words fill headlines while violence continues. Zelenskyy does not travel to Florida because he was seeking an invitation to a gala dinner, but because his country needs protection, clear safeguards, real guarantees. Everything else is theater. And theater does not stop drones. For January 2026, Zelenskyy announced a meeting with Trump and other European politicians in Washington, DC. That after the final press conference in Florida, Russia’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev performed almost a celebratory dance in an initial reaction on X rounds out the picture: “The whole world recognizes the peace efforts of President Trump and his team.” And until then? The world counts the dead in Ukraine.