President Donald Trump joked with journalists covering his dinner with a Ukrainian colleague Vladimir Zelensky V Mar-a-Lago on Sunday that they were invited to part of the food served. However, he warned that this could be considered a bribe.
Trump hosted Zelensky and his delegation at his Florida estate. negotiations to end the war with Russiawhich is approaching its fourth anniversary.
Later an American appeared and said that “great progress” were undertaken to ensure peace, but a number of “difficult issues” remained unresolved.
During the lunch, Trump was accompanied by the Secretary of State. Marco Rubiominister of defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain, as well as advisors including Susie Wiles, Stephen MillerSteve Witkoff and Jared Kushnerlined up opposite the table from Zelensky's team.
Turning his attention to the press, the President said: “I think you could sit outside and eat a little. Do you want to eat or do you consider it a bribe and therefore cannot write honestly? Or so you will have to write a bad story?”
President Donald Trump addresses the press during a dinner for his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and his delegation at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, Sunday, December 28, 2025 (AFP/Getty)
When one of the journalists stepped forward to accept the offer on behalf of his colleagues, Trump instructed his aide Margot Martin: “Take them outside and tell the chef to serve them a little lunch.”
As members of the press expressed their gratitude, the president told his guests: “This should guarantee you good stories, but that won't happen. It will only get worse. They will do everything they can to make them worse.”
Politician reporter Alex Gangito afterwards wrote in the pool report: “The pool actually got lunch and we sit at small round tables on the clubhouse patio.
“For those wondering at home, we were served sliced steak, pigs in a blanket, coconut shrimp, French fries and chocolate chip cookies. And water bottles with a Trump label.”
Beyond his jibes about perceived media bias, Trump's gesture toward reporters who interrupted their Christmas break to cover the summit signaled a much friendlier attitude than he has shown lately.
Trump welcomes Zelensky to his Palm Beach estate on Sunday (AFP/Getty)
The president has drawn much criticism in recent months for his hostility toward the press. especially female reportersone of whom he called a “stupid man”, and snapped at the other with the words: – Quiet, pig.
Trump and Zelensky discussed 20 point peace plan for the cessation of hostilities RussiaThe Ukrainian then commented that the security guarantees involving the US and his country were “100 percent agreed” and that the agreement between America, Europe and Ukraine I “almost agreed.”
The agreement will result in Ukraine abandoning its aspirations to join the EU. NATO – a stumbling block for the Russian President Vladimir Putinwhich has long opposed what it sees as the military alliance's eastward advance, but receives “NATO-style” defensive support from allied countries forming a “coalition of the willing.”
However, Ukraine continues to refuse to cede any territory to Moscow's invading forces, rejecting any offer that would amount to Russian annexation of the territory. Donbass or Crimea.
Whether Putin would be willing to accept a deal without at least declaring ownership of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions his troops currently occupy in eastern Ukraine remains to be seen, but is considered unlikely.
