Peace hopes dented as Russia claims Ukraine tried to attack Putin residence

Summary

• Russia accused Ukraine of attacking Putin's residence with 91 drones on Dec 28-29, which Ukraine denies, calling it a fabrication to justify further attacks.
• Putin ordered his army to seize all of Zaporizhzhia, demanding Ukraine withdraw from Donbas, while Zelensky accused Russia of planning strikes on Kyiv.
• Zelensky and Trump discussed security guarantees on Dec 28, seeking a 50-year deal, but territorial disputes and foreign troop deployments remain key obstacles.

MOSCOW/KYIV - Russia accused Ukraine on Dec 29 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.

US President Donald Trump said Russia’s leader had told him about the alleged attack in a phone call on Dec 29, which had angered him.

Still, Mr Trump repeated his belief that a peace deal may be near.

“It’s one thing to be offensive,” Mr Trump told reporters. “It’s another thing to attack his house. It’s not the right time to do any of that. And I learnt about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it.”

On Dec 28, Mr Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida and the US president said they were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to an agreement
to end the war, although “thorny” territorial issues remained.

On Dec 29, Mr Putin struck a defiant tone, telling his army to press on with a campaign to take full control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.

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.

Mr Putin told Mr Trump in the Dec 29 phone call that Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, was reviewing its stance following the reported drone attack, an aide said.

After the call with Mr Putin, Mr Trump told reporters outside his home in Palm Beach, Florida, that he had no further information about the alleged attack.

“I don’t like it, it’s not good,” Mr Trump said. Asked if US intelligence agencies had evidence of such an attack, Mr Trump said: “We’ll find out.”

Mr Trump said the conversation with Mr Putin was productive.

“We have a couple of issues that we’re going to get resolved, hopefully, and if we get them resolved, you’re going to have peace,” Mr Trump said.

Zelensky issues denial

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine had tried to attack Mr Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region west of Moscow on Dec 28-29 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,” Mr Lavrov said in a statement, describing the attack as “state terrorism” and adding that targets had already been selected for retaliatory strikes by Russia’s armed forces.

Mr Lavrov did not offer any evidence for his assertions in his statement. It was not clear where Mr Putin was at the time.

Mr Lavrov said the attack took place during negotiations about a possible peace deal, and said Russia would review its negotiating stance but not quit the negotiations.

Denying Ukraine had planned such an attack, Mr Zelensky 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,” Mr Zelensky 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.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media the attack was a fabrication intended to create a pretext for more Russian attacks on Ukraine and to undermine the peace process. He urged world leaders to condemn Russia over its accusations.

Territorial issues unresolved

Mr Zelensky said that on Dec 28, a bilateral agreement had been outlined with Mr Trump on security guarantees for Ukraine.
Still, Mr Trump said they were only 95 per cent ready and Mr Zelensky said on Dec 29 that he had sought a 50-year security deal.

Mr 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.

Mr Zelensky said on Dec 29 that 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, Mr Putin said on Dec 29 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 Mr Putin that Russian forces were 15km 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,” Mr Putin responded. REUTERS