Zelensky says peace deal 90% ready in New Year’s speech

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a peace deal to end the war with Russia was “90 percent ready”, in a New Year’s speech largely focused on resisting Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

Zelensky said the remaining 10 percent of the deal to end nearly four years of conflict would “determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe.”

In his own New Year’s speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his troops that “we believe in you and in our victory.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Moscow also released what it said was evidence of Ukraine’s use of drones to target Putin’s private home on Lake Valdai in northwest Russia, allegations that kyiv has vigorously denied.

It included a map purportedly showing the drones were launched from the Sumy and Chernihiv regions of Ukraine, as well as video of a downed drone lying in a snow-covered forest. A soldier standing next to the wreckage claims it is a Ukrainian Chaklun drone.

The BBC has not been able to verify the footage and it is not possible to locate where it was filmed.

Russia will review its position on ongoing peace negotiations following the alleged incident, the Kremlin said.

However, Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, on Wednesday called the Russian claims a “deliberate diversion” and an attempt to derail the peace process.

In his 20-minute address to the nation, Zelensky said Ukraine did not want peace “at any cost,” adding that “we want the end of the war – not the end of Ukraine.”

He said a Ukrainian withdrawal from the eastern Donbass region would mean “everything will be over”, a reference to Russia’s maximalist demand that Moscow ensure total control of the industrial zone in any peace agreement.

Moscow currently controls around 75% of the Donetsk region and around 99% of the neighboring Luhansk region. The two regions are known collectively as Donbass.

His fate has been a major obstacle throughout the negotiations, with Russia still unwilling to compromise on its goal of taking full control of Donbass.

In his speech, Zelensky thanked leaders who supported Ukraine, but said “intentions must become security guarantees and therefore be ratified.”

Following talks between Zelensky and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Florida earlier this week, the Ukrainian leader said Washington had offered safety guarantees for 15 years – but the timetable for their implementation is not yet clear.

“Signing weak agreements only fuels the war,” Zelensky said in his speech. “Either the world stops Russia’s war, or Russia drags the world into its war.”

By comparison, Putin’s New Year’s speech was much shorter.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, which Moscow describes as a “special military operation,” Putin said: “We strive to bring joy and warmth by caring for those who need support and, of course, supporting our heroes – the participants of the special military operation – in word and deed.” »

Separately, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used his New Year’s message to hail the “invincible alliance” between Pyongyang and Moscow, while praising soldiers fighting in “foreign lands.”

North Korea has sent thousands of troops to help Russia in its invasion, as well as missiles and long-range weapons, South Korean officials said.

At least 600 of these soldiers died, according to South Korean estimates.

Zelensky expressed the hope that peace negotiations would resume and accelerate this month with the participation of American and European officials.

French President Emmanuel Macron said European states and their allies due to meet in Paris on January 6 “will make concrete commitments to protect Ukraine and ensure a just and lasting peace on our European continent.”

On Wednesday, Trump advisers spoke with Zelensky and national security advisers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany about ending the war in Ukraine.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said they discussed “strengthening security guarantees and developing effective deconfliction mechanisms to help end the war and ensure it does not resume.”

But any deal will ultimately require Russian buy-in, which does not appear to be the case – and which the alleged drone incident over Putin’s residence may have pushed back even further.