Kyiv, Ukraine, 26 December (H.S.): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed optimism following a nearly hour-long Christmas Day telephone discussion with U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, describing it as yielding new ideas in terms of formats, meetings, and... timing on how to bring a real peace closer.

The conversation, held amid ongoing U.S.-led diplomatic shuttling between Kyiv and Moscow, built on an updated 20-point peace plan endorsed by Ukrainian and American negotiators in Florida days earlier, which Zelensky detailed publicly on Wednesday as incorporating potential demilitarised or free economic zones in Russian-held eastern territories.

Zelensky tasked Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's defence minister and lead negotiator, with pursuing further talks, acknowledging work to be done on sensitive issues like Donbas control while securing U.S., NATO, and European guarantees mirroring NATO's Article 5 for any future Russian aggression.

The revised framework—slimmed from an initial 28-point U.S. draft deemed overly favourable to Russia's pre-2022 demands—envisions Ukrainian troop withdrawals from contested Donetsk and Luhansk areas (where Moscow holds 75% and 99% respectively), replaced by internationally policed zones, alongside Russian pullbacks from occupied parts of Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv oblasts; ratification would require Ukrainian parliamentary approval or a referendum within 60 days.

Zelensky relayed Christmas greetings to Trump and his family via the envoys, framing the exchange as an active day for diplomacy despite Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's measured response that Moscow was examining this material relayed by envoy Kirill Dmitriev, pending President Vladimir Putin's decisions.

No disruptions marred the virtual talks, which proceeded seamlessly from Kyiv.Parallel battlefield developments underscored the urgency: Ukraine's air force struck the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Russia's Rostov oblast—10 km from the border and a key supplier of diesel and aviation fuel to Moscow's forces in occupied Donbas—using U.K.-provided Storm Shadow cruise missiles, triggering multiple explosions, a fire injuring one firefighter (no fatalities reported), and an air raid alert, with damage assessments ongoing.

Russia countered by claiming capture of Sviato-Pokrovske in Donetsk, advancing toward Ukrainian-held strongholds Sloviansk and Kramatorsk after Kyiv's earlier withdrawal from Siversk, as Putin reiterated demands for full Donbas cession.

These clashes, amid abductions near Sumy and Pope Leo XIV's parallel Vatican plea for Ukraine-Russia dialogue, highlight the fragility of negotiations launched post-Trump's January inauguration to halt the 2022 invasion.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar