PRESIDENT Trump has said he has the “makings of a deal that’s good for Ukraine, good for everybody”.
It came as Ukrainian President Zelensky arrived to meet Trump for a huge summit which could bring peace to Eastern Europe.
The pair were pictured shaking hands as Trump said that both Zelensky and Putin are “serious about peace”.
The leaders have now entered Mar-a-Lago to start talks, but before they entered the residence, Trump told reporters that he thinks a “rapid” end to the war is possible.
He said: “Too many people have died and I think both presidents want to make a deal.
“It will either end or it will go on for a long time and millions of additional people are going to be dead. And nobody wants that.
DEFIANT VLAD
Putin warns Kyiv must give in to demands to stop war as Zelensky meets Trump
BID FOR PEACE
Hopes for Xmas peace breakthrough as Zelensky offers DMZ in wartorn east
“I believe we can move very rapidly.”
He added that a deal will include a “strong” security agreement for Ukraine, saying that “European nations are very much involved”.
Trump said: “I feel that European nations have been really great, and they’re very much in line with this meeting and with getting a deal done. They are all terrific people.”
Zelensky said he hoped the meeting could “bring peace as quick as possible”.
An updated 20-point peace draft in the campaign to clinch a peace plan is 90 per cent complete, Zelensky told journalists in Kyiv before flying to the US.
The new plan still needs the approval of Russia, and differs from the original 28-point peace plan that was proposed by Washington.
The US president is meeting the Ukrainian leader in dining room of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Inside the talks, photos show the Ukrainian delegation sat on the left side of a large dining table, facing US officials.
As Zelensky told the room it was his first time at Mar-a-Lago, Trump replied that the residence is “very conducive to deals”.
The US President said efforts to end the war are in the “final stages”.
As the group sat down, he added: “I think we’re very, we’re in final stages of talking, and we’re going to see. Otherwise it’s going to go on for a long time.”
Trump said ending the Ukraine-Russia war would be “complicated”, but “not that complicated”, in an optimistic start to talks.
Before the meeting, Trump and Putin had a phone call which the president described on Truth Social as “very good and productive”.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the call lasted over an hour.
The Putin-Trump chat came just hours before the US president met Zelensky for the first time since October.
Last time the pair met, Trump refused to grant Zelensky’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
Trump’s Putin-facing positivity comes despite the fact that many European leaders doubt the possibility of peace.
The US president and Zelensky will speak by phone with European leaders after tonight’s meeting, CNN reported.
Russian forces had unleashed hell on the Ukrainian capital in the run up to Zelensky’s summit with Trump.
Putin hit Kyiv with almost 500 drones and 40 missiles in a 10-hour onslaught which has killed two and wounded dozens.
The meeting follows Putin’s promise to use brute force and keep fighting if Ukraine refuses to give in to demands.