WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that the two sides are "getting a lot closer, maybe very close" to a peace deal to end the Ukraine crisis after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
However, there is little sign that any major breakthrough is emerging, though Trump described the talks as "excellent" with "a lot of progresses" made.
"This is not a one-day process deal. This is very complicated stuff," Trump said at a joint press conference with Zelensky after the meeting, where the two leaders also spoke to European leaders.
"In a few weeks, we will know one way or the other, I think," Trump said. "It's been a very difficult negotiation."
It is widely thought that thorny issues include a potential timetable for a ceasefire, the establishment of a proposed demilitarised zone, the management of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
"We discussed all the aspects of the peace framework," Zelensky said of his meeting with Trump at the press conference, noting that the 20-point peace plan now was "90 percent" complete -- the same figure he mentioned earlier this month.
As for the security guarantees for Ukraine, Zelensky said the United States, Ukraine and Europe have almost 100 percent agreed on security guarantees for Ukraine.
Trump said that he does not like to say percentages, but "thinks it could be close to 95 percent" on the security issue.
"We could be very close. There are one or two very thorny issues, very tough issues, but I think we're doing very well," Trump said. Both Trump and Zelensky failed to specify the issues.
The two leaders spoke to European leaders, including chiefs of NATO and European Union, during the course of their meeting. Zelensky said Trump may meet him and European leaders in Washington in January as he and Trump "agreed that our teams will meet in upcoming weeks to finalize all discussed matters".
Just ahead of his meeting with Zelensky, Trump said he "had a good and very productive telephone call" with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday morning.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin's top foreign policy aide, said in Moscow that during the lengthy phone call, Putin and Trump agreed that a long-term peace settlement was better than the temporary ceasefire pushed forward by the Ukrainians and the Europeans.
Putin has agreed to a U.S. offer to create two working groups for the peace deal, one on security issues, another on economic issues, Ushakov was quoted by a New York Times report as saying.
When welcoming Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago, Trump refused to say whether he expects a peace deal over the Russia-Ukraine conflict to be reached by the end of this year. ■