'I understand his position': Trump explains why Putin opposes ceasefire

"No, not a ceasefire. He feels that look, you know, they're fighting and to stop, and then if they have to start again, which is a possibility. He doesn't want to be in that position. I understand that position," Trump said.

Speaking about the peace plan toward the end of the press conference, Donald Trump said that it would take "several weeks" if everything went well, warning that the process could also "go badly," in which case fighting and deaths would continue.

"But if things don't happen, they keep fighting, and they keep dying, and we don't want that to happen. He doesn't want it to happen. President Putin doesn't want it to happen either," Trump stated.

Trump–Zelenskyy meeting on December 28

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump held a nearly two-and-a-half-hour meeting on December 28 at Trump’s Florida residence, followed by a joint press conference. During the talks, the sides worked through remaining differences in the peace plan initially proposed by the United States.

At the press conference, Trump said there had been progress on the Donbas issue, one of the central topics of the meeting, though it has not yet been resolved, adding that the sides had moved closer to a conclusion.

Trump also announced the creation of a US working group on a peaceful settlement in Ukraine. He said the group would engage with Russia and would include senior figures from US political leadership.

Zelenskyy, for his part, commented publicly on the outcomes for the first time, saying security guarantees had been agreed in full, while the peace plan overall was about 90% finalized. He noted that the unresolved issues remain in Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. On the nuclear plant, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin had made what he described as "major progress" on the issue.