Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said a peace agreement to end the war with Russia is 90% ready, in a New Year address that largely focused on resistance to Moscow's full-scale invasion.
Zelensky said the remaining 10% of the agreement to end nearly four years of conflict would determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe.
In his own New Year speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his troops that we believe in you and our victory.
Earlier on Wednesday, Moscow also released what it said was evidence of Ukraine using drones to target Putin's private home on Lake Valdai in north-west Russia, allegations Kyiv has strenuously denied.
It included a map allegedly showing that the drones were launched from the Sumy and Chernihiv regions of Ukraine and a video of a downed drone lying in snowy woodland. A serviceman standing next to the wreckage claims it is a Ukrainian Chaklun drone.
The BBC hasn't been able to verify the footage, and it is not possible to locate where it was shot.
Russia would review its position on the ongoing peace negotiations as a result of the alleged incident, the Kremlin said.
However, Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, on Wednesday described the Russian claims as a deliberate distraction and an attempt to derail the peace process.
In his 20-minute address to the nation, Zelensky said that Ukraine did not want peace at any cost, adding that we want the end of the war – not the end of Ukraine.
He stated that a Ukrainian withdrawal from the eastern Donbas region means everything will be over, a reference to Russia's maximalist demand that Moscow secure full control of the industrial area in any peace agreement.
Moscow currently controls about 75% of the Donetsk region, and some 99% of the neighbouring Luhansk. The two regions are known collectively as Donbas.
Following talks between Zelensky and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Florida earlier this week, the Ukrainian leader said Washington had offered security guarantees for 15 years - but a time frame for their implementation is not yet clear.
Signatures under weak agreements only fuel war, Zelensky said in his address. Either the world stops Russia's war, or Russia drags the world into its war.
Separately, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used his New Year message to praise the invincible alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow, while praising soldiers who are fighting in alien lands.
At least 600 of those soldiers have died, according to South Korean estimates.
In the coming weeks, Zelensky expressed hopes for peace negotiations to resume and accelerate with the participation of both US and European officials.
French President Emmanuel Macron stated that European states and allies due to meet in Paris on January 6 will make concrete commitments to protect Ukraine and ensure a just and lasting peace on our European continent.
Despite discussions among advisors from the US, UK, France, and Germany about ending the war in Ukraine, the situation remains precarious and urges for Russian cooperation in any peace deal, which currently appears unlikely.
