There's "good chance" for reaching Russia-Ukraine peace deal: Trump

US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he's upbeat about the prospect of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine after the talks between U.S. and Ukrainian delegations in Florida.

AI Brief

Trump reports optimism on Ukraine peace talks but warns corruption complicates negotiations.
Rubio and Umerov call talks -productive" with progress on a revised peace plan, though challenges remain.
US envoys Witkoff and Kushner will head to Moscow for further discussions as Zelensky monitors developments.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that talks were going well and "I think that there's a good chance we can make a deal."

Trump also said that corruption in Ukraine does not help peace negotiations.

He said he had spoken over the phone with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Trump acknowledged Ukraine faces some tough issues, but opined that Russia wants to see this all end.

Rubio said after roughly a four-hour talks with the Ukrainian delegation, they had made "additional" progress on a revised peace plan to end the Ukraine crisis, but "there is more work to be done."

"This is delicate, it's complicated," Rubio told reporters after the meeting. "There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there's another party involved here that will have to be a part of the equation."

"We don't just want to end the war, we also want to help Ukraine be safe forever," said the top U.S. diplomat.

Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, described the talks as "difficult but productive."

"We have made tangible progress toward establishing a just peace," Umerov, who heads the Ukrainian negotiating team, wrote on Facebook.

The meeting was meaningful and successful, he wrote, adding that there is still a lot of work ahead and the two sides will continue consultations and coordination on further steps for the sake of peace in Ukraine.

Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner also joined Sunday's talks and will fly to Moscow on Monday for further discussions, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said via social media platform X that Umerov had briefed him on key points and partial outcomes of the talks with the United States.

He described the discussions as constructive and said that relevant work would continue to advance.

On the same day, Zelensky posted on X that he had held separate phone calls with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

He emphasized that the coming days would be very important and "much can change".