Ukraine's Zelenskyy says progress in US-led peace talks is 'quite solid'
[December 23, 2025]
By SAMYA KULLAB and VASILISA STEPANENKO
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Initial drafts of U.S. proposals for a peace deal
between Ukraine and Russia meet many of Kyiv's demands, Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, although he suggested that
neither side in the almost four-year war is likely to get everything it
wants in talks on reaching a settlement.
“Overall, it looks quite solid at this stage,” the Ukrainian leader said
of recent talks with U.S. officials who are trying to steer the
neighboring countries toward compromises.
“There are some things we are probably not ready for, and I’m sure there
are things the Russians are not ready for either,” Zelenskyy told
reporters in Kyiv.
U.S. President Donald Trump has for months been pushing for a peace
agreement, but the negotiations have run into sharply conflicting
demands from Moscow and Kyiv.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday he held “productive and
constructive” talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European
representatives, though Trump was less effusive the following day,
saying, “The talks are going along.”
“We are talking. It's going OK," Trump said Monday while on vacation at
his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Asked if he planned to speak to
Zelenskyy or Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump didn't say,
offering only of the fighting, “I'd like to see it stopped.”
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said “nearly 90%” of Ukraine’s demands have been
incorporated into the draft agreements.
The backbone of the proposed deal is a 20-point plan, he said. There is
also a framework document on security guarantees between Ukraine,
European countries, and the United States, as well as a separate
document on bilateral security guarantees granted to Ukraine by the U.S.
Zelenskyy mentioned several key points, such as the Ukrainian army
remaining at a peacetime level of 800,000; membership in the European
Union; and European forces, under the leadership of France and the U.K.
and with a “backstop” from Washington, ensuring “Ukraine’s security in
the air, on land, and at sea.”
“Some key countries will provide presence in these domains; others will
contribute to energy security, finance, bomb shelters, and so on,” the
Ukrainian president said.
Ukraine is arguing that the bilateral document with the U.S. should be
reviewed by the U.S. Congress, with some details and annexes kept
classified, Zelenskyy said.
The U.S. team is now in talks with Russian envoys, and Washington has
asked that no details be released, he added.
Ukraine strikes deep inside Russia
Zelenskyy said Monday he met with his military commanders who reported
that defensive lines are holding firm against the Russian onslaught.
“In (recent) weeks, the Russian army has significantly increased the
intensity of attacks, and the number of Russian losses has increased
accordingly,” he said in a post on Telegram.
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In this photo taken on Saturday Dec. 20, 2025 and provided by
Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service, ruins of buildings
in the town of Kostyantynivka, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Oleg
Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
Ukrainian forces hit an oil terminal, a pipeline, two parked jet
fighters and two ships in a series of strikes on Russian soil,
officials said Monday.
The attacks are part of an ongoing campaign to disrupt the Russian
war effort and sow fear behind the front line, where outnumbered
Ukrainian troops are straining to hold back Russia’s bigger army.
The strikes also seek to undermine Putin’s attempt to portray Russia
as negotiating from a position of military strength in U.S.-led
peace efforts, which have yet to make a breakthrough on key points.
The killing of a top Russian general by a car bomb in Moscow on
Monday, with investigators suspecting Ukraine was behind it, could
be another instance of Kyiv picking surprise targets.
Ukrainian partisans burn Russian fighter jets
Ukrainian forces struck the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal, an
ammunition depot and a launch site for attack drones inside Russian
territory and Russian-held Ukrainian territory, Ukraine’s General
Staff said in a statement Monday.
A pipeline, two docks and two ships were damaged in the southern
Krasnodar region, and a large blaze broke out, the statement said,
without specifying what kind of weapons were used in the attack.
It added that a Ukrainian-made missile also hit a temporary base for
Russia's 92nd River Boat Brigade in Olenivka, in the occupied
Crimean Peninsula.
A separate strike targeted an ammunition depot in a
Russian-controlled portion of the Donetsk region, aiming to slow the
Russian advance there, the General Staff said. A Russian launch site
for attack drones was also hit.
Ukrainian partisans set fire to two Russian jet fighters in an
operation on Sunday evening at a base near Lipetsk, a city in
western Russia, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said only that its forces shot down 41
Ukrainian drones overnight, three of them over the Krasnodar region.
Russia targets the power grid again
Meanwhile, Russian forces kept up their targeting of Ukraine’s
energy sector, aiming to deprive civilians of heat and running water
during the frigid winter. Russia has tried to knock out power in
Ukraine throughout the war, in a tactic that Ukraine refers to as
“weaponizing winter.”
Energy infrastructure across five regions were attacked during the
night, Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said.
Russia struck Ukraine with 86 drones of different types overnight,
Ukraine’s air force said. Ukrainian forces stopped 58 of them, it
said.
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