Trump Says Ukraine Peace Deal 'Getting Very Close' — Kremlin Contradicts, Russia Resumes Mass Strikes

As Trump departed the White House for a summit in Beijing on May 13, 2026, he told reporters that a Ukraine-Russia peace settlement was 'getting very close,' stating: 'The end of the war in Ukraine, I really think, is getting very close... Believe it or not, it's getting closer, and we think we're going to end up getting a settlement between Russia and Ukraine.' The statement came as Russia simultaneously launched 200+ drones across Ukraine. The Kremlin explicitly contradicted Trump's timeline, calling a peace deal 'a very long road, full of complex details.' Zelensky's camp said the two sides were '90% agreed' on a 20-point peace framework but that territorial issues — Russia's demand for the remainder of Donetsk Oblast — remained the core impasse. Ukraine's foreign minister reiterated that no territorial concessions would be accepted without binding security guarantees from NATO or equivalent powers. Discussions were reported about a potential Putin-Zelensky meeting in a neutral third country, but the Kremlin insisted this could only occur after a full peace treaty was finalized — a condition Ukraine said was circular.