Peace hopes dented as Russia says Ukraine tried to attack Putin residence

Russia accused Ukraine on Monday of trying to attack President Vladimir Putin's residence and vowed retaliation, providing no evidence for a claim Kyiv dismissed as baseless and aimed at derailing arduous peace talks.

The angry exchanges between the warring neighbours on Monday, including a statement by Russia that it was reviewing its stance in negotiations in response to the attack, dealt a new blow to prospects for peace in Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump said Putin had told him about the alleged attack in a phone call on Monday morning, which had angered him. Still, Trump repeated his belief that a peace deal may be near.

"It's one thing to be offensive," Trump told reporters. "It's another thing to attack his house. It's not the right time to do any of that. And I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it."

On Sunday, Trump met Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida and the US president said they were "getting a lot closer, maybe very close" to an agreement to end the war, although "thorny" territorial issues remained.

On Monday, Putin struck a defiant tone, telling his army to press on with a campaign to take full control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region.

The Kremlin repeated demands for Kyiv to pull its forces out of the last part of the Donbas area that they still hold in eastern Ukraine.

Putin told Trump in Monday's phone call that Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, was reviewing its stance following the reported drone attack, an aide said.

Zelenskyy dismissed Russia's allegation as "a complete fabrication" and the Kremlin's own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war. 

After the call with Putin, Trump told reporters outside his home in Palm Beach, Florida, that he had no further information about the alleged attack.

"I don't like it, it's not good," Trump said. Asked if US intelligence agencies had evidence of such an attack, Trump said: "We'll find out."

RUSSIA SIGNALS MORE HARDLINE APPROACH TO ENDING THE WAR

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine had tried to attack Putin's residence in the Novgorod region west of Moscow on December 28 - 29 with 91 long-range drones which were all destroyed by Russian air defences. No one was injured and there was no damage, he said in comments reported by Russian media.

"Such reckless actions will not go unanswered," Lavrov said in a statement, describing the attack as "state terrorism" and adding that targets had already been selected for retaliatory strikes by Russia's armed forces.

Reuters could not independently verify Lavrov's comments. Neither Lavrov nor any other Russian officials offered any evidence for the attack assertions. It was not clear where Putin was at the time.

Lavrov said the attack took place during negotiations about a possible peace deal, and said Russia would review its negotiating stance but not quit the negotiations.

Denying Ukraine had planned such an attack, Zelenskyy accused Russia of preparing the ground to strike government buildings in Kyiv.

"It is clear that we had a meeting with Trump yesterday, and it is clear that for the Russians, if there is no scandal between us and America, and we are making progress – for them it is a failure, because they do not want to end this war," Zelenskyy told reporters via WhatsApp.

He added: "I am sure they are simply preparing the ground for strikes, probably on the capital, probably on government buildings."

TERRITORIAL ISSUES UNRESOLVED

Trump said his conversation on Monday with Putin was productive.

"We have a couple of issues that we're going to get resolved, hopefully, and if we get them resolved, you're going to have peace," Trump said.

Zelenskyy said that on Sunday, a bilateral agreement had been outlined with Trump on security guarantees for Ukraine. Still, Trump said they were only 95 per cent ready and Zelenskyy said on Monday that he had sought a 50-year security deal.

Lavrov, in a wide-ranging interview with state news agency RIA published late on Monday said that Ukraine and Western countries had to come to terms with the fact that Russia held the initiative on the battlefield in Ukraine.

"Our principled position remains unchanged. The strategic initiative rests wholly with the Russian army," Lavrov said.

Trump said he expected European countries to "take over a big part" of security efforts with US backing. Agreement on such moves would be complicated, as Russia has said any foreign troop deployment in Ukraine would be unacceptable.

Zelenskyy told Fox News in an interview that aired late on Monday that Ukraine cannot win the war without US support and that he does not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I don't trust Putin and he doesn't want success for Ukraine," Zelenskyy said.

Earlier on Monday, the Ukrainian president said that two main issues in a 20-point peace proposal remained to be resolved: control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which is in Russian hands, and the fate of the Donbas area.

Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

It claims Donbas – comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk regions – as well as the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, although they are all internationally recognised as Ukraine's sovereign territory.

Russia wants Ukraine to withdraw troops from parts of the Donetsk region that Moscow has failed to occupy. Ukraine wants fighting halted along current front lines, and the US has proposed a free economic zone if Ukraine pulls troops back.

Underlining Russia's intention of standing firm on its territorial ambitions, Putin said on Monday his generals should push on with efforts to secure all of Zaporizhzhia region, of which Moscow already controls around 75 per cent. 

Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinsky, commander of Russia's Dnieper military grouping, told Putin that Russian forces were 15 km from its biggest city, also called Zaporizhzhia.

"In the near future, it is necessary to continue the offensive, together with the East grouping to liberate Zaporizhzhia," Putin responded.