Ukraine's Zelenskyy says progress in US-led peace talks is 'quite solid'

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Ukraine's Zelenskyy says progress in US-led peace talks is 'quite solid'

2025-12-23 00:52 Last Updated At：01:00

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Initial drafts of U.S. proposals for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia meet many of Kyiv's demands, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, although he suggested that neither side in the almost four-year war is likely to get everything it wants in talks on reaching a settlement.

“Overall, it looks quite solid at this stage,” the Ukrainian leader said of recent talks with U.S. officials who are trying to steer the neighboring countries toward compromises.

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

U.S. President Donald Trump has for months been pushing for a peace agreement. However, the negotiations have run into sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv. But U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday he held “productive and constructive” talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives.

Zelenskyy said that “nearly 90%” of Ukraine’s demands have been incorporated into the draft agreements.

The backbone of the proposed deal is a 20-point plan, he said. 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 granted to Ukraine by the U.S.

Ukraine is arguing that this bilateral document should be reviewed by the U.S. Congress, with some details and annexes kept classified, Zelenskyy said.

The U.S. team is now in talks with Russian envoys, and Washington has asked that no details be released, he added.

Zelenskyy said Monday he met with his military commanders who reported that defensive lines are holding firm against the Russian onslaught.

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

Ukrainian forces hit an oil terminal, a pipeline, two parked jet fighters and two ships in a series of strikes on Russian soil, officials said Monday.

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

The strikes also seek to undermine President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to portray Russia as negotiating from a position of military strength in U.S.-led peace efforts, which have yet to make a breakthrough on key points.

The killing of a top Russian general by a car bomb in Moscow on Monday, with investigators suspecting Ukraine was behind it, could be another instance of Kyiv picking surprise targets.

Ukrainian forces struck the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal, an ammunition depot and a launch site for attack drones inside Russian territory and Russian-held Ukrainian territory, Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement Monday.

A pipeline, two docks and two ships were damaged in the southern Krasnodar region, and a large blaze broke out, the statement said, without specifying what kind of weapons were used in the attack.

It added that a Ukrainian-made missile also hit a temporary base for Russia's 92nd River Boat Brigade in Olenivka, in the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

A separate strike targeted an ammunition depot in a Russian-controlled portion of the Donetsk region, aiming to slow the Russian advance there, the General Staff said. A Russian launch site for attack drones was also hit.

Ukrainian partisans set fire to two Russian jet fighters in an operation on Sunday evening at a base near Lipetsk, a city in western Russia, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said only that its forces shot down 41 Ukrainian drones overnight, three of them over the Krasnodar region.

Meanwhile, Russian forces kept up their targeting of Ukraine’s energy sector, aiming to deprive civilians of heat and running water during the frigid winter. Russia has tried to knock out power in Ukraine throughout the war, in a tactic that Ukraine refers to as “weaponizing winter.”

Energy infrastructure across five regions were attacked during the night, Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said.

Russia struck Ukraine with 86 drones of different types overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. Ukrainian forces stopped 58 of them, it said.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Trump's appointment of envoy to Greenland sparks new tension with Denmark

The leaders of Denmark and Greenland insisted Monday that the United States won't take over Greenland and demanded respect for their territorial integrity after President Donald Trump ‍announced the appointment of a ‌special envoy to the semi-autonomous territory.

Trump's announcement on Sunday that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry would be the envoy prompted a new flare-up of tensions over Washington's interest in the vast territory of Denmark, a NATO ally. Denmark's foreign minister told Danish broadcasters that he would summon the U.S. ambassador to his ministry.

”We have said it before. Now, we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a joint statement. “They are fundamental principles. You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security.”

“Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and the U.S. shall not take over Greenland,” they added in the statement emailed by Frederiksen's office. "We expect respect for our joint territorial integrity.”

Trump called repeatedly during his presidential transition and the early months of his second term for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island. In March, Vice President JD Vance visited a remote U.S. military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of under-investing there.

The issue gradually drifted out of the headlines, but in August, Danish officials summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen following a report that at least three people with connections to Trump had carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.

On Sunday, Trump announced Landry's appointment, saying on social media that “Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World.”

Landry wrote in a post on social media that “it’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S.”

The Trump administration did not offer any warning ahead of the announcement, according to a Danish government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The official also said Danish officials had expected Trump to signal an aggressive approach to Greenland and the Arctic in the U.S. administration’s National Security Strategy that was published last month and were surprised when the document included no mention of either.

Danish broadcasters TV2 and DR reported that in comments from the Faroe Islands Monday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he summon the U.S. ambassador in Copenhagen, Kenneth Howery, to his ministry.

Greenland's prime minister wrote in a separate statement that Greenland had again woken up to a new announcement from the U.S. president, and that “it may sound significant. But it changes nothing for us here at home.”

Nielsen noted that Greenland has its own democracy and said that “we are happy to cooperate with other countries, including the United States, but this must always take place with respect for us and for our values and wishes.”

Earlier this month, the Danish Defense Intelligence Service said in an annual report that the U.S. is using its economic power to “assert its will” and threaten military force against friend and foe alike.

Denmark is a member of the European Union as well as NATO. Anouar El Anouni, a spokesperson for the EU's executive Commission, told reporters in Brussels that it wasn't for him to comment on U.S. decisions. But he underlined the bloc's position that "preserving the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark, its sovereignty and the inviolability of its borders is essential for the European Union.”

Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed.