Live: Trump says Ukraine war diplomacy in ‘final stages’ as he hosts Zelensky for Florida talks
· France 24
28/12/2025 - 19:30
Zelensky meets Trump for talks on Ukraine peace plan
US Donald Trump welcomed Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky to his Florida estate Sunday for critical talks on ending the war with Russia.
The two leaders stood outside the Mar-a-Lago resort and addressed reporters as they prepared to discuss a new proposal to end the conflict.
“I think we’re very, we’re in final stages of talking, and we’re going to see. Otherwise it’s going to go on for a long time,” said Trump, adding that he did not have a deadline for the process.
Trump also said he believes Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “very serious” about peace, and that there would be a "strong agreement" to guarantee Ukraine's security if a deal is reached. The security agreement would involve European countries.
28/12/2025 - 19:17
After Trump-Putin call, Kremlin urges Ukraine to take ‘bold decision’ on Donbas
After US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a more than hour-long phone call, the Kremlin’s diplomatic advisor Yuri Ushakov urged Ukraine make a “bold decision” on the Donbass region without delay.
Ushakov also said that neither of the two leaders support a European-Ukrainian push for a ceasefire ahead of a settlement.
“The main thing is that the presidents of Russia and the United States hold similar views that the option of a temporary ceasefire proposed by the Ukrainians and the Europeans under the pretext of preparing for a referendum or under other pretexts only leads to a prolongation of the conflict and is fraught with renewed hostilities,” he said.
According to Ushakov, the phone conversation took place at the request of Trump.
"The entire conversation took place in a friendly atmosphere," he added. "They agreed to speak again by telephone after the meeting between the US president and Zelensky."
28/12/2025 - 17:59
Trump holds 'very productive' call with Putin ahead of Zelensky meeting
US President Donald Trump said he had held “a good and very productive” phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin before his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida later today.
28/12/2025 - 16:58
Russian attack damages Kherson heating plant
Russian forces have struck an important heating plant in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, causing “significant damage” to the facility, state oil and gas firm Naftogaz said.
In a statement, Naftogaz said an employee was wounded in the latest Russian attack on the facility, which it said had provided heating to tens of thousands of homes in Kherson. The city has been under intensifying Russian drone, missile and bomb strikes in recent months, making daily life increasingly dangerous.
Earlier, Ukraine’s military said it struck the Syzran oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region overnight.
28/12/2025 - 16:56
Ukraine’s military says Huliaipole only partly controlled by Russia
According to Ukraine’s military, only part of the southeastern town of Huliaipole is under Russian control, contradicting an earlier claim by Moscow that it has been fully captured.
“The situation in Huliaipole is currently very difficult. But at the moment the Russians do not have full control over this settlement,” Ukraine’s southern command said in a statement.
It added that fighting was also still underway for Stepnohirsk, another town in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region that Russia claimed had been taken.
28/12/2025 - 16:29
Zelensky holds ‘detailed’ phone call with Starmer ahead of Trump meeting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on he had held a “detailed” phone call with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of his planned meeting with US President Donald Trump in Florida later today.
“We discussed preparations for the meeting with President Trump, as well as all our contacts with European partners,” Zelensky wrote on X. “I informed him on the situation on the frontline and on the consequences of Russian strikes.”
28/12/2025 - 16:14
US, Ukraine presidents to call European leaders after meeting in Florida
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US counterpart Donald Trump will hold a phone call with European leaders after their bilateral meeting on ending the war, Zelensky’s spokesman Sergiy Nykyforov told journalists.
He added that “the final list of participants is still being determined.”
28/12/2025 - 15:46
Three Iranian satellites launched from Russia, state media says
Three more Iranian satellites have been sent into space on Russia’s Soyuz launchers, Iranian state media said.
Iran has increasingly relied on its ally Russia to put satellites in orbit in recent years, with the latest three intended to help with monitoring agriculture, natural resources and the environment.
“These satellites were designed and produced by Iranian scientists ... despite all the sanctions and threats,” Iran’s ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali told state TV in reference to Western measures over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
“We are working together (with Russia) in different areas. Some are evident and some we don’t like to clarify.”
Iran’s official IRNA news agency said the three satellites - Paya, Zafar 2,and a second Kowsar - were for low-earth orbit.
28/12/2025 - 14:46
War in Ukraine: 'Sometimes you feel like the end is close, but every day it feels like far away'
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet US President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday (December 28) to discuss a 20-point peace plan aimed at ending Russia’s invasion. Ukrainian civilians are among those who have suffered most from Russia's war especially vulnerable populations. For more on that topic, FRANCE 24's Erin Ogunkeye is joined by Oleksii Starovierov, networks engineer at Chernihiv Rehabilitation Center for children with disabilities.
28/12/2025 - 14:38
Zelensky to meet with Trump in Florida
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will sit down with US President Donald Trump on Sunday (December 28) and seek to secure his stamp of approval for a new proposal to end the nearly four-year conflict with Russia.
28/12/2025 - 14:01
Russia says situation at Zaporizhzhia power plant is stable
The situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is stable, and power is being supplied through one high-voltage line, the state RIA news agency cited a spokesman at the plant as saying.
An IAEA team is monitoring repairs near the plant after a local ceasefire brokered by the agency began. The work is expected to last several days.
28/12/2025 - 12:42
Ukraine says it struck Syzran oil refinery in Russia's Samara region
The Ukrainian military said on Sunday that it struck the Syzran oil refinery in Russia's Samara region in an overnight drone attack.
The strike on the facility caused a fire, Kyiv's General Staff said in a statement. It added that a recent Ukrainian strike on the Volgograd oil refinery had damaged a pipeline and equipment for producing lubricants.
28/12/2025 - 11:53
Ukraine's DTEK says power restored to 1 million Kyiv-area households
Ukraine's leading private energy provider said on Sunday that it had restored power to more than a million households in and around Kyiv a day after a Russian air attack had forced emergency outages.
A combined missile and drone attack early on Saturday had killed two people and knocked out power across broad swathes of the capital and its surrounding region.
In a statement, DTEK said it had restored electricity to 748,000 households in Kyiv and 347,000 outside the city.
It added that consumers on Kyiv's right bank were back to planned power cuts but that the situation remained "more difficult" on the left bank, where emergency outages were still in force.
28/12/2025 - 10:31
Russia says it captured six settlements in eastern Ukraine
Russian troops took control of the settlements of Huliaipole, Myrnohrad, Artemivka, Rodynske and Vilne in Ukraine's Donetsk region and Stepnohirsk in Zaporizhzhia region, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday.
Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report.
28/12/2025 - 09:31
Repairs start near Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia plant after IAEA-brokered local ceasefire
Power line repairs have begun near Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after another local ceasefire brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the agency said on Sunday, citing its Director General Rafael Grossi.
An IAEA team is monitoring repairs expected to last a few days, as part of efforts to prevent nuclear accident during the war in Ukraine, the agency added.
28/12/2025 - 07:05
Zelensky to meet Trump in Florida
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will sit down with US President Donald Trump on Sunday and seek to secure his approval for a new proposal to end the nearly four-year war with Russia.
The 20-point plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, lacks Moscow's approval, and the face-to-face in Florida comes in the wake of a massive Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv.
The meeting, to be hosted by Trump at his opulent Mar-a-Lago residence at 1:00pm (18:00 GMT) Sunday, according to the White House, will be the pair's first in-person encounter since October, when the US president refused to grant Zelensky's request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
28/12/2025 - 07:03
European troops in Ukraine would be legitimate targets for Russia, FM Lavrov says
Any European troop contingents deployed to Ukraine would become legitimate targets for Russia’s armed forces, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in remarks published by state news agency TASS on Sunday.
Lavrov, without providing evidence, also accused European politicians of being driven by “ambitions” in their relations with Kyiv and disregarding the people of Ukraine and of their own nations.
Yesterday's key developments:
- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that establishing a lasting peace in Ukraine requires "a willing Russia".
- President Volodymyr Zelensky said that a Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv showed Moscow does "not want to end the war".
- Two airports in Poland were temporarily closed after the Polish armed forces scrambled fighter jets due to Russian strikes on Ukraine.
- Russian strikes on Saturday cut power to more than a million homes in and around the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters and AP)