An aerial assault has claimed the life of a 71-year-old individual and left 32 others, including two children, injured, according to reports from Kyiv police.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has revealed that over 2,600 residential buildings in the city are currently without heating, alongside 187 kindergartens, 138 schools, and 22 social institutions, amid harsh winter conditions.
In anticipation of Sunday’s discussions, President Zelenskyy stated on Friday that he has engaged in talks with leaders from NATO, Canada, Germany, Finland, Denmark, and Estonia to align their strategies.
“Ukraine has never blocked the path to peace and will persist in working diligently to ensure all essential documents are prepared swiftly,” he affirmed.
Zelenskyy’s remarks follow his willingness to make concessions on several contentious issues that have hindered the US-led peace negotiations with Russia. However, it remains uncertain if these compromises will meet the Kremlin’s expectations.
When questioned about Zelenskyy’s possible readiness to consider territorial compromises for a peace agreement, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN that “relinquishing the remainder of Donetsk could be a significant step forward.”
The initial 28-point peace plan, which emerged in November following talks between the United States and Russia, was criticised by Ukraine’s allies as heavily favouring Moscow.
Following weeks of talks between Ukrainian and US officials, that draft has been slimmed down to the current 20-point plan, which Zelenskyy has said can serve as a “foundational document on ending the war.”
Latest on peace negotiations
Zelenskyy told reporters that Ukraine had not received an official response from the Kremlin to the latest proposal. He said Kyiv is negotiating exclusively with Washington, which in turn is communicating with Moscow.
If Russia does not agree to the peace plan drafted by Ukraine and the United States, Zelenskyy suggested that more should be done to force Moscow’s hand.
“If Ukraine shows its position, it is constructive – and Russia, for example, does not agree, then the (existing) pressure is not enough,” Zelenskyy said, adding that he wants to discuss this with Trump.
Russia’s central demands are for Ukraine to abandon its ambition to join NATO – which was a distant prospect before Moscow launched its all-out invasion of the country in February 2022 – and for Kyiv’s military to withdraw fully from Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, a vast area known as the Donbas. It was here that the Kremlin started destabilising Ukraine in 2014, helping pro-Russian separatists gain control of most of the area. The Donbas was eventually illegally annexed by Russia in September 2022.
Zelenskyy has offered concessions on both issues. During a wide-ranging press conference on Tuesday to discuss the new 20-point peace plan, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was seeking security guarantees from its allies that would “mirror” NATO’s Article 5 – which requires all members to defend any member that has come under attack – but would no longer pursue full membership of the military alliance.
Zelenskyy also said Ukraine would be willing to withdraw its troops from parts of the Donetsk region not currently occupied by Russian forces. The Ukrainian leader said any withdrawal of troops would have to be reciprocal, with Moscow giving up as much Ukrainian territory as that ceded by Kyiv and those pockets of the Donbas becoming demilitarised as a result. Earlier this month, Zelenskyy noted that US negotiators wanted these territories to become “free economic zones” once all troops were withdrawn.
Ukraine’s constitution requires any changes to the country’s borders to be approved in a referendum.
Zelenskyy reiterated on Friday that “the fate of Ukraine should be decided by the people of Ukraine” and said Ukraine’s allies “have enough power to force Russia or to negotiate with the Russians” to ensure that any such plebiscite could be carried out safely.
