Ukraine-Russia battle newest: Kremlin dismisses new peace plan after Trump’s envoy calls talks constructive

Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy official has accused Europe and Ukraine of prolonging the conflict with their proposals.

“I am sure that the proposals that the Europeans and Ukrainians have made or are trying to make definitely do not improve the document and do not improve the possibility of achieving long-term peace,” Yuri Ushakov said.

The senior Kremlin official said he had not seen the exact proposals and that his criticism was “not a forecast”.

He also denied that trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the US were under discussion, after Zelensky said Washington had proposed the idea of three-way discussions.

“At present, no one has seriously discussed this initiative, and to my knowledge it is not being prepared,” he said.

Sir Keir Starmer has spoken to US president Donald Trump for what will likely be their final phone call of 2025.

The two leaders discussed the war in Ukraine, the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza, and the appointment of a new ambassador to Washington DC when they spoke on Sunday afternoon, according to No 10.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister spoke to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, this afternoon. The two leaders began by reflecting on the war in Ukraine.

“The Prime Minister updated on work by the Coalition of the Willing to support any peace deal and ensure a just and lasting end to the hostilities.

The icy ground crackling under their feet, members of an elite Ukrainian drone-hunting team set up for a long night.

Antennas and sensors are clipped to a light stand. Monitors and controls are pulled from hard cases, and a game-changing new weapon is readied for deployment.

The Sting, shaped like a flying thermos, is one of Ukraine’s new homegrown interceptors.

The unit’s commander says the interceptors can effectively counter Russia’s fast-evolving suicide drones, which are now flying faster and at higher altitudes.

“Every destroyed target is something that did not hit our homes, our families, our power plants,” said the officer, known only by the call sign “Loi,” in line with Ukrainian military protocol. “The enemy does not sleep, and neither do we.”

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.

An Indian national who had travelled to Russia on a student visa and is now being held as a POW in Ukraine has appealed to his country’s prime minister Narendra Modi to secure his release.

Sahil Mohamed Hussein Majothi, 23, from Gujarat, says he travelled to St Petersburg in January 2024 to study a course on Russian language and culture at ITMO University.

The man was allegedly sentenced to jail after a police case and then forced to fight for Russia on the battlefield. He was then captured by the Ukrainian forces.

A video released by Ukraine in October showed his surrender. In a fresh video last night, Majothi warned Indians going to Russia for studies or work to “be careful against scammers”.

“I appeal to the Indian government, to prime minister Narendra Modi and S Jaishankar (minister of external affairs), if possible, please help. That’s all,” he said.

The French presidency has welcomed Russia’s willingness to hold talks with Emmanuel Macron.

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s willingness to speak with Macron is “welcome”, the Elysee Palace said, adding that Paris will decide on the details “in the coming days”, reported French broadcaster BFMTV.

The remarks came shortly after Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Saturday said Putin is ready to engage in dialogue with Macron.

On Friday, Macron had said it would “become useful again” for him and the Europeans to speak with Putin.

“I think that we, Europeans and Ukrainians, have an interest in finding a framework to re-engage in these discussions properly. Otherwise, we end up talking among ourselves, with negotiators who go off on their own to talk with the Russians, which is not optimal,” Macron said.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has said Ukraine’s collapse would be a disaster for his country, as he made a rare statement in support of Kyiv.

Orban was speaking during his “Country tour” rally yesterday, at a time when he faces staunch opposition ahead of the country’s upcoming elections.

“Make no mistake: Ukraine’s collapse would be a disaster for Hungary. So the collapse of Ukraine is not only in Hungary’s interest, but we must do a great deal to prevent it from happening,” he said.

“Countryside people – and real estate speculators – understand perfectly that the value of your piece of land is influenced not only by the condition of that land, but also by the condition of the neighbouring piece of land, and also by who lives there,” Orban said, addressing the city of Szeged.

The talks between Ukraine and the US have centred on Kyiv’s insistence that it needs security guarantees to end the war.

Ukraine also says it will not and legally cannot give up territory seized by Russia.

Moscow has shown no signs of backing down from its demands, however.

Russia opposes Europe putting boots on the ground to uphold peace in Ukraine when the war ends. That makes it tricky for Europe to offer tangible security guarantees.

Russia has gone into talks this week publicly refusing to budge on claims to the Donbas, Crimea and land in the south.

The two sides are stuck in gridlock with Trump pressuring Kyiv to give up land for a peace deal, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Ukraine’s leverage comes from Europe, which continues to offer funding and work on ‘security guarantees’.

The Ukrainian army said it was battling an attempted Russian breakthrough in the Sumy region after Moscow claimed to have forcibly removed 50 people from a border village.

“Fighting is currently ongoing in the village of Grabovske,” Ukraine’s joint taskforce said and said their troops were “making efforts to drive the occupiers back into Russian territory”.

Russian forces have crossed the border with Ukraine in the northeastern Sumy region and taken about 50 residents of a Ukrainian border village into Russia, Ukrainian media quoted the military as saying yesterday.

Most of the local residents captured from the village were elderly people, the media said.

Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne and the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet said Russian forces entered Ukrainian territory on Saturday night in the area of the village of Hrabovske.