Russia pounded Kyiv with hundreds of missiles and drones, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky headed to Mar-a-Lago for a pivotal peace meeting with President Trump Sunday.
The overnight attack set three high-rise apartment blocks ablaze and knocked out power to a third of Kyiv Saturday, while killing two and wounding 32 others — casting further doubt of a swifter end to the nearly four-year-old war.
Zelensky said if Russian strongman Vladimir Putin “turns even the Christmas and New Year period into a time of destroyed homes and burned apartments, of ruined power plants” it shows the dictator’s “true attitude” toward peace.
“Where is Russia’s response to the proposals to end the war offered by the United States and the world?” the Ukrainian president slammed on X Saturday. “Russian representatives engage in lengthy talks, but in reality, missiles” and ‘shahed drones “speak for them.”
A Russian drone hits an apartment building in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 27, 2025. REUTERS
Smoke rises from an apartment building after a drone attack on Saturday. REUTERS“This is the true attitude of Putin and his inner circle,” he added. “They do not want to end the war.”
The war-torn country was hit with more than 500 drones and 40 missiles, ignited fires that spread floor by floor through apartment complexes overnight.
Explosions echoed across Kyiv’s pre-dawn skies for nearly 10 hours — with only a brief pause in the attacks before another wave came at noon.
Firefighters work at the site of an apartment building hit during Russian missile and drone strikes, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine in Kyiv on December 27, 2025. REUTERS
An Iranian-designed Shahed 136, (Geranium-2) drone used by Russian Army flying over Kyiv during a Russian drones and missiles attack on Saturday. AFP via Getty Images“When it seemed that the terrible night was over, we woke up to a terrifying explosion at eight in the morning,” Kyiv resident Tetiana Donets told the Kyiv Independent.
“Things just started flying all around me. It was horrifying, felt like an earthquake,” added Liubov Chernenko, 73. “They were bombing us all night.”
Smoke from a Russian missile and drone attack above residential buildings in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 27, 2025. Evgen Kotenko/Ukrinform/INSTARimages
Russia’s strikes forced the Rzeszów and Lublin airports in southeastern Poland, to the west of Ukraine, to temporarily close. REUTERSThe attack came as Zelensky flew to Florida to meet Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence at 3 p.m. on Sunday. The two leaders are hoping to finally hammer out the last details of a deal to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
Territory remains the main stumbling block in negotiations with Moscow.
Both Kyiv and Moscow have been engaging in cease-fire talks with their US counterparts since November — although finding peace has proven elusive.
Debris falls down during the Russian drone and missile attack in Kyiv on December 27, 2025. AFP via Getty Images
Smoke rises above residential buildings following a Russian drone and missile attack in Kyiv. AFP via Getty Images
The Ukrainian air defense fires at Russian drones and missiles during an attack on December 27, 2025. AFP via Getty Images
Several powerful explosions rocked Kyiv as buildings suffered extreme damage on December 27, 2025. UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE/AFP via Getty Images
Ukrainian rescuers evacuate a body from the site of a Russian strike on a high-story residential building in Kyiv. SERGEY DOLZHENKO/EPA/Shutterstock
Authorities said one person was killed by the attack in the Kyiv region, while at least 19 people were wounded in the capital itself, including two children. REUTERS
Smoke rises from a burnt car at the site of a repair workshop damaged during the Russian strikes in Kyiv. via REUTERS
People shelter at the metro station during Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine on December 27, 2025. REUTERSThe Ukrainian leader repeated Saturday that Kyiv will not recognize any territorial concessions, but said if he is not able to push Trump to back that stance, he was willing to put the peace plan up for a referendum — if Russia agreed to a 60-day cease-fire in order for a vote to be held, Axios reported.
“If the American side raises the issue of a referendum or elections, this absolutely cannot take place under the conditions in which we are living today — particularly regarding air attacks,” Zelensky said Saturday answering journalists’ questions through a WhatsApp group managed by his press service.
What started as a 28-point plan drafted in November by Trump reps Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — widely seen as a Ukrainian capitulation — has turned into a 20-point proposal through talks between the US and Ukraine.
Zelensky is bringing the document to Florida Sunday as the starting point for the day’s talks, he said.
He told journalists in Kyiv on Friday that the 20-point draft is 90% complete, and that a cease-fire could be close — a sentiment echoed by Trump.
“Well, I think we have a good shot at it,” Trump told The Post in an Friday afternoon phone call.
The US and Ukraine still need to iron out two main issues — control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, seized by the Kremlin at the start of the war, and control of Ukraine’s mineral-rich eastern Donbas region.
Zelensky wants the line of current military positions to be recognized as the new border, but Putin has been demanding the entire Donbas region, even parts he hasn’t managed to seize in nearly four years of fighting.
Russia presently controls almost the entirety of the Luhansk region, and about 80% of Donetsk — the two regions that make up the Donbas.
There has also been movement on the critical issue of security guarantees for Ukraine, with Zelensky telling reporters that an agreement backed by Ukraine and the US was almost ready.
“A lot can be decided before the New Year,” he said, later adding, “This primarily depends on President Trump. The question is what security guarantees President Trump is ready to provide to Ukraine.”
