Breakthrough or Bluff? Trump Says Ukraine War Deal Closer Than Ever After Secretive Mar-a-Lago Talks

The chandeliers of Mar-a-Lago have hosted many political moments, but few carried stakes as high as Donald Trump's meeting with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, where the US president declared the two sides were 'maybe very close' to ending Europe's bloodiest war in decades.

A Confident Tone After Closed-door Talks

Trump greeted Zelensky with visible confidence at his Florida club, telling reporters the sides 'have the makings of a deal' to end Russia's war on Ukraine. After hours of closed-door discussions, both leaders emerged projecting progress, though offering few concrete details.

Speaking at a joint press conference, Trump said talks had covered almost all major issues, claiming 'somebody would say 95 per cent' of the work was done. Zelensky echoed that sense of momentum, describing the meeting as 'excellent' and praising the pace of negotiations between Ukrainian and American teams.

Despite the optimism, neither leader announced a deadline for a final agreement. Instead, Trump cautioned that while progress was real, success would only become clear 'in a few weeks', suggesting the path to peace remains fragile.

Zelensky's 20-Point Plan

At the heart of the discussions is Zelensky's 20-point peace framework, which his team says is now 90 per cent agreed. According to the Ukrainian president, the most important breakthrough came on security guarantees, which he described as 'the key milestone in achieving a lasting peace'.

Under the plan, Ukraine would receive long-term security guarantees backed by the US and European partners. Kyiv would also be allowed to pursue European Union membership at a defined future date, while maintaining its armed forces at current levels of around 800,000 troops.

The proposal outlines a halt in fighting along current battle lines in Donetsk, with both Ukrainian and Russian forces withdrawing to create a demilitarised zone overseen by internal forces. Similar arrangements are proposed for Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, alongside Russian withdrawals from regions such as Kharkiv and Sumy.

Zelensky also confirmed that a vast post-war recovery package, estimated at $800 billion (£600 billion), is being finalised to rebuild Ukraine's shattered infrastructure and economy. Trump said US officials were 'almost' aligned with European partners on joint guarantees, underlining growing coordination with allies.

Donbas Remains The Hardest Problem To Crack

For all the talk of progress, eastern Ukraine remains the deal's most explosive fault line. The fate of the Donbas region, largely controlled by Russia, is still unresolved and openly acknowledged by Trump as a 'very tough issue'.

Russia currently occupies about 20 per cent of Ukraine's territory, including roughly three quarters of Donetsk and nearly all of neighbouring Luhansk. Moscow wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining pockets it controls in Donbas, while Kyiv insists the area could become a free economic zone under Ukrainian policing.

Trump admitted that some territory may be 'taken over the next period of a number of months', a comment likely to alarm Ukrainian hardliners. He has also shifted his stance on lost territory in the past, at one point suggesting Ukraine might reclaim it, before later rowing back.

For now, Donbas remains the central obstacle standing between confident soundbites and a signed peace deal.

Can Optimism Survive Political and Military Reality?

Trump's enthusiasm reflects his desire to claim the Ukraine war as a conflict he helped end, but he has also warned that talks could still collapse. If negotiations go 'really badly', he said, the war could grind on.

Security guarantees are described as '95 per cent done', yet Trump stopped short of committing to US troop deployments or logistical support, leaving unanswered questions about how future Russian aggression would be deterred.

He also floated the idea of trilateral talks involving the US, Russia and Ukraine, saying such a meeting could happen 'at the right time'. Whether Moscow is willing to engage on the terms discussed in Florida remains uncertain.

So is this a genuine breakthrough or a well-polished bluff? The Mar-a-Lago talks delivered momentum and headlines, but with territory, trust and enforcement still unresolved, the promise of peace rests on whether optimism can survive the realities of war.