CloseVolodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was "10 per cent" away from a deal to end the war with Russia, but not at "any cost".
"The peace agreement is 90 per cent ready. Ten per cent remains. And that is far more than just numbers," Zelensky said in his New Year's Eve address
Kyiv is also discussing the possibility of hosting US troops as part of peace talks with US president Donald Trump.
"This would be a strong position of the security guarantees," he said in a WhatsApp chat with the media.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones have struck an oil depot that is a key Russian logistics hub for fuel, Kyiv’s domestic security service says.
Officials said the attack in the city of Rybinsk sparked a large fire.
Russian attacks on Ukraine continued, wounding at least six people in air strikes on the Odesa region. Three children and a 42-year-old man were injured. More than 170,000 people have been left without power
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Top EU diplomat calls Russian claims 'deliberate distraction'
The EU foreign policy chief on Wednesday dismissed the Kremlin's claim that Ukraine recently targeted key government sites in Russia, calling it a "deliberate distraction."
"No one should accept unfounded claims from the aggressor who has indiscriminately targeted Ukraine's infrastructure and civilians since the start of the war," Kaja Kallas wrote on US social media company X.
She argued that Moscow seeks to "derail real progress towards peace by Ukraine and its Western partners."
Stuti Mishra1 January 2026 04:30
Putin boasts of Oreshnik missiles in Belarus
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Putin raises stakes and deploys nuclear-ready missiles in Belarus
Images are released of Moscow’s intermediate-range weapons a day after Moscow accused Ukraine attacking Putin’s houseJane Dalton1 January 2026 04:00
Ukraine '10% away' from peace deal, says Zelensky
Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was "10 per cent" away from a deal to end the war with Russia, but cautioned that the last remaining issues were the most important.
In his New Year's Eve address, Zelensky said his country wanted an end to the war but not at "any cost", and that any agreement needed strong security guarantees to deter Russia from invading again.
"The peace agreement is 90 per cent ready. Ten per cent remains. And that is far more than just numbers," Zelensky said in the address, posted on his Telegram account.
Stuti Mishra1 January 2026 03:29
Editorial: Zelensky can buy Europe 15 years
In case you missed it:
President Zelensky would gain more in diplomatic goodwill from the White House by signing a deal – any deal – than he would lose in Ukrainian security, and he should accept the US guarantee – and press his more loyal allies in Europe to take on the role of the real guarantors of Ukraine’s borders.
Zelensky can buy Europe 15 years to finally get its act together
Editorial: Any security guarantees won from this tractable White House administration must be treated with extreme caution – but even a flawed peace deal would give Ukraine’s allies time they desperately need Jane Dalton1 January 2026 03:00
Finland seizes cargo ship from Russia accused of damaging undersea cable
Cargo ship accused of damaging Baltic Sea cable seized by Finland
The ’Fitburg’ was en route from the Russian port of St Petersburg to Israel at the time of the incidentJane Dalton1 January 2026 02:00
Russian 'proof' of attack on Putin home laughable, says Kyiv
Video footage presented by Russia as evidence of an alleged Ukrainian drone attack on Vladimir Putin's residence earlier this week was laughable, a spokesperson for Ukraine's foreign ministry has said.
Russia's defence ministry released video footage on Wednesday of what it said was a downed drone.
It showed a Russian serviceman standing next to fragments of a device said to be a downed Ukrainian Chaklun-V drone carrying a 6kg explosive device that had not detonated.
The ministry did not explain how it knew what the device's target was.
Heorhii Tykhyi, of Kyiv’s foreign ministry, told Reuters: "This is laughable – both the fact that it took them two days to produce this, and the fact that the things they try to present as evidence basically shows that they are not serious even about fabricating the story."
"We are absolutely confident that no such attack took place."
Jane Dalton1 January 2026 01:00
Civilian Ukrainian deaths and injuries rising
More than 2,300 Ukrainian civilians were killed and more than 11,000 were injured from January to November this year, according to the United Nations.
That was 26 per cent higher than in the same period in 2024 and 70 per cent higher than in 2023, it said.
Moscow has this year escalated its long-range attacks on urban areas of Ukraine. In recent months, as Russia’s invasion of its neighbour approaches its four-year milestone in February, it has also intensified its targeting of energy infrastructure, seeking to deny Ukrainians heat and running water in the bitter winter months.
Jane Dalton31 December 2025 23:59
In numbers: Russian drones, bombs and missiles aimed at Ukraine in 2025
Russia launched more than 100,000 drones, around 60,000 guided aerial bombs, and about 2,400 missiles at Ukraine this year, according to Ukrainian statistics.
Air raid alerts sounded 19,033 times across the country in the year.
The data comes from the Air Force of Ukraine and United24, which is the Ukrainian government’s official fundraising platform.
Jane Dalton31 December 2025 23:00
Opinion: Paranoid Putin will never be a peacemaker
The Russian leader is trying to navigate between keeping Donald Trump on board as a de facto partner in geopolitics, while frustrating his ambitions to be a peacemaker worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize by ending the world’s worst war, writes Mark Almond, director of the Crisis Research Institute, Oxford:
This mysterious ‘drone attack’ shows paranoid Putin will never be a peacemaker
Reports of an unlikely aerial raid on Putin’s residence remind us that the Russian president sees endless conflict and confusion as the best means to control, says Mark Almond – he fears victory over Ukraine almost as much as defeatJane Dalton31 December 2025 22:00
Watch: What 2025 brought Ukraine
By The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley:
