Zelenskiy calls peace talks progress ‘quite solid’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says early drafts of U.S. proposals for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia meet most of Kiev’s demands, but suggests neither side in the nearly four-year war will likely get everything it wants in negotiations to reach a deal.

“Overall, it looks pretty solid at this stage,” the Ukrainian leader said Monday of his latest round of talks with U.S. officials trying to nudge neighboring countries toward a compromise.

“There are probably some things we are not ready for, and I’m sure there are things the Russians are not ready for either,” Zelenskiy told reporters in Kiev.

US President Donald Trump has been pushing for a peace agreement for months. However, in the negotiations he encountered conflicting demands from Moscow and Kiev.

But US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday he was having “productive and constructive” talks with Ukrainian and European representatives in Florida.

Zelenskiy said “almost 90 percent” of Ukraine’s demands were included in the draft agreements.

He said the backbone of the proposed agreement is a 20-point plan. 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 given by the United States to Ukraine.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine argued that this bilateral document should be reviewed by the US Congress and some details and annexes should be kept secret.

The US team is currently in talks with Russian envoys and Washington has asked that no details be disclosed, the official added.

Zelenskiy said he met with his military commanders on Monday and informed them that their defense lines were holding firm against the Russian attack.

“In (recent) weeks the Russian military has significantly increased the intensity of attacks and, accordingly, the number of Russian casualties has increased,” he said in a post on Telegram.

Ukrainian forces hit an oil terminal, a pipeline, two parked warplanes and two ships in a series of attacks on Russian territory, officials said Monday.

The attacks are part of an ongoing campaign to disrupt Russia’s war effort and sow fear behind the front lines, where outnumbered Ukrainian troops struggle to hold back Russia’s massive army.

The attacks also aim to undermine President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to portray Russia as negotiating as a military force in a US-led peace effort that has yet to make progress on key points.

The car bomb killing of a top Russian general in Moscow on Monday, which investigators suspect Ukraine was behind, may be another example of Kiev choosing surprise targets.

Ukraine’s General Staff said on Monday that Ukrainian forces hit the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal, ammunition depot and launch site from which attack drones were launched within Russian territory and Russian-held Ukrainian territory.

In the statement, without specifying what kind of weapons were used in the attack, it was stated that a pipeline, two piers and two ships were damaged and a large fire broke out in the southern Krasnodar region.

It was stated that a Ukrainian-made missile also hit the temporary base of Russia’s 92nd River Boat Brigade in Olenivka on the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

A separate attack targeted an ammunition depot in the Russian-controlled part of the Donetsk region and was aimed at slowing Russia’s advance there, the General Staff said. A Russian launch site for attack drones was also hit.

Ukrainian partisans set fire to two Russian warplanes during an operation at a base near Lipetsk, a city in western Russia, on Sunday evening, according to Ukrainian military intelligence.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 41 Ukrainian drones in one night alone, including three in the Krasnodar region.

Meanwhile, Russian forces continued to target Ukraine’s energy sector in an attempt to deprive civilians of heat and running water during the cold winter months. Russia sought to overthrow power in Ukraine throughout the war, a tactic that Ukraine referred to as “armed winter”.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy said that energy infrastructure in five regions was attacked overnight.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia hit Ukraine with 86 UAVs of different types during the night. It was stated that Ukrainian forces stopped 58 of them.