Nato scrambles fighter jets as Putin blasts Ukraine ahead of Zelensky’s crunch Florida meeting with Trump

NATO was forced to scramble fighter jets as Vladimir Putin unleashed a missile and drone barrage on Ukraine just hours before Volodymyr Zelensky was due to meet Donald Trump in Florida for talks on a US-brokered peace plan.

Polish and allied warplanes were deployed near Ukraine’s border amid the overnight onslaught, which saw drones slam into apartment blocks and multiple power and heating plants knocked offline.

‘Fighter jets have been scrambled, and ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems placed on a state of readiness,’ said Poland’s operational command.

This was ‘preventive’ and ‘aimed at securing and protecting the airspace, particularly in areas adjacent to the threatened regions’.

‘The Operational Command of the Armed Forces is monitoring the situation on an ongoing basis, and subordinate forces and assets remain ready for an immediate response’, said the statement.

There was also an alert in NATO state Romania amid an onslaught by the Russians.

‘During the night of 22–23 December, drone attacks were carried out by Russian forces against Ukrainian port infrastructure in the vicinity of the Romanian border,’ said a Bucharest statement.

People in two Romanian counties received nighttime warning alerts about the threats of Putin drones.

Putin’s ştrikes caused deaths and injuries to civilians including pensioners and children. Strikes hit ordinary residential buildings.

The initial toll was given as two dead – a woman, 76, and a girl, four – with ten injured, including three children.

The monstrous Russian strikes were aimed at maximising civilian anguish. Russia used frigates in the Black Sea to launch Kalibr cruise missile strikes.

Explosions thundered in multiple regions including Kharkiv, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Cherkasy, and Khmelnytskyi.

Attacks hit energy facilities leading to power cuts in Kyiv and the surrounding region plus multiple other locations.

The latest Russian strikes – using strategic bomber aircraft – came amid peace talks prompted by Donald Trump.

But ahead of the attacks Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Putin was addicted to killing and would not give up the war.

‘After so many years – first of hybrid warfare and now of full-scale war – it is hard to believe that Putin is capable of living without killings and invasions,’ he said.

However, a reduction in the price of Russian oil, strong global sanctions, and the continuation of all other forms of pressure are precisely what will persuade even such a stubborn person.

‘Putin wages war as long as he has the money to buy the loyalty of his inner circle and the Russian population, while at the same time paying for killings on the front line.’

Russia had ‘no scruples’ and would wage war over Christmas, said the Ukrainian president. Putin continued his siege of port city Odesa.

The Russian onslaught came the day after high-ranking Russian Lt-Gen Fanil Sarvarov, 56, was blown up in a suspected Ukrainian assassination operation in Moscow.

Ukraine’s energy ministry said: ‘Emergency power outages have been implemented in a number of regions of Ukraine.

‘As soon as the security situation permits, rescuers and energy workers will begin to eliminate the consequences of the attack in order to restore electricity supply in the regions as quickly as possible.’

In a strike on Russia, Ukraine exploded military-linked petrochemical plant Stavrolen in Budyonnovsk , Stavropol region, owned by Russian giant Lukoil.

Russia fired a total of 673 missiles and drones at Ukraine today – among the heaviest onslaughts of the war.

But, astonishingly, Ukraine downed or disrupted 621 of the aerial targets, including 587 enemy Shahed and Gerbera drones and 34 Kh-101 and Iskander-K cruise missiles.

This represents a poor strike rate for Vladimir Putin’s much-vaunted armed forces.

Despite this, the onslaught killed and wounded Ukrainians, and triggered wanton destruction.

‘This Russian attack clearly signals Russia’s priorities,’ said Zelensky.

‘The strike comes on the eve of Christmas, when people want to be with their families, at home, in safety.

‘It also coincides with ongoing peace negotiations aimed at ending this war. Putin simply cannot accept the need to stop killing.

‘This means the world is not putting enough pressure on Russia. We need to act now.’

The overnight assault raises profound questions over whether Putin has any genuine intention of ending the war.

Trump has insisted Russia ‘wants’ peace. If so, there was little evidence of it in Kyiv overnight.

A New Year greetings card to his henchmen from Putin promised ‘changes for the better’ and urged them to ‘share their warmth with our loved ones’.

The barrage, which included hypersonic missiles, triggered military aviation activity in neighbouring Polish airspace. 

Poland’s Operational Command said fighter aircraft had been scrambled and air defence and radar reconnaissance systems placed on high readiness ‘due to the activity of long-range Russian air forces carrying out strikes on Ukrainian territory’.

‘These operations are preventative in nature and are aimed at securing and protecting airspace, particularly in areas adjacent to the threatened areas,’ the statement said.

A day earlier, NATO forces were forced to scramble F-16 fighters over Romania.

Territory close to the Romanian border was again hit on Saturday, with Kh-22 cruise missiles launched from Tu-22M3 long-range bombers striking Ukraine’s Odesa region.

In Vyshgorod, in the wider Kyiv region, rescuers pulled a man from the ruins of a house destroyed in a Russian strike.

Ukrainian war commentator Denis Kazansky said the attacks showed Russia’s contempt for calls for a ceasefire over New Year and Christmas. 

‘They again struck residential buildings and civilian targets with drones and missiles,’ he said. 

‘To leave people without heat in freezing cold – the most vulnerable left to freeze in their apartments.’

Ukraine also confirmed overnight strikes in Donetsk region on Russia’s 14th Spetsnaz Brigade in Berdianske and a logistics depot of the 228th Motor Rifle Regiment near Starobesheve, while a fuel depot was destroyed near occupied Volnovakha.

Putin’s New Year card read: ‘We always await these bright holidays with particular excitement and hope… We sincerely believe that our kind dreams and aspirations will surely come true, and the coming year will bring changes for the better.’

The escalation came as Zelensky prepared to travel to the United States for Sunday’s meeting with Trump – talks now overshadowed by fresh Russian accusations and renewed bombardment. 

Zelensky is due to meet President Donald Trump in Florida this weekend, but Russia accused the Ukrainian leader and his European backers on Friday of seeking to ‘torpedo’ a US-brokered plan to stop the fighting.

Sunday’s meeting to discuss new peace proposals comes as Trump intensifies efforts to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, one that has killed tens of thousands since February 2022.

The 20-point plan would freeze the war on its current front line but open the door for Ukraine to pull back troops from the east, where demilitarised buffer zones could be created, according to details revealed by Zelensky this week.

Ahead of the talks, AFP journalists reported further explosions in Kyiv on Saturday, and authorities warned of a possible missile attack.

‘Explosions in the capital. Air defence forces are operating. Stay in shelters!’ Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s air force announced a countrywide air alert and said drones and missiles were moving over several regions including Kyiv.

Zelensky’s office said earlier that a meeting with Trump is planned for Sunday in Florida, where the US leader has a home.

Trump, speaking to news outlet Politico, said about Zelensky’s plan that ‘he doesn’t have anything until I approve it’.

Zelensky meanwhile said he held telephone talks on Friday with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz and a host of other European leaders.

A spokesperson for Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the leaders ‘reiterated their unshakeable commitment for a just and lasting peace for Ukraine and the importance that talks continue to progress towards this in the coming days’.

The new plan formulated with Ukraine’s input is Kyiv’s most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions and is very different from an initial 28-point proposal tabled by Washington last month that adhered to many of Russia’s core demands.

Part of the plan includes separate US-Ukraine bilateral agreements on security guarantees, reconstruction and the economy. Zelensky said those were changing on a daily basis.

‘We will discuss these documents, security guarantees,’ he said of Sunday’s meeting.

‘As for sensitive issues, we will discuss (the eastern region of) Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and we will certainly discuss other issues,’ he added.

Russia signalled its opposition to the plan ahead of the Florida talks.

The Kremlin said Friday that foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov had held telephone talks with US officials, and deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov criticised Zelensky’s stance.

‘Our ability to make the final push and reach an agreement will depend on our own work and the political will of the other party,’ Ryabkov said on Russian television.

‘Especially in a context where Kyiv and its sponsors – notably within the European Union, who are not in favour of an agreement – have stepped up efforts to torpedo it.’

He said the proposal drawn up with Zelensky input ‘differs radically’ from points initially drawn up by US and Russian officials in contacts this month.

He said any deal had to ‘remain within the limits’ fixed by Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin when they met in Alaska in August, or else ‘no accord can be reached’.

Zelensky said this week there were still disagreements between Kyiv and Washington over the two core issues of territory and and the status of the Zaporizhzhia plant.

Washington has pushed Ukraine to withdraw from the 20 percent of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls – Russia’s main territorial demand.

It has also proposed joint US-Ukrainian-Russian control of Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear plant, which Russia seized during the invasion.

Zelensky said he could only give up more land if the Ukrainian people agree to it in a referendum, and he does not want Russian participation in the nuclear plant.

Ukraine appears to have won some concessions in the new plan, which, according to Zelensky, removed a requirement for Kyiv to legally renounce its bid to join NATO as well as previous clauses on territory seized by Russia since 2014 being recognised as belonging to Moscow.

But Moscow has shown little inclination to abandon its hardline territorial demands that Ukraine fully withdraw from Donbas and end efforts to join NATO.

Zelensky said Ukrainian negotiators were not directly in touch with Moscow, but that the United States acted as intermediary and was awaiting Russia’s response to the latest proposal.

‘I think we will know their official response in the coming days,’ Zelensky said.

‘Russia is always looking for reasons not to agree,’ he added.