Moscow reported a deadly strike on a hotel in territory it occupies in southern Ukraine while Kyiv said Russia attacked its power supplies.

Russia invaded Ukraine to restore it to Moscow’s orbit, but President Donald Trump’s peace plan would increase Kyiv’s security, economic and other ties with the West.

President Donald Trump engaged Ukraine, Russian leaders throughout 2025 in unprecedented diplomatic push to end the war, including Alaska summit and Mar-a-Lago meetings.

Russian commanders told Putin during an inspection visit that Moscow's forces had captured towns in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk.

Trump said teams are "getting a lot closer, maybe very close" to achieving a Ukraine-Russia peace deal, following his conversation with Putin and meeting with Zelenskyy.

Putin accused Ukraine of launching drone attacks on his residence, derailing momentum on Zelenskyy's peace plan as Russia threatens to harden its position.

Russia launched about 52,000 drones in overnight attacks on Ukraine in 2025, according to data aggregated by Kyle Glen of the U.K.-based Centre for Information Resilience, compared with around 14,000 launched between 2022 and 2024. Odesa is becoming a major target.

Russia's top general has told troops to keep carving out buffer zones in Ukraine's Sumy and Kharkiv regions in order to protect civilians in Russia's neighbouring Kursk and Belgorod regions from Ukrainian attacks.