Russia-Ukraine war updates: Trump, Putin hold call after Zelenskyy meeting

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To read our story on the talks between the Ukrainian and US presidents in Florida, click here.

You can also check out this explainer on why Russia is escalating its attacks on Ukraine’s port city of Odesa.

And for all our coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine, see this page.

This live page is about to close. But, before we go, here’s a recap of today’s main events:

• Russia said that Ukraine attempted attacks on President Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region yesterday and today.
• Kyiv has denied the allegations, saying it was an excuse for Moscow to justify further attacks on Ukraine and trying to derail peace talks, a day after Zelenskyy met with Trump.
• Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that “the response to Kyiv’s attacks will not be diplomatic”, and that Russia would be revising its negotiating position in the attack’s wake.
• US President Trump said he was “very angry” about the alleged attempt to target Putin’s residence. “I don’t like it. It’s not good,” Trump told reporters. He was informed of the attack by Putin during a phone call between the two.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) quoted its director general, Rafael Grossi, as saying that power line repairs near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant have been successfully completed.
• Zelenskyy said he spoke by phone with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. He updated the European leaders on the outcomes of his meeting on Sunday with Trump and on where peace negotiations stand.

• Italy urgently needs a new civilian and military unit employing 5,000 people to combat hybrid warfare threats, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said in a strategic report published last month. The new unit, which would need to be operational at all times, could initially employ 1,200 to 1,500 people, with a gradual increase to 5,000, he said. Italy’s Defence Ministry has said its regular recruitment campaign aims to enrol 6,000 volunteers ‌on “fixed-term contracts” for 2026, from 6,500 in the 2025 call for applications.
• Poland, which has one of NATO’s largest militaries, will roll out a military training programme ‌as part of a broader plan to train about 400,000 people in 2026, the country’s Defence Ministry said in November. It will ⁠be voluntary and open to all citizens, offering a basic security course, survival training, medical instruction and cyber-hygiene classes.
• Romania has ramped up volunteer recruitment since Russia invaded Ukraine, promoting higher pay and military schooling. The parliament recently approved a bill regulating voluntary army service for men and women aged 18-35, offering four months of paid ‌training and a bonus equivalent to three gross monthly salaries upon completion.

As ceasefire negotiations about the war in Ukraine continue, European leaders have warned about Russia’s alleged threat to Europe at a time when some countries across the continent are struggling to staff their armed forces.

Here are details on how various European countries are trying to boost their military ranks:

• Germany‘s government agreed in November on a new military service scheme with higher pay and better incentives. Military service will remain voluntary, but with the option of a mandatory call-up if the scheme fails to attract enough new recruits. The country wants to increase the number of soldiers to 260,000 from some 180,000 currently, and to double the number of reservists to 200,000.
  Under the proposals, expected to come into law at the start of next year, a system of ⁠mandatory registration and medical screening will be introduced.
• France will create a new voluntary youth military service, which should begin by mid-2026, President Emmanuel Macron said in November. The scheme would last 10 months and be open to 18- and 19-year-olds who would be paid. It aims to engage 3,000 people in 2026, rising to 10,000 by 2030. Macron said his ambition was for the scheme to recruit 50,000 young people by 2035.
• The United Kingdom aims to increase the size of its army to at least ⁠76,000 full-time soldiers during the next parliament, which is likely to begin in 2029, as this is when funding is likely to allow for the expansion. For now, the country is focused on retaining staff and modernising the service. It has no plans to introduce conscription.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in an interview published late on Monday, said the West must understand that Russia holds the strategic initiative in Ukraine, as discussions move forward on a possible settlement.

Lavrov told the RIA Novosti news agency that the West has to come to terms with the territorial realities on the ground nearly four years after the launch of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which Russia calls a “Special Military Operation”.

He said the United States now supports the notion, which has become clear to everyone, that with the expiry of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s mandate, a new election is needed.

Lavrov also again stressed that a peace settlement requires an end to any notion of a NATO presence in Ukraine and that the country has to adopt a neutral, non-aligned status.

After years of US support for Ukraine to be able to defend itself against invading Russian troops for “as long as it takes”, the Trump administration is now pushing to end the war, quickly and imperfectly.

While details are still under negotiation, they include issues such as ensuring Ukraine never joins NATO and Russia’s control over about 20 percent of Ukraine.

Al Jazeera’s The Bottom Line spoke with Kurt Volker, Trump’s former special representative for Ukraine negotiations, and retired Colonel Heino Klinck, the former director of the US Army’s international affairs, about the implications of the plan for Europe, the US and their relationship,

Check it out in the video below:

Back in the 1990s, China’s nascent capitalism triggered demand for Ukrainian steel slabs, iron ore, corn and sunflower oil.

However, the most prized export items from impoverished Ukraine were the Soviet-era arsenal of weapons it did not think it needed any more.

Kyiv sold Beijing aerospace components, helicopter and tank engines, and technology transfers for the manufacturing of radars, naval gas turbines and jet engines, helping to reshape China’s defence industry. It even admitted to illegally shipping six nuclear-capable Kh-55 cruise missiles.

The pinnacle of military-industrial exports was the 1998 sale of the Soviet-era Varyag aircraft carrier, whose construction began but never finished on the wharves of the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. Beijing pledged to use the 306-metre (1,004-foot) long vessel for training, but turned it into its first aircraft carrier, Liaoning.

The tables have turned during Russia’s war on Ukraine, when China became the side that profits the most from the fierce competition between Russian and Ukrainian drone developers.

Read the full story here.

The United Arab Emirates has “strongly condemned” what it called the attempt to target the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and denounced “this deplorable attack and the threat it poses to security and stability”.

In a statement, the UAE Foreign Ministry affirmed the UAE’s solidarity with Putin, as well as with the government and people of Russia.

The ministry reiterated the UAE’s “unwavering rejection of all forms of violence aimed at undermining security and stability”.

Ukrainian officials have denied Russia’s claims that Ukraine launched an attack.

The Ukrainian president says on X that he has talked by phone with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

He updated the European leaders on the outcomes of his meeting on Sunday with Trump and where peace negotiations stand.

Zelenskyy is trying to find a balance between his European and American allies as he faces pressure from Trump to agree to a deal that would end the nearly four-year war.

United States President Donald Trump bristled at a question about his Ukrainian counterpart on Wednesday during an interview with media outlet Politico. Admonishing Volodymyr Zelenskyy for failing to hold a presidential election, he accused him of not ending the war with Russia as an excuse to cling to power.

“They talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore,” Trump told Politico, referring to the presidency of Zelenskyy, who was elected in April 2019 with more than 70 percent of the vote, but whose five-year term would, under normal circumstances, have expired in 2024.

There is a reason he’s still there, though. The Ukrainian constitution bans wartime elections, and Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion will enter its fifth year in February 2026.

So why is Trump raising this issue now? And would it even be possible to hold an election during a war?

Read the full story here.

Andrii Sybiha says on X that he has talked to his Peruvian counterpart Hugo de Zela over the phone.

“I thanked Peru for supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.

“I informed him about the battlefield situation and the consequences of Russia’s continued terror attacks against Ukraine,” the Ukrainian foreign minister said.

Sybiha also said that he briefed de Zela on the outcomes of the Ukraine-US talks recently held in Florida.

During my call with @CancilleriaPeru Hugo de Zela, I thanked Peru for supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

I informed about the battlefield situation and consequences of Russia’s continued terror attacks against Ukraine.

I underlined Ukraine’s commitment…

— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) December 29, 2025

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova says, “the response to Kyiv’s attacks will not be diplomatic,” after Moscow claims Ukraine tried to attack Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region.

“They shouldn’t get their hopes up,” she added.

“Russia’s resolve and confidence in its actions are unwavering,” Zakharova said, commenting on the alleged attack, according to the TASS news agency.

Zakharova slammed the timing of the alleged strike during the talks on the war in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy quickly has denied a claim by Moscow that his country’s military launched a drone attack on Putin’s residence in the city of Novgorod.

The Ukrainian leader accused Russia of trying to derail peace talks a day after Zelenskyy met with Trump.

Watch our report below:

The US president has made the comments after reporters asked if he is worried that the allegation could affect his efforts to broker peace after Moscow accused Kyiv of attacking the residence of the Russian leader in Novgorod.

“I don’t like it. It’s not good,” Trump told reporters.

“It’s a delicate period of time. This is not the right time. It’s one thing to be offensive because they’re offensive. It’s another thing to attack his house. It’s not the right time to do any of that,” he said.

When asked if there was any evidence of such an attack, Trump said: “We’ll find out.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) quoted its director general, Rafael Grossi, as saying power line repairs near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant have been successfully completed.

An IAEA team was monitoring the repairs after a local ceasefire brokered by the agency began.

The Russian-occupied complex, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, is no longer producing electricity, but it needs reliable power to continue to cool its six reactors and spent fuel to avoid any nuclear accidents.

Al Jazeera has been searching for footage or images related to what Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said was an attempted attack on President Vladimir Putin’s residence in Novgorod led by Ukrainian forces.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide, said the attack took place on Sunday following the Trump-Zelenskky meeting in Florida.

We will bring you more information as we get it.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Ukraine ⁠has tried to attack President Vladimir Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region.
• Lavrov says Moscow’s negotiating position in the peace talks with Ukraine would change due to the alleged attack.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismisses Russian accusations of the attack as “another round of ⁠lies”.
• He tells reporters that with such statements, Russia is trying to ‌undermine progress reached in the Ukraine-US peace talks and Moscow ‌is preparing ‌to strike Ukrainian ⁠government buildings in Kyiv.
• Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko says Russia sees Britain’s influence in the Novgorod attack, adding that Ukraine’s latest “provocations” are aimed ⁠at disrupting the peace process.
• After a meeting with Russia’s top military officials, Putin says the goal of taking control of Ukraine’s Donbas, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions “is being carried out in stages” and Russian “troops are confidently advancing,”.
• In the televised meeting with Putin, Valery Gerasimov, the Russian army chief of staff, says Russian forces in 2025 have captured 6,460sq km (2,494sq miles) of territory in Ukraine, including 334 villages.

While there is not a great amount of detail on what Putin and Trump discussed over the phone, Russian media are giving a few more lines on what the Kremlin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said.

According to Ushakov, the Russian side said the alleged attack on Putin’s residence in Novgorod “will not go unanswered” and the strike took place on Sunday “practically immediately after” the talks in Florida between Trump and Zelenskyy.

He added that the US president was “shocked, literally outraged” over the issue. He went on to say that the two presidents agreed to continue dialogue.

His comments came after Lavrov accused Ukraine of launching a drone attack on Putin’s residence in the northwestern region using 91 long-range strike drones.

Lavrov said Moscow will revise its negotiating position in the peace talks due to the attack but added: “We do not intend to withdraw from the negotiating process with the United States.”