Putin hardens stance in call with Trump over Ukraine peace talks

Kate Sullivan, Bloomberg News on Dec 29, 2025

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A call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, coming after fresh U.S. talks with Ukraine, raised new questions over the prospects for a peace deal as the Kremlin signaled new complications.

Putin told Trump that Moscow would revise its negotiating position on Ukraine as he claimed a drone attack on one of his residences, according to the Kremlin, even as Ukraine called the Russian allegations a fabricated pretext aimed at derailing the peace process.

The Russian leader said Moscow intends to work closely with the U.S. on peace efforts but will reconsider a number of previously reached agreements, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian newswires. Ushakov added that Putin assured Trump that Moscow intends to continue working with U.S. partners to achieve peace and that the two leaders agreed to maintain their dialogue.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the Russian claims as a “new lie” and warned that Moscow could be using it as a pretext to prepare an attack on government buildings in Kyiv.

Trump’s call with Putin, the second in as many days, follows a flurry of diplomatic activity at year’s end as the U.S. president pushes to secure a resolution to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine — a conflict he had pledged to end on his first day back in office. While White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X that Trump and Putin had held a “positive call,” it remains unclear whether the U.S. president is any closer to that goal.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier on Monday that Ukraine attempted to attack a presidential residence in the Novgorod region, more than 400 kilometers (249 miles) northwest of Moscow, with 91 drones, adding that Russia would retaliate and that targets had already been selected.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Monday cast it as a Russian bid to damage the peace talks.

Trump’s call with Putin followed a Sunday meeting between the U.S. president and Zelenskyy in Florida, in which they both expressed optimism over the prospects of a deal. That meeting delivered no clear breakthrough but saw Trump hail what he called “a lot of progress.” Trump said speaking with Zelenskyy that he was confident a deal was “getting a lot closer” though it might take a few weeks to conclude and there was no set timeline.

Zelenskyy said Sunday the peace plan was “90% agreed.” The U.S. and Ukrainian presidents spoke with European leaders after their meeting. Ukraine is seeking a meeting with European partners and Trump in January, Zelenskyy has said, followed by a separate meeting with Russian officials “in one format or another.” The Coalition of the Willing group will meet in early January to discuss its support for Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X on Monday.

Ukrainian officials toiled over recent weeks to revise a 28-point draft plan originally proposed by the U.S. but seen as overly favorable to Russia. The latest version has 20 points, but Moscow has warned that it includes elements it won’t accept, including on the size of Ukraine’s post-war military.

Among the major sticking points left to be resolved: the future of Ukraine’s Donbas region, which is partially occupied by Russian forces. Russia has insisted on maximalist demands for territory, including lands that it doesn’t fully control.

Russia also wants guarantees against future eastward expansion by the NATO military alliance and on Ukraine’s neutral status if it joins the European Union, as well as clarity on the removal of sanctions and on hundreds of billions of dollars of Moscow’s frozen state assets in the West, according to a person close to the Kremlin.

Zelenskyy, for his part, said he asked Trump for U.S. security guarantees lasting as long as half a century to help deter any future Russian invasion. Current proposals under discussion as part of a peace plan set out a 15-year term with the possibility for an extension.

“I would like the guarantee to be much longer,” Zelenskyy said Monday in an audio message to reporters. “We would like to consider the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years and then it will be a historic decision by Trump.”

Trump also held what was cast as a “very productive” phone call with Putin shortly before he met with Zelenskyy on Sunday.

Even amid ongoing negotiations, Russia has continued to hammer Ukraine with drone and missile attacks targeting cities and energy infrastructure, looking to press its military campaign and maximize the pain felt by civilians during winter.

Putin on Monday held his seventh televised meeting with Russia’s army command since October, highlighting what he described as advances on the battlefield in Ukraine and ordering his forces to continue efforts to seize more territory.

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—With assistance from Mark Sweetman.