Russia will "review" its negotiating position, citing an alleged attack by Ukraine on a Putin residence.

BarcelonaRussia accuses Ukraine of attempting to attack Putin's residence and says it will "review" its position in the peace negotiations, without abandoning them. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Kyiv allegedly launched 91 drones on Monday night against the president's house in the Novgorod region, an attack that reportedly disabled its air defenses. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied the attack, calling it a "lie" by the Kremlin, and warned that it is a pretext for attacking Ukrainian government buildings. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha called the Kremlin's strategy "manipulation" and spoke of "the usual Russian tactic: accusing the other side of what you yourself are doing or planning." All of this dampened the expectations generated on Sunday by Zelensky's visit to Florida to meet with Donald Trump, when both leaders asserted that peace is "closer than ever." According to the Kremlin, Putin spoke by phone with Donald Trump to inform him of the alleged attack and the change in his position, although he made it clear, according to his political advisor Yuri Uyshakov, that Russia still wants to work with the United States to find a way out of the war. Meanwhile, Moscow threatened retaliation ("These reckless actions will not go unanswered," Lavrov warned) and says it has already selected Ukrainian targets. The Kremlin's position contrasts with the optimism expressed by Zelensky after his meeting with Donald Trump on Sunday. "We discussed all aspects of the peace framework and achieved significant results," he said. The Ukrainian president asserted on Monday that the plan includes security guarantees from the United States for his country for 15 years, although he had requested them for half a century.

It is still unclear how these commitments would materialize, but the Ukrainian leader has long been demanding security guarantees "similar to Article 5" from Europe and the United States, referring to the NATO charter, according to which an attack against one member state should be considered an attack against all. Zelensky stated that both leaders agreed that "security guarantees are key to achieving lasting peace." "Ukraine is ready for peace," he emphasized to X, and stated that "some documents have already been finalized or are being finalized."

However, after meeting for more than three hours, both left without announcing or finalizing any major agreement. Trump warned of the possibility that no agreement would be reached. "We'll know in a few weeks," he said, acknowledging that there are still a couple of "very thorny" issues. Negotiations between Kyiv and Washington are stalled on two points: the status of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility, now under Russian control, and above all, the concession of Ukrainian territory in the eastern Donbas region.

Military companies fall on the stock market

The optimism following the meeting between Putin and Zelensky translated into sharp declines in the stock market share prices of major European military companies at the opening of trading. Progress toward a potential resolution of the conflict in Ukraine weighed on the shares of companies such as Germany's Rheinmetall (-3.37%), Italy's Leonardo (-4.7%), France's Thales (-1.57%), and Britain's BAE Systems (-1.87%). Spain's Indra saw its share price fall by as much as 1.89%. However, by the close of trading, the declines had moderated. Rheinmetall closed down 1.36%; Leonardo, 1.96%; Thales, 0.66%; BAE Systems, 0.26%; and Indra, 0.25%.

Despite the declines recorded, defense sector stocks in Europe are on track for record gains in 2025, and as the year draws to a close, Rheinmetall has accumulated a rise of around 150%. while Indra rises 170%Leonardo saw an increase of over 80%, and Thales 60%, an annual rise driven by the new European rearmament policy.

Peace, still far off

The Kremlin has no interest in abandoning negotiations, but there is no indication that it is willing to sign a peace agreement as long as the situation on the front remains favorable and it can maintain internal control. Trump has said that the peace agreement is "95 percent done," but the remaining 5 percent is precisely the key to the comeback: Putin's willingness to reach an agreement. Once again, the US president is making a headline that doesn't hold up against the reality on the ground, as has been the case since he presented his peace plan in November, designed to address the Kremlin's main demands. But the Kremlin is not budging: the agreement is not done, just as the announced Christmas truce and the Thanksgiving truce never materialized. What is being prepared, Kiiv warns, is the bombardment of Ukrainian institutions, the target of the "blitzkrieg" that Putin launched, unsuccessfully, almost four years ago to install a friendly government.

Trump did not end the war in Ukraine "in 24 hours," as he promised during his election campaign, and in each round of negotiations, despite all the fanfare, the reality is stubborn: Moscow's objective is to control Ukraine's political and military future. On the other side, the Ukrainians are wounded and exhausted, facing a winter more difficult than the last, knowing they are playing by a bought referee, but they are also unwilling to surrender unconditionally. And unless either of these two factors in the equation changes, the war on the ground will continue.

This turns the dance of diplomatic posturing into a hamster wheel: Ukraine is trying to get its European allies to force Trump to maintain his support in the war and offer him ambiguous security guarantees (having dropped the goal of formal NATO membership), but the Kremlin remains in its orbit. And everyone knows that neither the United States nor the EU is willing to go to war against Russia over Ukraine. The dilemma for Zelensky is, in reality, this: either he accepts surrender or he risks continuing the war, trying to contain Russian troops in the trenches and enduring drone attacks until the political and economic climate in Russia changes.