Zelensky holds phone call with Trump's envoys as Russia claims talks making 'slow but steady progress'
Editor's note: This article has been updated with additional comments from President Volodymyr Zelensky during his evening address.
President Volodymyr Zelensky held a nearly hour-long phone call with U.S. President Trump’s Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Christmas Day to discuss "several substantive details" of ongoing peace talks, the president said.
"We are truly working 24/7 to bring the end of this brutal Russian war against Ukraine closer and to ensure that all documents and steps are realistic, effective, and reliable," Zelensky said on social media.
"I hope that today’s Christmas agreements and the ideas we discussed will prove useful," the president added without providing specifics on what was agreed upon.
Of the progress made in the talks, later in his evening address, Zelensky said that "some documents are already prepared, as I see it, they are nearly ready, and some documents are fully prepared. Of course, there is still work to be done on sensitive issues."
After weeks of talks between Kyiv and Washington, Zelensky on Dec. 23 unveiled a draft of the revised peace plan to end Russia’s full-scale war. The initial 28-point plan, which effectively pushed Ukraine toward capitulation, has been reworked into a 20-point framework.
In addition, a three-party security guarantee draft between Ukraine, the U.S., and Europe has been developed, as well as a bilateral security guarantee agreement between Ukraine and the U.S. Another document between Kyiv and Washington is focused on economic cooperation and was described as the "roadmap for Ukraine’s prosperity."
For months, the Trump administration has led high-profile talks on ending Russia's war in Ukraine. While Kyiv has made concessions, Russian President Vladimir Putin has largely not swayed in his maximalist demands to establish peace.
Uncertainty around the fate of U.S.-led peace negotiations also continue to mount around amid strong differences in demands on multiple issues, including territorial concessions and the division of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Despite its repeated previous rejections of a peace deal, the Kremlin confirmed is has received the revised peace deal, with Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling reporters that Putin will be "analyzing this material."
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed on Dec. 25 that the ongoing peace talks are "seeing slow but steady progress."
Despite the comments, Zakharova further decried Kyiv's European-backing, claiming that "primarily Western European" countries are working "to torpedo these efforts and derail all diplomatic groundwork."
Russia has repeatedly lambasted Western security guarantees for Ukraine with Zelensky standing warning that a lack of security guarantees may give Russia the opportunity to reinvade.
Zelensky said that Rustem Umerov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, as well as Andriy Hnatov, chief of Ukraine's General Staff and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, joined in on the call. More talks between Umerov and Trump's envoys are expected later in the day.
"It is important we succeed in organizing what we discussed today," Zelensky concluded in his evening address.
As talks remain ongoing, Russia has not relented its attacks on Ukrainian cities. Having rejected a Christmas truce, Russian forces struck a market in Kherson and a residential building in Chernihiv killing at least two people.
