US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he felt "a little bit disappointed" with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy for not engaging with a plan to end the war with Russia.
"So we've been speaking to President Putin and we've been speaking to Ukrainian leaders — including Zelenskyy, President Zelenskyy — and I have to say that I'm a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn't yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago," Trump told reporters when asked on the red carpet for the Kennedy Center Honors.
Days of negotiations between US and Ukrainian officials, including Zelenskyy, ended on Saturday without an apparent breakthrough, though Zelenskyy committed to conducting further talks toward "real peace".
The US plan has been through several drafts since it first emerged last month, amid criticism it was too soft on Russia, which attacked Ukraine in February 2022.
Ongoing deliberations
Trump's remarks came hours after Zelenskyy said he had "substantive" talks with American officials after their consultations with a Ukrainian delegation in the US state of Florida.
The Ukrainian president said he had a phone call with US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law and informal adviser Jared Kushner along with senior Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov and Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov following talks to discuss Washington's proposed peace plan to end the war.
Zelenskyy said they discussed "many aspects" and "key points" that could ensure an end to the over three-and-a-half-year Ukraine war and he is now awaiting a "detailed in-person report" from Umerov and Hnatov.
On Tuesday, Witkoff and Kushner met with Russian President Putin in Moscow for negotiations on the proposed plan, which presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said were "constructive, very useful, and informative".
