Cracks in Trump’s peace plan as Ukraine accuses Russia of lies over ‘attack on Putin residence’

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov alleged that Ukraine had launched 91 long-range drones at the forest retreat on Lake Valdai overnight, but all had been shot down with no damage reported.

Mr Zelensky dismissed the claim as “lies” that he said were cynically intended to “undermine diplomacy and justify dragging out the war”.

“Ukraine is doing everything to achieve peace. Russia must stop inventing ways to wage war and start thinking about how to restore security. Ukraine has put forward all the proposals,” he added.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha urged world leaders on Monday to condemn Russian “manipulations” about the alleged Ukrainian attack, saying Moscow was seeking “false justification” for further strikes on its neighbour.

“Usual Russian tactic: Accuse the other side of what you are doing or planning yourself,” he said in a post on X (Twitter).

The row came as delegations emerged from crunch peace talks in Florida at the weekend with few concrete assurances for long-term stability.

Mr Zelensky said security guarantees had been hammered out and agreed in full – but that Mr Trump was only ready to commit to 15 years of upholding peace, far short of the 50 Ukraine had asked for.

“I told him that we are already at war, and it has been for almost 15 years,” the Ukrainian president said. “Therefore, I really wanted the guarantees to be longer. I told him that we would really like to consider the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years.”

Mr Zelensky said Mr Trump had agreed to consider extending guarantees further, but that these guarantees would need to be approved by the US Congress as well as by parliaments in other countries involved in overseeing any settlement.

He added that there were still crucial details that needed to be resolved after travelling to Mar-a-Lago to get Mr Trump’s blessing for a revised 20-point peace plan.

Kyiv and Washington are yet to agree on the fate of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and how to share energy from Europe’s largest nuclear power station in Zaporizhzhia.

Natia Seskuria, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), assessed that it was “premature, and in many ways exaggerated” to suggest peace was any closer when the “most critical questions” remain unresolved.

She told The Independent: “The core issue of the future of the occupied territories, including the remaining parts of the Donbas region under Ukrainian control, lacks any clarity, which severely limits how much weight can be attached to talk of ‘progress.’”

“As the territorial question remains unresolved, it can easily derail the entire process,” she said, noting that there was nothing to suggest Mr Trump was pressuring Putin towards any concessions.

Mr Trump called Putin on Monday to update him on the peace talks, and the pair is expected to speak again in the near future, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Mr Peskov added that there was no indication the Russian leader would speak to Mr Zelensky.

Mr Zelensky is still arguing for foreign troops to help uphold a future armistice, and said another meeting with European leaders was planned for January.

He said a 20-point plan to end the war should be signed by Europe, as well as the US, Russia and Ukraine, and suggested putting it to a referendum subject to a 60-day ceasefire.

French president Emmanuel Macron said Kyiv’s allies will meet in Paris in early January to “finalise each country’s concrete contributions” to the security guarantees.