Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky awaits Putin’s response to new peace plan while Christmas Eve blast kills 3 in Moscow

Three people were killed including a four-year-old child, Ukraine officials said, in a large-scale Russian drone attack on the country just two days before Christmas.

The latest barrage, involving more than 650 drones and three dozen missiles, comes as hopes of securing a US-brokered ceasefire before 25 December fade.

An Odesa father who lost his wife and infant son in a Russian drone strike in March last year has survived a second attack on his home, Kyiv Independent reported.

While his house can be rebuilt, Serhii Haidarzhy said the true loss is irreversible: “But life — you can never bring it back. Never. So the difference between then and now is enormous,” he said.

His young daughter, having endured two strikes, now understands the war, he says.

Haidarzhy says he draws strength from faith rather than vengeance: “I don’t have a burning desire for revenge. God will avenge us. And you know, God’s justice is not like human justice. It is much harsher.”

However, Volodymyr Zelensky said sensitive issues around territorial control in the country’s eastern industrial heartland, along with the management of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), remain unresolved.

“This is a document referred to as a framework, a foundational document on ending the war, a political document between us, America, Europe, and the Russians,” Mr Zelensky said.

“We are ready for a meeting with the United States at the leaders’ level to address sensitive issues. Matters such as territorial questions must be discussed at the leaders’ level.”

The recent proposal comes after weeks of modifying an earlier 28-point plan, which was heavily criticised by Ukraine and Nato leaders.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says he would be willing to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland in an updated plan to end the war with Russia – if Moscow also pulled back from the area, creating a demilitarised zone.

Unveiling the latest 20-point plan thrashed out but not yet fully agreed with the US, Mr Zelensky said the Donbas region could become a “free economic zone”, but it was unclear how the fought-over area would be governed or developed.

The peace plan, which Mr Zelensky said would need to be put before a referendum, could also involve a similar arrangement around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is currently under Russian control.

The plan, presented to reporters on Christmas Eve by the Ukrainian leader, marked the latest counter-proposal to an original 28-point document that was agreed by US envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russians.

Moscow has so far given no indication it will agree to withdrawal from land it has seized.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 16 drones flying towards the Russian capital were shot down on Wednesday, with emergency services responding where debris fell, though the claims could not be independently verified, Kyiv Independent reported.

Russia’s defence ministry separately said air defences intercepted 132 Ukrainian drones across several regions the same day.

Meanwhile, Ukraine reported striking a synthetic rubber factory in Tula Oblast overnight, calling it a strategically important facility that supplies materials used in military vehicles and weapons systems.

Volodymyr Zelensky has outlined an updated peace plan that could see Ukrainian troops withdraw from eastern areas, which would then be declared demilitarised zones. Russia is expected to respond after talks with the US.

Zelensky described the 20-point proposal agreed with US envoys as “the main framework for ending the war”.

It also includes security guarantees from the US, Nato and Europe to deter any future Russian invasion.

On eastern Donbas, Zelensky said creating a “free economic zone” was among the options under discussion.

Ukraine’s military said its forces were keeping up pressure on Pokrovsk and would continue trying to sever logistics for Russian troops inside.

Fighting is still raging around the former eastern logistics hub, where Ukrainian forces said this month they had fended off an unusually large Russian mechanised attack.

The Ukrainian military’s Operation Task Force East unit, which reports regularly on its defence of Pokrovsk, said Ukrainian forces remained in control of the northern part of the largely destroyed city.

Dozens of birds in Odesa, on the Ukraine coast, fell victim to an oil spill which the regional governor Oleh Kiper said was caused by Russian strikes last week that damaged sunflower oil storage tanks in Pivdennyi port.

The birds squawk indignantly as volunteers scrub them clean of oil from bill to toe.

Experts say the worst affected are two elegant species – the great crested grebe and the horned grebe.

“The great crested grebe are waterfowl that are especially vulnerable to this kind of contamination, such as oil,” said zoo director Ihor Biliakov said outside a rescue point.

Emergency crews installed floating barriers and deployed specialised vessels to contain the spill, while the port’s channel was temporarily closed, its administration said.