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Russia has accused Ukraine of trying to attack President Vladimir Putin’s residence in northern Russia, although it provided no evidence to back up an assertion that Kyiv dismissed as baseless and designed to undermine peace negotiations.
The angry exchanges — including a statement by Russia that it was reviewing its stance in negotiations in response to the attack — dealt a new blow to prospects for peace in Ukraine.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida and said they were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to an agreement to end the war, although “thorny” territorial issues remained.
Putin also struck a defiant tone on Monday, telling his army to press on with a campaign to take full control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, and the Kremlin repeated demands for Kyiv to pull its forces out of the last part of the Donbas area that they still hold in eastern Ukraine.

According to an aide, Russian President Vladimir Putin informed former U.S. President Donald Trump via a phone call that Russia was reevaluating its position after a reported drone strike. This development comes in the wake of Russia’s military incursion into Ukraine, which began in February 2022.

Trump told reporters after the call that he had no further information about the alleged attack.
“It’s one thing to be offensive,” Trump said. “It’s another thing to attack his house. It’s not the right time to do any of that. And I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it.”
Trump said the conversation with Putin was productive.

“We have a few matters to address, and with any luck, resolving these will lead to peace,” Trump commented on the situation.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that the alleged attack occurred amidst discussions on a potential peace agreement. He emphasized that while Russia would reassess its negotiating approach, it remains committed to continuing talks.

Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine had tried to attack Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region west of Moscow on 28-29 December with 91 long-range drones which were all destroyed by Russian air defences. No one was injured and there was no damage, he said in comments reported by Russian media.
“Such reckless actions will not go unanswered,” Lavrov said, describing the attack as “state terrorism” and adding that targets had already been selected for retaliatory strikes by Russia’s armed forces.
Lavrov, in his televised remarks, appeared not to have offered any evidence for his assertions. It was not clear where Putin was at the time.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha took to social media, dismissing the attack as a fabrication aimed at justifying further Russian offensives against Ukraine and disrupting peace efforts. He called on global leaders to denounce Russia’s claims.

Denying Ukraine had planned such an attack, Zelenskyy accused Russia of preparing the ground to strike government buildings in Kyiv, saying Russia wanted to undermine progress at US-Ukrainian talks on ending the war.
“Another round of lies from the Russian Federation,” Zelenskyy told reporters via WhatsApp. “It is clear that we had a meeting with Trump yesterday, and it is clear that for the Russians, if there is no scandal between us and America, and we are making progress — for them it is a failure, because they do not want to end this war.”
He added: “I am sure they are simply preparing the ground for strikes, probably on the capital, probably on government buildings.”

Currently, Russia maintains control over approximately 20% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

Unresolved territorial issues

Zelenskyy said a bilateral agreement had been outlined with Trump on security guarantees for Ukraine on Sunday, although the US president said they were only 95 per cent ready and Zelenskyy said on Monday that he had sought a 50-year security deal.
Trump also said he expected European countries to “take over a big part” of security efforts with US backing. Agreement on such moves would be complicated, as Russia has said any foreign troop deployment in Ukraine would be unacceptable.
Zelenskyy said on Monday two main issues in a 20-point peace proposal remained to be resolved: control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which is in Russian hands, and the fate of the Donbas area.

Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

It claims Donbas — comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk regions — as well as the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, although they are all internationally recognised as Ukraine’s sovereign territory.
Russia wants Ukraine to withdraw troops from parts of the Donetsk region it has failed to occupy. Ukraine wants fighting halted along current front lines, and the US has proposed a free economic zone if Ukraine pulls troops back.
Underlining Russia’s intention of standing firm on its territorial ambitions, Putin said on Monday his generals should push on with efforts to secure all of Zaporizhzhia region, of which Moscow already controls around 75 per cent.
Colonel-general Mikhail Teplinsky, commander of Russia’s Dnieper military grouping, told Putin that Russian forces were 15 km (9.3 miles) from its biggest city, also called Zaporizhzhia.
“In the near future, it is necessary to continue the offensive, together with the East grouping to liberate Zaporizhzhia,” Putin responded.
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