NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
Sunday’s talks between President Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy could pave the way for the first phone call between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in more than five years, a source familiar with the talks said.
And while the Mar-a-Lago meeting was planned as a step forward in the peace process with the Trump administration, the source also explained that getting a direct call from Zelenskyy-Putin would be a “political victory” for the president.
“If Putin had participated in Sunday’s phone call, this would have been a huge success in preparing for the peace talks and a real step in the peace process,” the source told Fox News Digital on condition of anonymity.
“This can be [a] a political victory for President Trump.”
FNNISH PRESIDENT SAYS RUSSIA-UKRAINE PEACE DEV IS CLOSER THAN ANY POINT DURING WAR.
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing a proclamation in the Oval Office at the White House on April 17, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Wina McNamee/Getty Images)
“Trump seems to be a very successful mediator because both of them, Putin and Zelenskyy, see each other emotionally, and it’s a challenge.”
Trump confirmed on Sunday that he spoke with Putin before the Zelenskyy meeting, calling the conversation “good and very productive” in a Truth Social post.
“I believe we have a deal to make,” Trump told reporters as he stood next to Zelenskyy after arriving in Florida on Sunday, adding that he believed the deal “could go very quickly.”
“I think we’re in the final stages of talking, and we’ll see,” Trump said.
“Otherwise, it will continue for a long time. It will end, or it will continue for a long time, and millions more people will be killed,” the president said.
The Florida meeting came days after Zelenskyy also said he had a “good conversation” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who were both present on Sunday.
ZELENSKY SAYS WILL MEET TRUMP ‘Before NEW YEAR’
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and European leaders pose for a photo during talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, December 15, 2025. (Lisi Niesner/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
As Zelenskyy approaches Sunday’s meeting, the source said the Ukrainian leader may be feeling anxious.
“Zelenskyy is often nervous before such talks with President Trump,” the source said. “He concentrates for a long time and reads the notes that the Department of International Policies and the Department of Foreign Affairs prepare for him.”
Sunday also marked the third in-person meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy since Trump returned to office.
At the center of the talks was a US-backed, 20-point peace plan from weeks of talks that would require agreement from Kyiv and Moscow to cooperate and possibly talk directly with Zelenskyy, the source said.
TRUMP PROPOSES TO SEND FINAL TEXTS TO PEACE TALKS AHEAD OF ZELENSKY MEETING: ‘WE’LL SEE WHAT HE SAYS’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with President Donald Trump in Washington DC, on Aug. 19, 2025. (President of Ukraine / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“One of the difficulties they have is that Putin has refused to talk to Zelenskyy since July 2020, when they talked about the Wagner scandal and the failure of the campaign to arrest Russian terrorists Wagner.”
“After that, Zelenskyy tried several times to talk to Putin, but he refused.”
“There were opportunities for talks in August and September 2024, but they disappeared again when Ukraine invaded the Kursk region,” the source said.
The last direct contact between the two leaders followed the Ukrainian offensive against Wagner’s Russian forces.
The Ukrainian intelligence service lured the soldiers to Belarus and planned to stop them en route from Minsk to Istanbul, before the men were arrested, according to The Kyiv Independent.
ZELENSKYY IS READY TO MAKE NEW PEACE PROPOSALS TO US AND RUSSIA AFTER WORKING WITH EUROPEAN TALKS.
Putin is testing NATO’s borders with airstrikes, allies say. (Ramil Sitdikov/Pool/Reuters)
“That last phone call between Zelenskyy and Putin happened when Ukraine tried to hijack a group of Russian Wagner fighters,” the source said. “The operation failed.”
Even before communication was completely cut off, relations between the two leaders were strained, the source said.
“Before that point in 2020, the calls between Zelenskyy and Putin were never friendly, and there was tension between them. During the talks, Putin was always silent, and Zelenskyy tried to establish a relationship.”
“Zelenskyy was always condescending to Putin and pretending to be happy, like he was playing a role on stage,” the source explained.
“He was talking a lot and reading his notes, afraid of forgetting something. Sometimes he would stumble over his words or lose punctuation.”
PUTIN CALLS TRUMP’S PEACE PLAN ‘A STARTING POINT’ AS HE WARNS UKRAINE TO GOVERN BACK OR LOOK ‘FACTS’
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the 20-point plan, which US officials say is 90% complete, would include a limited withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from parts of eastern Ukraine. (Putin photo: Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via Reuters; Zelenskyy photo: Brian Snyder/Reuters)
“When Putin remained silent, Zelenskyy always politely asked, ‘What do you think, Vladimir Vladimirovich?’
“Putin has never spoken,” said the source.
The Florida talks came as Kyiv signaled a possible change in its negotiating stance. Zelenskyy said the 20-point plan, which US officials say is 90% complete, would include a limited withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from parts of eastern Ukraine without formally recognizing Russian control, as well as the creation of demilitarized zones.
He also floated submitting the plan to a national referendum if Moscow agreed to a 60-day moratorium.
Zelenskyy drew a hard line on security guarantees, stressing that Ukraine needs legally binding guarantees from the US to deter future Russian aggression.
TRUMP DISRUPTS ‘PROGRESS’ ON UKRAINE-RUSSIA AGREEMENT, ADMITTING IT’S ‘ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT ISSUES’ UNRESOLVED.
Rescuers work at the scene of a building damaged by a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)
“For us, it is very important that there is a signal that we want legally binding security guarantees,” Zelenskyy told Ukrainian journalists on Saturday. “This depends a lot on President Trump,” he added.
“Ukraine is willing to do anything to stop this war,” Zelenskyy also wrote in X this weekend.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
“For us, the number one – or the only priority – is to end the war. For us, the priority is peace. We need to be strong at the negotiating table. To be strong, we need the support of the world: Europe and the United States.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Kremlin and President Zelenskyy’s office for comment.
