Ukraine, Moscow: 'Drone raids against Putin's residence'. Kiev: "Lies"

The drone attack on Putin's official residence in the Novgorod region? "There is a war situation, it is obvious that until there is peace everyone uses the weapons they have. We are not at war with Russia. Certainly we have never authorised the use of Italian weapons across the Ukrainian border'. Thus the deputy prime minister and leader of Forza Italia, Antonio Tajani, speaking to journalists in the Chamber. 'I hope an agreement can be found. I hope that American mediation will serve to reach an agreement. We support everything that is needed to reach a just, lasting peace that guarantees security for Ukraine. We hope to end the war as soon as possible," he concluded.

Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that US President Donald Trump was shocked and furious today after learning of an alleged attempted attack on Putin's state residence in the Novgorod region. "The US president was shocked by this message (about the attack on Putin's residence,ed), he is literally outraged and said that he could not even imagine such crazy actions (by Ukraine,ed)," Ushakov told reporters.

According to Ushakov, Trump reportedly added that the incident would affect the US approach to cooperation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to whom, as Trump himself pointed out, the current administration 'fortunately, did not give the Tomahawks'.

"Russia is at it again, using dangerous statements to undermine all the achievements of our joint diplomatic efforts with President Trump's team. We continue to work together to bring peace closer. This story of Putin's alleged 'attack on the residence'" "is a complete fabrication, aimed at justifying further attacks against Ukraine, including Kiev, as well as Russia's own refusal to take the necessary steps to end the war." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote this on X. "Typical Russian lies," he explained. "Moreover, the Russians have targeted Kiev before, including the Cabinet of Ministers building. Ukraine does not take steps to undermine diplomacy. On the contrary, it is Russia that does it all the time. This is one of the many differences between us." "It is crucial that the world does not remain silent now. We cannot allow Russia to undermine the work towards achieving lasting peace," Zelensky added.

Donald Trump concluded a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the war in Ukraine. This was reported by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. "President Trump just concluded a positive phone call with President Putin regarding Ukraine," the official told CNN. The phone call came in the aftermath of a meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Kiev attempted to strike the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin tonight. "Kiev attempted to attack Putin's state residence with 91 drones, all of which were destroyed," Lavrov announced. The minister also stated that 'Russia will not leave the Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian presidential residence unanswered'.

Ukrainians are tired of the war, but they want a just peace, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a preview of an interview with Fox News to be broadcast tonight, stressing that 85 per cent of Ukrainian citizens are against the withdrawal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the Donbass. "People want peace. Today Trump said he saw polling data that 85 per cent or even 87 per cent want peace, and they said so," Zelensky noted, adding that "87 per cent support peace" but "at the same time, 85 per cent are against withdrawal from the Donbass. This means that everyone wants peace, but a just peace,' the Ukrainian president stressed.

The Mariupol theatre destroyed in one of the cruellest raids by Russian forces on 16 March 2022, in which dozens of displaced people who had found refuge there had died, up to 600 according to some estimates, was reopened after reconstruction by the Russian occupiers, who have long been trying to present the south-eastern Ukrainian city as an example of post-war reconstruction and good administration. To amplify this effort, President Putin made a surprise visit to the inauguration of a housing block. Russian TV stations broadcast footage of the opening ceremony, with performances by artists from Mariupol and St. Petersburg, after the governor of St. Petersburg, Aleksandr Beglov, who was present at the inauguration, contributed resources from the region to the reconstruction, including the equivalent of $169 million. "The Mariupol Theatre of Dramatic Art has reopened its doors to spectators. Its historical image has been restored,' said Denis Pushilin, the governor of the Russian-occupied Donetsk region. The opening initially scheduled for last Wednesday had been skipped for unspecified reasons.

Further reading

Ucraina, ultimatum Russia per la resa di Mariupol. Zelensky: «Mosca vuole soluzione finale»

20 March 2022

"Regarding the withdrawal from the Donbass: it is nothing new that Russia wants this. In their dreams, they would like us not to be on the territory of our country at all. These dreams have lasted for many years now. But we have our land, our territorial integrity, our state and our interests. We will act in the interests of Ukraine'. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this on Telegram.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a lengthy write-up posted on his Telegram channel today, emphasised that it was 'important for Kiev to obtain funds to rebuild our state' and for Russia to repay for the damage caused. "As for the reparation claims, we have already settled everything with the Europeans, because most of the frozen assets are right there. I am glad that they supported our position. We will receive the first 100 billion over the next two years, in equal tranches," Zelensky noted. 'If there is no war, we will use these funds for the reconstruction of our state. If, on the other hand, we have to defend ourselves, we will have the means to purchase this defence,' the Ukrainian leader specified.

During a meeting on the progress of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the continuation of the work to expand the security zone along the Russian-Ukrainian border. "This is a very important task, as it ensures the security of Russia's border regions. And this work must certainly continue in 2026,' Putin said after hearing reports from military commands on the extension of the current security zone in several areas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called a meeting on the situation in the zone for special military operations. The Tass news agency writes. The event is being held in the Kremlin. "Today we will focus on the current situation on the line of contact, discuss the results of our work, listen to reports from the commanders of troop groupings on the performance of their subordinate military formations and units, and discuss plans for the near future," the head of state said.

The chief of staff of the Russian army, Valery Gerasimov, stated that the Ukrainian armed forces are no longer conducting offensive operations, but are only trying to slow down the advance of the Russian troops. In the past year, 334 settlements have come under the control of the Russian armed forces, Gerasimov reported, quoted by the Tass news agency. The chief of staff pointed out that more than 700 square kilometres in the area of the special military operation were 'liberated' in December.

During the autumn conscription call in 2025, 135 thousand soldiers were recruited in Russia, the Ministry of Defence in Moscow announced, confirming the record figure anticipated in recent months. The high number of recruits, explained Andrei Kartapolov, Chairman of the Duma's Defence Commission, will be used to cover the shortfall recorded last spring and to train new units in the Leningrad district to guard the border with Finland, The conscription call, which involved 135 thousand men aged between 18 and 30, was the 'richest' since 2016, when 152 thousand were recruited. The 120 thousand soldiers in the autumn of 2022, the 130 thousand in the autumn of the following year, and the 133 thousand in 2024 were also exceeded. Last autumn's call was the first to use the unified military register with the electronic submission of calls from the Gosuslugi government services portal.

At least one civilian was killed and another injured in a Russian attack on the city of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhia oblast in south-eastern Ukraine. This was announced by the governor of Zaporizhia. Ivan Fedorov, on Telegram. "Russian-guided aerial bombs hit a frontline city. A 46-year-old man was killed during the bombing and a 49-year-old woman was injured. She is receiving the necessary assistance," Fedorov wrote.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia's attacks on Ukraine and Vladimir Putin's internal messages about the war do not match his "peaceful rhetoric" with US leader Donald Trump. "On the one hand, he tells the US president that he wants to end the war and that this is his wish," Zelensky told reporters. "And on the other, he openly communicates to the media all his messages that he is ready and wants to continue the war: he hits us with missiles, he talks about it openly, he celebrates the destruction of civilian infrastructure, he gives instructions to his generals on where to advance and what to conquer, and so on." Zelensky added: 'In my opinion, these actions do not correspond to the apparently peaceful rhetoric he uses in his dialogues with the US president'.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he considered the presence of foreign troops in Ukraine a necessary part of security guarantees for Kiev as part of any agreement to end the war with Russia. "I believe that the presence of international troops is a real security guarantee, a strengthening of the security guarantees that our partners are already offering us," Zelensky told reporters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Zaporizhzhia power plant and the territories are the points still to be resolved in order to complete the peace agreements. This was reported by Rbc Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian president, the document currently being prepared, consisting of 20 points, is about 90 per cent ready. "Two issues remain. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, how it will work. And the issue of territories,' he explained, stressing that it is precisely because of the lack of agreement on these points that the full finalisation of the document is not yet possible. At the same time, the Ukrainian leader stressed that the issue of security guarantees has already been fully agreed upon. "As far as security guarantees are concerned, everything is 100 per cent ready. We are only discussing some details concerning the ;;period of validity of the guarantees," he added.

The Kremlin considers it "inadvisable" to comment publicly on the points under discussion in the peace plan for Ukraine. This was stated by ;Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov in response to a question regarding Moscow's position on proposals to establish a free economic zone in the Ukrainian-controlled Donbass region and the idea of jointly operating the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. "We currently consider it inadvisable to comment on individual points under discussion or make public statements," Peskov said, quoted by Interfax.

After the Mar-a-Lago summit on Sunday evening, Volodymyr Zelensky reported that the peace plan for Ukraine currently envisages security guarantees from the United States for 15 years that can be extended, emphasising that Kiev would like them to reach a period of '30-40-50 years'.

"Yesterday we confirmed with the US president that we will have strong security guarantees from the US. Actually, it's not forever, in the documents we talk about 15 years, with the possibility of extending these security guarantees," Zelensky was quoted by Rbc Ukraine as saying. "I told him that we already have an ongoing war that has been going on for almost 15 years. Therefore, I would really like the guarantees to be longer. And I told him that we would really like to consider the possibility of 30-40-50 years. This would be a historic decision by President Trump" who "said he would think about it".

The Kremlin said it agrees with US President Donald Trump that talks to end the war in Ukraine are in the final stage. Asked by reporters whether Moscow shares Trump's assessment after the talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said, "Of course."

Kiev's courageous and responsible decision on the Donbass, mentioned yesterday by Russian presidential advisor Yuri Ushakov, is the complete withdrawal of the Ukrainian armed forces beyond the administrative borders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. This was stressed by Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov during a briefing. Tass writes. "Of course, this is a withdrawal of the armed forces" of Ukraine "from the Donbass beyond the administrative borders," the Kremlin spokesman said.

Martial law in Ukraine can only be lifted with the end of the war and after receiving real security guarantees, which will make new aggression by Russia impossible. This was stated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, answering journalists' questions. "We all want the war to end. Then martial law will end. But martial law will end when security guarantees are ensured in Ukraine. Without them, this war will never be over,' the president stressed, quoted by Rbc Ukraine.

In their phone call before the meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had a long conversation during which all 20 points of the peace plan were discussed in detail. This was stated by the Ukrainian president speaking to journalists in the aftermath of the talks at Mar-a-Lago with the US president. Rbc Ukraine writes.

According to Zelensky, Trump confirmed that he had gone through the document point by point and that it was the plan previously agreed upon by the parties. "Trump told me that he went through all 20 points of the plan, point by point. I thanked him for that, because it is important that we are all on the same page and that we discuss this document, not another one," Zelensky said.

'Germany, precisely because of its role as a great supporter of Ukraine, is increasingly in the crosshairs of Russian sabotage and espionage. Russia wants to weaken our democracy'. Holger Muench, president of the Federal Office for Combating Crime, told the German newspaper Tagesspiegel. He cited a 'clear increase' in cases related to espionage and sabotage, as also shown by the surge in cases 'at the Federal Prosecutor's Office involving Russian individuals and organisations'. Muench also pointed out, however, that 'so far we have no evidence that the Russian state systematically flies drones over Germany'.

Volodymyr Zelensky reported that the peace plan for Ukraine currently includes security guarantees from the US for 15 years that can be extended, stressing that Kiev would like them to reach a period of "30-40-50 years". "Yesterday we confirmed with the US president that we will have strong security guarantees from the US. Actually, it's not forever, in the documents we talk about 15 years, with the possibility of extending these security guarantees," Zelensky was quoted by Rbc Ukraine as saying. "I told him that we already have an ongoing war that has been going on for almost 15 years. Therefore, I would really like the guarantees to be longer. And I told him that we would really like to consider the possibility of 30-40-50 years. This would be a historic decision by President Trump" who "said he would think about it".

In early January, the Voluntary Workers will meet in Paris to define concrete contributions to Ukraine. This was announced by French President Emmanuel Macron on X. 'Together with other European leaders,' Macron wrote, 'I participated in an exchange of views with Presidents Zelensky and Trump. I then spoke with President Zelensky. We are making progress on security guarantees that will be fundamental to building a just and lasting peace. In early January, we will bring together the countries of the Coalition of the Willing in Paris to define the concrete contributions of each country'.