Zelenskyy: Progress in Talks 'Solid'   12/23 06:17

   Initial drafts of U.S. proposals for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia 
meet many of Kyiv's demands, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 
Monday, although he suggested that neither side in the almost four-year war is 
likely to get everything it wants in talks on reaching a settlement.

   KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Initial drafts of U.S. proposals for a peace deal 
between Ukraine and Russia meet many of Kyiv's demands, Ukrainian President 
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, although he suggested that neither side in the 
almost four-year war is likely to get everything it wants in talks on reaching 
a settlement.

   "Overall, it looks quite solid at this stage," the Ukrainian leader said of 
recent talks with U.S. officials who are trying to steer the neighboring 
countries toward compromises.

   "There are some things we are probably not ready for, and I'm sure there are 
things the Russians are not ready for either," Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv.

   U.S. President Donald Trump has for months been pushing for a peace 
agreement, but the negotiations have run into sharply conflicting demands from 
Moscow and Kyiv.

   U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday he held "productive and constructive" 
talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives, though Trump was 
less effusive the following day, saying, "The talks are going along."

   "We are talking. It's going OK," Trump said Monday while on vacation at his 
Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Asked if he planned to speak to Zelenskyy or 
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump didn't say, offering only of the 
fighting, "I'd like to see it stopped."

   Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said "nearly 90%" of Ukraine's demands have been 
incorporated into the draft agreements.

   The backbone of the proposed deal is a 20-point plan, he said. There is also 
a framework document on security guarantees between Ukraine, European 
countries, and the United States, as well as a separate document on bilateral 
security guarantees granted to Ukraine by the U.S.

   Zelenskyy mentioned several key points, such as the Ukrainian army remaining 
at a peacetime level of 800,000; membership in the European Union; and European 
forces, under the leadership of France and the U.K. and with a "backstop" from 
Washington, ensuring "Ukraine's security in the air, on land, and at sea."

   "Some key countries will provide presence in these domains; others will 
contribute to energy security, finance, bomb shelters, and so on," the 
Ukrainian president said.

   Ukraine is arguing that the bilateral document with the U.S. should be 
reviewed by the U.S. Congress, with some details and annexes kept classified, 
Zelenskyy said.

   The U.S. team is now in talks with Russian envoys, and Washington has asked 
that no details be released, he added.

   Ukraine strikes deep inside Russia

   Zelenskyy said Monday he met with his military commanders who reported that 
defensive lines are holding firm against the Russian onslaught.

   "In (recent) weeks, the Russian army has significantly increased the 
intensity of attacks, and the number of Russian losses has increased 
accordingly," he said in a post on Telegram.

   Ukrainian forces hit an oil terminal, a pipeline, two parked jet fighters 
and two ships in a series of strikes on Russian soil, officials said Monday.

   The attacks are part of an ongoing campaign to disrupt the Russian war 
effort and sow fear behind the front line, where outnumbered Ukrainian troops 
are straining to hold back Russia's bigger army.

   The strikes also seek to undermine Putin's attempt to portray Russia as 
negotiating from a position of military strength in U.S.-led peace efforts, 
which have yet to make a breakthrough on key points.

   The killing of a top Russian general by a car bomb in Moscow on Monday, with 
investigators suspecting Ukraine was behind it, could be another instance of 
Kyiv picking surprise targets.

   Ukrainian partisans burn Russian fighter jets

   Ukrainian forces struck the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal, an ammunition depot 
and a launch site for attack drones inside Russian territory and Russian-held 
Ukrainian territory, Ukraine's General Staff said in a statement Monday.

   A pipeline, two docks and two ships were damaged in the southern Krasnodar 
region, and a large blaze broke out, the statement said, without specifying 
what kind of weapons were used in the attack.

   It added that a Ukrainian-made missile also hit a temporary base for 
Russia's 92nd River Boat Brigade in Olenivka, in the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

   A separate strike targeted an ammunition depot in a Russian-controlled 
portion of the Donetsk region, aiming to slow the Russian advance there, the 
General Staff said. A Russian launch site for attack drones was also hit.

   Ukrainian partisans set fire to two Russian jet fighters in an operation on 
Sunday evening at a base near Lipetsk, a city in western Russia, according to 
Ukraine's military intelligence.

   Russia's Ministry of Defense said only that its forces shot down 41 
Ukrainian drones overnight, three of them over the Krasnodar region.

   Russia targets the power grid again

   Meanwhile, Russian forces kept up their targeting of Ukraine's energy 
sector, aiming to deprive civilians of heat and running water during the frigid 
winter. Russia has tried to knock out power in Ukraine throughout the war, in a 
tactic that Ukraine refers to as "weaponizing winter."

   Energy infrastructure across five regions were attacked during the night, 
Ukraine's Ministry of Energy said.

   Russia struck Ukraine with 86 drones of different types overnight, Ukraine's 
air force said. Ukrainian forces stopped 58 of them, it said.