President Trump on Sunday warned that “millions” more people will be killed if no peace deal is struck between Russia and Ukraine, as he headed into a sit-down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump also optimistically insisted, “We have the makings of a deal” — although he refused to set a timeline for approval of a proposed 20-point peace plan.

“I do believe that we have the makings of a deal. It’s good for Ukraine, good for everybody. It’s very important,” Trump told reporters while standing next to Zelensky outside the entrance to the main dining room of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the pair was huddling Sunday.

“There’s nothing more important,’’ Trump said. “I solved eight wars, and this is the most difficult one.”
If the war continues, “millions of additional people will be killed, millions, and no one wants that,’’ Trump said.

An estimated 250,000 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine, with 950,000 total casualties and 50,000 more missing, according to a June 2025 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies

A January estimate put forward by Zelensky pegged the number of Ukrainians killed or injured in the war at 400,000, with 35,000 missing.

Trump, while saying he is optimistic that peace can be achieved soon, waved off any specific time frame for it.

“Pretty complex but not that complex,’’ Trump said of negotiations. Still, “No deadlines. You know what my deadline is, getting the war ended.”

Trump only said he believes the peace process will “move very rapidly” after he and Zelensky discussed some of the sticking points of the 20-point peace plan that both their teams have crafted.

The 20-point plan, which Zelensky told reporters late last week is “90% finished,” is a revised version of a previous 28-point plan that was seen as more Russia-friendly.

The revamped plan, which Zelensky has described as “the main framework for ending the war,” includes proposals for security guarantees from the US, NATO and European allies should Russia invade Ukraine again.

The plan also would take steps to reaffirm Ukraine’s sovereignty and propose a non-aggression pact between the sides.

Trump said he would be phoning Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin after his sit-down with Zelensky and calling top European leaders as well.

The president spoke with Putin ahead of his meeting with Zelensky, touting the conversation as “good and very productive.”

But Putin was already throwing cold water on any hopes of a peaceful resolution to the war on the eve of the Mar-a-Lago summit, implying that the conflict would continue until Ukraine gave in to all of Russia’s demands.

“If Ukraine does not want to resolve everything peacefully, Russia will resolve all its objectives by military means,” Putin said, according to a translation.

Among Putin’s demands are Ukraine giving up a significant portion of its territory, reducing the size of its military and eschewing any formal alliance with Western nations.

Sunday’s Mar-a-Lago powwow was the first in-person meeting Trump and Zelensky have had since Oct. 17.

“This gentleman has worked very hard,’’ Trump said of Zelensky, with whom he has previously very publicly sparred, before they headed off to meet behind closed doors.

“He’s very brave, and his people are very brave, but what they’ve gone through, no nation, very rarely, has a nation ever gone through this.”