{"id":657957,"date":"2025-12-27T14:35:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T14:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/657957\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T14:35:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T14:35:33","slug":"zelenskiy-to-hold-talks-with-european-leaders-amid-fresh-strikes-on-kyiv-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/657957\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelenskiy to hold talks with European leaders amid fresh strikes on Kyiv \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A third of Kyiv is without heating after a Russian<\/a> drone and missile barrage on the Ukrainian capital cut off power supplies, leaving hundreds of thousands of people facing freezing temperatures.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Moscow had used nearly 500 drones and 40 missiles, including ballistic missiles, in the overnight attack. \u201cThe primary target is Kyiv \u2013 energy facilities and civilian infrastructure,\u201d he said in a post on X.<\/p>\n

The intense overnight strikes, which lasted 10 hours and killed one person and wounded two dozen others, came before a call on Saturday between European leaders and Zelenskiy.<\/p>\n

The call is part of a growing push for a peace deal that will involve the Ukrainian leader heading to Florida on Sunday for a face-to-face meeting with Trump, who has proposed a plan to end nearly four years of fighting that has killed tens of thousands.<\/p>\n

But Zelenskiy said the overnight bombings showed international pressure on Russia was insufficient. \u201cIf Russia turns even the Christmas and new year period into a time of destroyed homes and burned apartments, of ruined power plants, then this sick activity can only be responded to with truly strong steps,\u201d he said. \u201cThe United States has this capability. Europe has this capability. Many of our partners have this capability. The key is to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will take part in the call with Zelenskiy and European leaders on Saturday, a commission spokesperson told Reuters. Key sticking points include Ukrainian security guarantees and reconstruction, plus territorial discussions regarding the Donbas region and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Russian drones and missiles pound Ukraine before Zelenskiy-Trump meetingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s meeting with Trump in Florida is \u201cspecifically intended to refine things as much as we possibly can\u201d, Zelenskiy said on Friday. He added that a proposed 20-point peace plan was \u201c90% ready\u201d. \u201cOur goal is to bring everything to 100%,\u201d Zelenskiy said. \u201cAs of today, our teams \u2013 the Ukrainian and American negotiating teams \u2013 have made significant progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelenskiy is willing to hold a referendum on a peace plan if Russia agrees to a ceasefire of at least 60 days, Axios reported, after an interview with the Ukrainian president on Friday. Zelenskiy reportedly said he would need to seek approval of the Ukrainian public if he failed to secure a \u201cstrong\u201d position on territory.<\/p>\n

\"AA rescue worker puts out a fire in a house destroyed in a missile strike. Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka\/AP <\/p>\n

After the strikes on Saturday, Ukraine\u2019s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said Russia\u2019s \u201conly response to peace efforts\u201d was \u201cbrutal attacks using hundreds of drones and missiles against Kyiv and other cities and regions\u201d. The minister said that a third of the capital was without heating. The temperature in Kyiv was about 0C (32F).<\/p>\n

The Russian strikes forced Polish fighter jets to scramble, and two airports in south-eastern Poland \u2013 Rzesz\u00f3w and Lublin \u2013 were temporarily closed.<\/p>\n

The latest peace efforts follow a burst of diplomatic activity last weekend in Miami, where Trump\u2019s envoy Steve Witkoff met separately with Russian and Ukrainian representatives, as well as Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner.<\/p>\n

The plan is considered an updated version of an earlier 28-point document agreed several weeks ago between the US envoys and Russian officials, a proposal widely viewed as skewed towards the Kremlin\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n

Ukraine has pushed for security guarantees modelled on Nato\u2019s article 5 mutual defence pledge under any proposed peace deal with Russia, though it remains unclear whether Moscow would accept such terms.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Politico on Friday, Trump said he anticipated a \u201cgood\u201d meeting with the Ukrainian leader, though he offered no endorsement of Zelenskiy\u2019s plan. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t have anything until I approve it,\u201d Trump told the news website. \u201cSo we\u2019ll see what he\u2019s got.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, used a Russian television appearance on Friday to criticise Zelenskiy and European allies on their work on the peace plan. \u201cOur ability to make the final push and reach an agreement will depend on our own work and the political will of the other party,\u201d Ryabkov said.<\/p>\n

He said the proposal drawn up with Zelenskiy\u2019s input \u201cdiffers radically\u201d from points initially drawn up by US and Russian officials in contacts this month. \u201cWithout an adequate resolution of the problems at the origin of this crisis, it will be quite simply impossible to reach a definitive accord,\u201d Ryabkov added. \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Year of Trump unleashed: Five critical issues that will define US politics in 2026Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A third of Kyiv is without heating after a Russian drone and missile barrage on the Ukrainian capital…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[32,2000,299,5187,332,9041,20729],"class_list":{"0":"post-657957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-russia","13":"tag-ukraine-crisis","14":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskiy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115792034724915128","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}