Zelensky says peace deal is 90% ready in New Year address

A peace deal to end the war with Russia is “90% ready,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his New Year’s speech, which focused largely on resistance to Moscow’s all-out occupation.

Zelensky said that the remaining 10 percent of the agreement, which will end the conflict that has been going on for nearly four years, “will determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe.”

“We believe in you and in our victory,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told his soldiers in his own New Year’s speech.

Earlier on Wednesday, Moscow also released what it said was evidence that Ukraine had targeted Putin’s private home on Lake Valdai in northwestern Russia with drones, allegations that Kiev has strongly denied.

The report included a map that purported to show drones being launched from Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions, and a video of a drone being shot down in snowy forestland. A soldier standing next to the wreckage claims it is a Ukrainian Chaklun UAV.

The BBC has not been able to verify the footage and it is impossible to find out where it was shot.

The Kremlin said it would review Russia’s stance on ongoing peace negotiations because of the alleged incident.

But the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, on Wednesday described Russia’s claims as a “deliberate stalling” and an attempt to derail the peace process.

In his 20-minute address to the nation, Zelensky stated that Ukraine does not want peace “at any cost” and said, “We want the war to end, not Ukraine.”

He said Ukraine’s withdrawal from the eastern Donbas region meant “everything would be over”, a reference to Russia’s maximalist demand that any peace deal ensure Moscow full control of the industrial region.

Moscow currently controls about 75% of the Donetsk region and about 99% of neighboring Luhansk. The two regions are collectively known as Donbas.

Its fate has been a major obstacle throughout the negotiations, with Russia consistently unwilling to compromise on its aim to gain full control of Donbas.

In his speech, Zelensky thanked the leaders who supported Ukraine, but said that “intentions must become a guarantee of security and therefore must be approved.”

Following talks between Zelensky and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Florida earlier this week, the Ukrainian leader said Washington had offered 15-year security guarantees, but the timeframe for their implementation was not yet clear.

In his speech, Zelensky said, “Signatures to weak agreements only fuel war.” “Either the world stops Russia’s war, or Russia drags the world into its own war.”

By comparison, Putin’s New Year’s speech was much shorter.

Referring to the war in Ukraine, which Moscow defined as a “special military operation”, Putin said: “We try to give joy and warmth with our attention to those who need support, and of course we try to stand by our heroes – those who participated in the special military operation – both in word and in deed.”

Separately, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used his New Year’s message to praise the “invincible alliance” between Pyongyang and Moscow and praise soldiers fighting on “foreign soil.”

South Korean officials said they sent thousands of troops with missiles and long-range weapons to aid Russia in its invasion of North Korea.

According to South Korean estimates, at least 600 of these soldiers died.

Zelensky expressed his desire to continue and accelerate peace negotiations this month with the participation of both US and European officials.

French President Emmanuel Macron said European states and their allies who will meet in Paris on January 6 will “make concrete commitments to protect Ukraine and ensure a just and lasting peace on our European continent.”

On Wednesday, Trump’s advisers held talks with Zelensky and national security advisers from Britain, France and Germany about ending the war in Ukraine.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff said they discussed “strengthening security guarantees and developing effective deconfliction mechanisms that will help end the war and ensure that it does not restart.”

But any deal would eventually require Russian participation, which seems unlikely, and the alleged drone incident at Putin’s residence may have pushed that further away.