Day: December 29, 2025

The Russians’ attitude toward a referendum is not positive, because a referendum requires security infrastructure. It means a ceasefire is needed. But the Russians do not want to grant us a ceasefire for as many days as are required to hold a referendum. That is 60 days. This is a very difficult issue, and Russia wants to continue pressing us by continuing the war – missiles, artillery, and so on. That is why we are fighting for this.

And there’s also an issue of the force of these agreements, the force of recognizing these agreements. Ukraine had the Budapest Memorandum – signed by individuals – and it did not work. Then there were the Minsk agreements, which led to a full-scale war. None of these papers worked. We have now agreed with the Americans that we will have security guarantees that will be supported by the U.S. Congress – which is very important – and by the Ukrainian Parliament. The security guarantees will be voted on by both sides. And our bilateral agreements with the Europeans will then accordingly be ratified by European parliaments, so that these agreements carry legal force.

As for the 20-point plan, we believe it should be approved through a referendum. This would be the strongest historical endorsement of the force of this document, and we would very much like to do this. Of course, not everyone views this positively because this clearly leads to open expression of the will – not of one person, not of 450 people. We’re talking about millions of people.

It is crucial that this be an expression of the Ukrainian people’s will, so that the Ukrainian nation accepts this peace and supports this plan. That is why a referendum is a powerful tool. Ukrainians, who have suffered more than anyone else in this war, should be happy about the end of this war and the format of this agreement. This is what a just peace is about.

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) Dec 29, 2025

There is no alternative to peace. Together with the Americans, we share single position: the war must be ended through diplomacy, and Russia must be pressed into it – otherwise the war will continue. Certainly, if the war continues, the Americans, together with the Europeans, will continue to support Ukraine, because we are defending ourselves in this war, we are fighting, and we are not the aggressor.

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) Dec 29, 2025

We have been developing a sequencing plan with the U.S. : the sequence of actions – our strategy is to move step by step – when and what we want to finalize and coordinate with our partners.

First and foremost, we now want to hold a meeting at the national security advisors’ level in the coming days. Rustem Umerov has already reached out to the advisors – American and European. And I believe that this meeting will be held in Ukraine.

Next, we will prepare all documents at the advisors’ level, and then there will be a meeting at the level of European leaders initially with Ukraine, in an expanded format, including the Coalition of the Willing plus. And this meeting will take place. I began discussing it immediately after my meeting with President Trump. I have already reached out to President Macron and several other partners, and I will continue these consultations.

At this meeting, we will finalize the documents at the level of leaders. And we will prepare for a meeting with President Trump and European leaders. We are all seriously committed to ensuring that these meetings take place in January. And after that, if everything proceeds step by step, there will then be a meeting in one format or another with the Russians. We are ready for the relevant formats that we have already discussed.

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) Dec 29, 2025

Our teams have discussed this, and yesterday we agreed with the President of the United States that we will have strong security guarantees from the United States. At present, they are not permanent. In the documents, the guarantees are set for 15 years, with the possibility of extension. I raised this issue with the President. I told him that our war has already been going on for more than a decade, and therefore, we would very much like the guarantees to last longer. We would like to consider the possibility of 30, 40, or 50 years. It would then become a historic decision by President Trump. The President said that the U.S. would consider it.

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) Dec 29, 2025

What did we achieve during our meeting with President Trump?

The President of the United States confirmed strong security guarantees. He confirmed the details that had been developed up to this point by our negotiating teams regarding these security guarantees, and he confirmed that they would be put to a vote by the United States Congress. This is a very strong agreement.

Second, we discussed a package of support for Ukraine’s recovery after the war ends. An economic package. This includes the entry of American business, special conditions for Ukraine’s development and reconstruction, and the development of a free trade agreement with the United States. The President of the United States also confirmed this.

And we are very close to another result in the 20-point plan.

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) Dec 29, 2025