European leaders discuss Ukraine as Russia 'toughens' stance

European leaders held a call to discuss Ukraine after Russia said it would revise its negotiating position, claiming Ukrainian drones targeted a residence of President Vladimir Putin.

“Our work to ensure robust security guarantees continues unabated,” Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said Tuesday in a post on X. He said that Kyiv’s allies in the so-called Coalition of the Willing would convene next week.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Polish Premier Donald Tusk and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also joined the call.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday confirmed Russia would “toughen” its negotiating stance following an alleged attack against a presidential residence in the Novgorod region, more than 400 kilometers (249 miles) northwest of Moscow, but wouldn’t publicly disclose how, according to the Interfax news agency.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the charge as a fabrication, saying it was Russia’s reaction to positive developments in peace talks.

“Almost a day passed and Russia still hasn’t provided any plausible evidence to its accusations of Ukraine’s alleged ‘attack on Putin’s residence,’” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Tuesday on X. “And they won’t. Because there’s none. No such attack happened.”

Still, several countries, including India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan, issued statements expressing concern or condemning the alleged attempted strike. Zelenskyy criticized India and UAE for their position, saying they failed to censure regular Russian strikes against civilian targets in Ukraine.

European leaders spoke following a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent days as U.S. President Donald Trump pushes to resolve Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and fulfill a pledge he made for his return to office.

Zelenskyy visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Sunday, and while that meeting delivered no clear breakthrough, Trump hailed what he called “a lot of progress.” The U.S. and Russian leaders also held two calls, including one in which Putin told Trump about his decision to revise his negotiating position, according to the Kremlin.

Tusk, speaking after the European leaders’ call, said that “peace has appeared on the horizon for the first time since the start of this full-scale war.” He praised the U.S.’s “readiness to participate in security guarantees for Ukraine after the conclusion of peace, including the presence of U.S. troops, for example on the border or on the line of contact between Ukraine and Russia.”

Ukraine would like troops on the ground and it’s discussing the issue with the U.S., and the Coalition of the Willing, but it’s up to those countries to decide on deployment of their troops, Zelenskyy told reporters Tuesday.

The Ukrainian leader, standing next to Trump after the two leaders’ meeting on Sunday, said they had “100% agreed” on U.S.-Ukraine security guarantees without elaborating on the details. The Trump administration has previously ruled out an American ground troop presence in the country, and the White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he would be “happy to see” Trump if he were able to visit Ukraine, preferably by flying directly into the country rather than taking the train from Poland.

“This would speak about us having an opportunity to count on a ceasefire,” he said.

Yet the Kremlin’s remarks on its shifting negotiating stance reflect Putin’s refusal thus far to back away from maximalist demands, including for territory in the east of Ukraine that Moscow hasn’t been able to seize militarily. Putin on Monday in a televised meeting with Russia’s army command highlighted what he described as advances on the battlefield in Ukraine and ordered his forces to continue efforts to take more territory.

Ukrainian officials have toiled over the last few weeks to revise a 28-point draft plan that the U.S. proposed but was seen as overly favorable to Russia. The latest version has 20 points, although Moscow has warned that the plan includes elements it won’t accept, including on the size of Ukraine’s post-war military.

Ukraine is seeking a meeting with European partners and Trump in January, Zelenskyy said earlier, after which there could be discussions about a possible meeting with Russian officials “in one format or another.”

Zelenskyy said in a post on X that he expected national security advisers from countries of the Coalition of the Willing to hold a meeting on Jan. 3 in Ukraine, followed by a meeting of its leaders planned for Jan. 6 in France. Talks between leaders of U.S., Ukraine and the coalition’s nations may follow the same month, he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday said that Ukraine attempted to attack the presidential residence with 91 drones, adding that Russia would retaliate and that targets had already been selected.

Trump addressed the purported attack while speaking to reporters in Florida on Monday, saying that Putin had told him about it during their discussion. The U.S. president, seeming to side with Putin, said he was “very angry.”

Zelenskyy has dismissed the Russian claims as a “new lie” and warned that Moscow could be using it as an excuse to prepare an attack on government buildings in Kyiv.

“We are moving the peace process forward,” Merz said after the European leaders’ call in a post on X. “Transparency and honesty are now required from everyone – including Russia.”

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—With assistance from Courtney Subramanian.