president Donald Trump He has spent much of 2025 trying to do what his predecessors failed to do: personally engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an effort to end the war in Ukraine. From high-profile summits to outright phone calls, the government continues to push for a negotiated solution, even as the battleground and maps remain virtually unchanged.

By year’s end, the contours of a potential deal were clearer than at any time since Russia’s full-scale invasion, with U.S. and Ukrainian officials united Revised 20-point framework Addressing ceasefire terms, security guarantees and disputed territories. But 2025 also made clear why this war is so difficult to resolve: Neither battlefield pressure, economic sanctions, nor heightened diplomacy will be enough to force Moscow or Kiev to make concessions they are unwilling to make.

Trump administration pushes for deal

Last February, the year began with a high-profile clash between President Donald Trump and the Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who stormed out of the White House after Trump told the Ukrainian leader he had “no cards” to negotiate with Russia.

After pledging to end the war on “day one” of his presidency, Trump became frustrated with the progress of the negotiations and initially directed his anger at Zelensky before admitting that it was Moscow, not Kiev, that was holding back progress.

“I thought the Russia-Ukraine war was the easiest to stop, but Putin failed me,” Trump said in September 2025.

President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky multiple times in 2025. (President of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu, Getty Images)

This frustration was on public display months ago, when Russia continued to launch attacks despite diplomatic contacts. “He talks great, and then he bombards everyone at night,” Trump said in July.

Trump’s contacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin culminated in a high-profile summit in Alaska in August, although other meetings were later canceled due to a lack of progress toward a deal.

Zelenskyy inspired by ‘very good’ Christmas talks to us

Still, Trump struck a more optimistic tone at the end of the year. After meeting Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, the president said the two sides were “getting closer, maybe very close” to a peace deal, while acknowledging that major obstacles remained, including the status of disputed territories such as the Donbas region, which he called “very difficult.”

Trump said the meeting came after more than two hours of a “very positive” call between him and Putin that underscored the administration’s continued efforts to urge both sides to negotiate an end to the war.

How are the negotiations going so far?

By the end of 2025, the diplomatic track had narrowed around a clearer but still contentious framework. U.S. officials and Ukrainian negotiators have been working on a revised 20-point proposal that outlines a potential ceasefire, security guarantees for Ukraine and mechanisms to resolve the disputed territory and demilitarized zone.

Zelensky has publicly stated Be open to elements of the framework while insisting that any deal must include strong long-term security guarantees to deter future Russian aggression. Ukrainian officials have also made clear that issues surrounding the occupied territories, including parts of Donbas, cannot be resolved solely through ceasefire lines without broader guarantees.

However, Russia did not agree to this proposal. Moscow continues to insist on recognition of its territorial claims and refuses to accept terms that would limit its military posture or require meaningful concessions. Russian officials have sometimes linked their negotiating positions to developments on the battlefield, reinforcing the Kremlin’s view that influence, not urgency, should dictate the pace of negotiations.

“I thought the Russia-Ukraine war was the easiest to stop, but Putin failed me,” Trump said in September 2025. (Getty Images/Andrew Harnick)

The result is a negotiating process that is more structured than previous efforts, but still far from a solution: even as channels remain open, positions become harder and talks continue within the ongoing battle rather than replace it.

Russia’s Territorial Pressure—And Ukraine’s Gains Limited

Even with heightened diplomacy in 2025, ground war will remain a slow, grinding exercise in territorial pressure rather than a decisive breakthrough. Russian forces continue to make incremental gains in eastern and southern Ukraine, particularly along axes related to Moscow’s long-term goal of consolidating control over territory it claims as part of Russia.

Russia’s advances have been measured and costly, often carried out village by village with heavy artillery fire and sustained use of drones rather than a full-scale offensive. While Moscow failed to capture new major cities or trigger a collapse of Ukraine’s defenses, it expanded its control over parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, maintaining pressure on multiple fronts and making territorial issues central to the fighting and any future negotiations.

On August 15, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, USA, to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

For its part, Ukraine did not launch a large-scale counteroffensive in 2025, as was the case earlier in the war. Ukrainian forces have achieved localized tactical successes, sometimes recapturing small areas or reversing specific situations Russia’s progressbut these gains are limited in scope and often temporary. None have translated into sustained territorial breakthroughs capable of altering the broader balance on the front.

Instead, Kiev focused on preventing further losses, strengthening its defense lines, and imposing costs on Russian forces through precision strikes and asymmetric tactics. Unable to gain decisive territory, Ukraine Expanded attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, targeting refineries, fuel depots and other centers critical to sustaining Moscow’s war effort – including locations deep within Russian territory.

Zelensky says Russia’s new attacks on Ukraine show Putin’s ‘true attitude’ ahead of Trump meeting

Meanwhile, Russia continues to target Ukraine’s energy grid, attacking electricity and heating infrastructure as part of a broader effort to stress Ukraine’s economy, civil resilience and air defense systems. The result has been an expanding pattern of horizontal escalation, with both sides seeking influence beyond the front lines without achieving decisive military results.

The result has been a stalemate on the battlefield with minimal movement: Russia has made just enough progress to maintain its territorial claims and domestic narrative, while Ukraine has proven capable of blunting attacks and imposing costs but has been unable to reclaim large swathes of occupied land. The battle highlights a core reality in 2025 – territory remains vital to both sides, but neither side has the military clout needed to force a decisive shift.

Firefighters survey the scene of a Russian missile strike in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. (Office of Kharkiv Region Governor Sunyiehubov/Associated Press)

This dynamic will increasingly limit the boundaries of diplomacy. If there are no major changes on the battlefield, negotiations can test red lines and clarify positions, but they cannot force compromise.

Why negotiations are deadlocked: No leverage to decide

As with all diplomacy in 2025, negotiations have repeatedly encountered the same obstacle: Neither Russia nor Ukraine faces the kind of pressure that would force them to make decisive compromises.

on the battlefield, Russia Continuing to absorb losses while pressing for additional territorial gains reinforces Moscow’s belief that time is still on its side. Ukrainian forces, although increasingly strained, managed to prevent a collapse and inflict damage through deep strikes and attacks on Russian energy infrastructure – demonstrating their ability to shape the conflict even in the absence of significant territorial advances.

Economic pressures have also reshaped – but not determined – Moscow’s calculations. Despite years of Western sanctions, Russia continues to fund its 2025 war, increasing defense production and adapting its economy to sustain a protracted conflict. While sanctions limit economic growth and access to advanced technology, they raise the long-term costs of the war without generating the direct pressure needed to force President Vladimir Putin to make concessions.

On Wednesday, August 20, 2025, servicemen of the Ukrainian 44th Artillery Brigade fired a 2s22 Bohdana self-propelled howitzer at Russian positions on the front line in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine. (Danilo Antonique/AP Photo)

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These realities define the limits of American mediation. While the Trump administration has urged both sides to clarify red lines and explore possible frameworks for ending the war, Washington can spell out options without prescribing an outcome unless there is a decisive shift on the ground or a sudden change in Moscow’s calculations.

The result was a year of negotiations that clarified positions but did not bridge the differences. As long as stress creates pain without a decision, negotiations can narrow options and define boundaries, even if they do not end conflict.