European leaders to discuss US-led peace efforts as Russia-Ukraine tensions spike

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — European leaders were due to hold talks Tuesday on U.S.-led peace efforts to end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine, amid a flare-up in tensions between Moscow and Kyiv over Russian claims, denied by Ukraine, of a mass drone attack on a lakeside residence used by President Vladimir Putin.

The virtual European meeting was expected to gather leaders who attended talks in Berlin earlier this month, according to Polish government spokesman Adam Szłapka, although it was not clear who would be taking part.

It was the first meeting of European leaders since U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Florida resort on Sunday. Trump insisted that Ukraine and Russia are “closer than ever before” to a peace settlement, although he acknowledged that outstanding obstacles could still prevent a deal.

At the same time, Russian and Ukrainian officials have exchanged bitter accusations over Moscow’s allegations that Ukraine attempted to attack the Russian leader’s residence in northwestern Russia with 91 long-range drones almost immediately after Trump’s Sunday talks with Zelenskyy.

The claims and counterclaims threatened to derail peace efforts. “I don’t like it. It’s not good,” Trump said Monday after Putin told him by phone about the alleged attack.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha noted Tuesday that Russia “still hasn’t provided any plausible evidence” to support its allegations.

Moscow won’t do so because “no such attack happened,” he wrote on X.

“Russia has a long record of false claims,” he added, referencing the Kremlin’s denials it intended to attack Ukraine ahead of its Feb. 24, 2022, all-out invasion of its neighbor.

Zelenskyy, speaking Monday, also branded the allegation as “another lie” from Moscow designed to sabotage peace efforts.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov countered Tuesday that the alleged Ukrainian attack is “aimed at thwarting President Trump’s efforts to promote a peaceful resolution” to the war.

Russia and Ukraine have throughout the war exchanged accusations about attacks that cannot be independently verified because of the fighting.

Peskov didn't say whether Moscow would present physical evidence of the attack, such as drone wreckage, saying that such a step would be a matter for Russia’s military. “I don’t think there needs to be any evidence here,” he said.

The rural Novgorod region is home to one of the Russian presidency’s official residences, Dolgie Borody, close to the town of Valdai, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) northwest of Moscow. The area has been used to host a vacation retreat for high-ranking government officials since the Soviet era.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said that since Trump launched a diplomatic push at the start of the year to end the war, “the Kremlin has sought to delay and prolong peace negotiations in order to continue its war undisturbed, prevent the U.S. from imposing measures intended to pressure Russia into meaningful negotiations, and even to extract concessions about bilateral U.S.-Russian relations.”

Davies reported from Leicester, England.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine