A top Ukrainian official said his country and the U.S. reached "a common understanding on the core terms" of an agreement to end nearly four years of war, with final negotiations to take place between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump by the weekend.
Ukraine's national security adviser Rustem Umerov said Zelenskyy was planning to visit the U.S. in the next few days to "complete final steps to make a deal" with the U.S. president. Trump set an initial deadline of this Thursday for an agreement to be reached, but the White House has since tweaked the timing to say it's trying to reach consensus as soon as possible.
A U.S. official confirmed that the core aspects of a deal had been reached but was not able to say what those were due to the sensitivity of the negotiations. The person said that technical details of the agreement still needed to be hammered out. A second official stressed that the White House is optimistic about a deal but did not say one had been reached with Ukraine.
The latest movements toward peace came after Ukrainian, American and European officials gathered in Geneva on Nov. 23 to discuss a draft plan presented by Washington to end the conflict that began in 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
