President Donald Trump used the spotlight outside the Kennedy Center Honors to chide Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for not yet reviewing Washington’s newest proposal to end the Russia-Ukraine war. While praising Zelenskyy’s advisers and suggesting that Moscow had shown acceptance of the framework, he said he was “a little bit disappointed” that Zelenskyy himself still had not gone through the plan several hours before the event.
Trump said that Ukraine’s senior officials “love it,” and that “Russia is fine with it,” but expressed frustration that the Ukrainian leader hadn’t examined the details personally. “We’ve been speaking to President [Vladimir] Putin, and we’ve been speaking to Ukrainian leaders, including 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,” he remarked while pausing on the red carpet. “His people love it, but he has it. Russia’s fine with it. I’m not sure that Zelenskyy is fine with it. His people love it. But he hasn’t read it, so someday you’ll explain that one to me.”
The president’s critique came amid a rapid-fire exchange with reporters that veered between policy, arts, and global tensions. Trump wove comments about negotiations with Russia and Ukraine into reflections about the challenges of a war he described as “very tough, very nasty,” noting the ongoing toll measured in heavy casualties each month.
At the same time, he highlighted cultural achievements connected to the evening’s festivities. Trump — the first president ever to host the Kennedy Center Honors — repeatedly spoke about the center’s restoration, saying his administration “saved” the project by helping raise more than $100 million. He stressed that continued improvements would make the institution “better than it was from day one,” and praised its acoustics and history.
Trump also addressed domestic policy, defending his use of tariff authority as a crucial tool for national security in advance of a pending Supreme Court decision. In lighter moments, he joked about taking a Johnny Carson–style approach to hosting duties and praised honorees, including Sylvester Stallone and the rock band Kiss, adding that “you have to be yourself.” The crowd lining the red carpet, he said, was “bigger than it’s ever been,” attributing the enthusiasm to renewed national pride: “We have a country that’s the talk of the world again.”
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy commented separately on the state of diplomatic efforts. He said over the weekend that he had held a “substantive phone call” with American and Ukrainian officials involved in ongoing discussions in Florida. “Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace,” he wrote, saying he’d been briefed on the latest developments.
Russia publicly signaled approval of Washington’s updated national security strategy the same day, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling TASS that the document aligns with Moscow’s preference for reduced confrontation. “There are statements there against confrontation and in favor of dialogue and building good relations,” he said, expressing hope that this would lead to “further constructive cooperation with Washington on the Ukrainian settlement.” The White House strategy paper, released Friday, said the U.S. considers ending the war essential to “reestablish strategic stability with Russia.”
Trump’s outgoing Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday, said the peace talks were nearing a conclusion. He described efforts as being in “the last 10 meters,” identifying two unresolved issues: “terrain, primarily the Donbas,” and the status of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Russia currently holds most of Donbas — which it claims as its name for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions — along with two additional southern territories it annexed illegally three years ago. The Zaporizhzhia facility, seized early in the invasion, has been offline and relies on steady power to cool reactors and spent fuel to avert disaster. Kellogg, who will step down in January, is not participating in the Florida talks.
Diplomatic activity is poised to intensify further as officials confirmed that the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany are set to meet Zelenskyy in London on Monday.
As the political maneuvers unfolded, Russia escalated strikes across Ukraine. Overnight missile, drone, and artillery attacks killed at least four people. Local authorities reported that a man died in a drone strike in the Chernihiv region on Saturday night. In Kremenchuk, a combined attack on infrastructure knocked out power and water systems in a city known for one of Ukraine’s major oil refineries. Kyiv and Western governments say the Kremlin is trying to degrade Ukraine’s energy network to leave civilians without basic utilities through a fourth winter, a campaign Ukrainian officials describe as “weaponizing” the cold.
On Sunday, shelling in the Kharkiv region killed three more people and injured 10 others, according to the regional prosecutor’s office, adding another grim chapter to a conflict still raging even as diplomatic channels attempt to resolve it.
{Matzav.com}
