CloseVolodymyr Zelensky has said that several draft documents have been prepared after a Ukrainian delegation held talks with US counterparts officials over the weekend.
This included a document on US security guarantees in the event of a peace deal with Russia, the Ukrainian president said following the Miami talks.
"They worked productively with envoys of President Trump and several draft documents have now been prepared," Mr Zelensky wrote on X.
"In particular, these include documents on security guarantees for Ukraine, on recovery, and on a basic framework for ending this war."
But Moscow, which also sent a delegation for separate talks with US officials in Miami, said the latest dialogue should not be seen as a breakthrough.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called it a “working progress” and that the discussions would continue in a “meticulous” expert-level format.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, said the talks are “going along” but offered no detail on whether anything had been agreed.
The talks came before a massive Russian air attack on Ukraine overnight between Monday and Tuesday. A four-year-old boy was among at least three killed after Russian forces fired more than 650 drones and 30 missiles at Ukraine overnight.
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Russia claims control over villages in Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk
Russia's defence ministry said on Tuesday that its troops had captured the settlements of Prylipka in Ukraine's Kharkiv region and Andriivka in Dnipropetrovsk region.
Russian forces also struck energy and military facilities with Kinzhal missiles, the ministry added.
The Independent could not independently verify the reports of gains on the battlefield.
Alex Croft24 December 2025 04:00
WhatsApp calls out Russia's attempt to restrict private communications
WhatsApp criticised restrictions to its service in Russia yesterday, accusing the authorities of trying to deprive more than 100 million Russians of the right to private communications before the holiday season.
Thousands of Russians complained about outages and slowdowns yesterday, monitoring websites showed.
"In restricting access to WhatsApp, the Russian government aims to take away the right to private, end-to-end encrypted communication from over 100 million people, right before the holiday season in Russia," a WhatsApp spokesperson said.
“WhatsApp is deeply embedded in the fabric of every community in the country – from parent and workplace groups to friends, neighborhood, and extended family chats across Russian regions. We’re committed to fighting for our users because forcing people onto less secure and government-mandated apps can only lead to less safety for Russian people,” the messaging and video calling app’s spokesperson said.
WhatsApp's statement followed a repeat warning by Russia's communications regulator that it would completely block WhatsApp if it did not comply with its demands to bring its services into line with Russian law.
"WhatsApp continues to violate Russian law. The messenger is used to organise and carry out terrorist acts on the territory of the country, to recruit their perpetrators and to commit fraud and other crimes against our citizens," Roskomnadzor, the regulator, told Russian state media.
It said it was taking measures to gradually restrict WhatsApp as a result
Arpan Rai24 December 2025 03:33
Ukrainian troops withdraw from eastern town of Siversk
Ukrainian forces have pulled out of the embattled eastern town of Siversk near Bakhmut, Kyiv's military said.
“The invaders were able to advance due to a significant numerical advantage and constant pressure from small assault groups in difficult weather conditions," Ukraine's General Staff said in a statement.
It said it had withdrawn soldiers to preserve lives and resources, adding that they had, however, inflicted heavy losses on the enemy.
Russia said earlier this month it had captured Siversk, whose pre-war population was around 10,000, a claim Kyiv had denied.
Arpan Rai24 December 2025 03:13
Pope Leo expresses 'much sadness' about Russia refusing Christmas ceasefire
Pope Leo said he feels "much sadness" that Russia did not agree to a Christmas ceasefire in its war on Ukraine.
"Among the things that cause me much sadness is that apparently Russia has refused a ceasefire request," the pope told journalists outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.
"I will make an appeal one more time to people of good will to respect at least Christmas day as a day of peace," he said.
"Maybe they will listen to us and there will be at least 24 hours, a day of peace, across the world.” the pope said.
Arpan Rai24 December 2025 02:59
Zelensky says draft documents have been prepared after US-Ukraine talks
Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that several draft documents, including on security guarantees, had been prepared after Ukrainian officials held talks in Miami with US counterparts on ending Russia's war.
"They worked productively with envoys of President Trump and several draft documents have now been prepared," the Ukrainian president wrote on X.
"In particular, these include documents on security guarantees for Ukraine, on recovery, and on a basic framework for ending this war."
Alex Croft24 December 2025 02:01
Russian authorities extinguish fire at Krasnodar port oil pipeline
Local authorities in Russia's Krasnodar region said on Tuesday that a fire at the fuel oil supply pipeline at the port of Taman had been extinguished.
It comes after a fire on an oil tanker and a pier, caused by a drone attack, was also extinguished on Monday, local authorities said.
Alex Croft24 December 2025 01:00
Zelensky urges US to push Russia for an answer as peace talks continue
Alex Croft24 December 2025 00:01
Kremlin says weekend Ukraine peace talks did not produce breakthrough
The latest dialogue between Russian and the US officials in Miami on the war in Ukraine should not be seen as a breakthrough, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Calling it a “working process”, Vladimir Putin’s close aide said the discussions were expected to continue in a "meticulous" expert-level format and that Russia’s priority was to obtain from the United States details of Washington’s work with Europeans and Ukrainians on a possible settlement.
He said Moscow would then judge how far those ideas matched what he called the “spirit of Anchorage”.
Earlier, Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said the talks were “productive and constructive”.
Alex Croft23 December 2025 23:02
The Independent View | Ukraine is showing fighting spirit, and its allies must respond
The Ukrainians have responded to the cautiousness of their European allies with a show of fighting spirit. After European leaders signed off a €90bn loan – as we commented yesterday, “just enough” to hold Vladimir Putin’s forces at bay but not enough to push them back – Ukraine has struck an alleged Russian shadow-fleet oil tanker off Libya, 2,000km from the battlefield.
Ukrainian drones also hit a Russian patrol ship and an offshore drilling platform in the Caspian Sea, hundreds of kilometres away.
This intensification of the long-distance battle that Ukraine is fighting in support of the ground war of attrition on its own territory is a fitting response, both to the hesitation of its allies and to the four-hour monologue of obfuscation delivered by Mr Putin on Friday.
Read The Independent’s view:
Ukraine is showing fighting spirit, and its allies must respond
Editorial: Vladimir Putin must be brought to the point where he no longer has an interest in prolonging the warAlex Croft23 December 2025 22:00
Italian prosecutors move to drop probe into suspected Russian drone flyovers
Italian prosecutors investigating suspected Russian drone flights over an EU space research centre have concluded their suspicions were unfounded and have requested the case be dropped, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Milan prosecutors found that 21 alleged overflights between March and May 2025 were actually caused by interference from a private GSM phone signal booster near the European Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, near Italy's Lake Maggiore.
