Florida
Ukraine war live: Zelenskyy to meet Trump in Florida for peace talks after Russia intensifies strikes
Zelenskyy to meet Trump in Florida for talks on plan to end the war as new attacks reported in Ukraine
We are restarting our live coverage of the war in Ukraine as Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to meet Donald Trump for the latest round of diplomatic talks in Florida at about 1:00pm (18:00 GMT).
Their meeting at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago home will be the pair’s first in-person encounter since October, when Trump refused to grant Zelenskyy’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
The pair will discuss an updated version of a US-brokered plan to end the nearly-four year war, which Russia is yet to support.
In the days before the meeting, Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s capital, using missiles and drones to attack Kyiv and try to increase the pressure on Zelenskyy.
This morning, Ukrainians again woke up to reports of strikes in parts of the country, including in Kherson, where the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said one woman was injured after Russia launched “massive shelling”.
Zelenskyy has said the priority is securing US security guarantees in order to protect Ukraine against future Russian aggression. The meeting will also likely focus heavily on management of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which has been a major sticking point so far in the negotiations.
Moscow controls about 75% of the Donetsk region, and about 99% of the neighbouring Luhansk (known collectively as Donbas).
At a closed-door meeting with Russia’s business elite last week, the Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly reiterated his demand that Ukraine hand over the entire eastern Donbas region as part of any peace deal.
On the key question of the future of the region, Zelenskyy, who has so far rejected any territorial concessions, has suggested a “free economic zone” was a potential option.
Moscow has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine must withdraw from all of the eastern Donbas region, even areas still under Kyiv’s control.
Key events
Russia claims to have captured several settlements in Ukraine
Russian troops took control of the settlements of Huliaipole, Myrnohrad, Artemivka, Rodynske and Vilne in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, and Stepnohirsk in the Zaporizhzhia region, the Russian defence ministry has said. We have not been able to independently verify this information yet. It is not the first time Moscow has proclaimed battlefield advances before talks.
Russia currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory. During 2025, Russian advances amounted to 176 sq miles a month to the end of November, but at an estimated cost of 382,000 killed and injured.
There has been a significant clean-up operation in Kyiv in the aftermath of the Russian attacks on Saturday, which killed at least one person and injured at least 32 others, including two children, according to officials.
Rescue workers from the State Emergency Service have now completed work to “eliminate the consequences” of the drone and missile strikes, which officials said targeted energy facilities and civilian infrastructure, according to an update from the Main Department of the State Emergency Service in Kyiv.
Rescue workers have cleared rubble and inspected damaged buildings, it said. Over 400 rescuers were involved in the work, which was done with help from volunteer organisations and local municipal services.
Ukraine’s leading private energy provider said on Sunday it had restored power to nearly 750,000 households in Kyiv after a Russian drone and missile barrage killed at least one person and left hundreds of thousands of people facing freezing temperatures.
DTEK said consumers on Kyiv’s right bank were back to planned power cuts but that the situation remained “more difficult” on the left bank, where emergency outages were still in force.
Three civilians injured in Russian strikes in Kharkiv region, police say
Ukraine’s National Police has accused Russian forces of launching attacks (guided aircraft and drones) on settlements in Kharkiv, Bogodukhov, Chuguiv and Kupiansk districts over the past day. The police said three civilians in the Kharkiv region were injured and said they are documenting the “consequences of war crimes” by Russia.
The police said:
On December 27, the Russian army struck the city of Chuguiv. The strike hit a residential high-rise building. A 66-year-old woman with an acute stress reaction sought medical help.
The Russians used drones to strike the territory of the Zolochiv community. The strikes occurred in the village of Baranivka. Private houses, outbuildings, and power grids were damaged.
A UAV hit a civilian car parked near a household in the village of Petrivka. There were no injuries.
As a result of UAV strikes in the village of Velykyi Burluk, private houses were destroyed. A local resident was injured. A warehouse and a mill were also damaged.
In the middle of the day, an enemy drone hit a civilian man walking from the village of Nova Kozacha. The 50-year-old wounded man was taken to a medical facility.
Zelenskyy to meet Trump in Florida for talks on plan to end the war as new attacks reported in Ukraine
We are restarting our live coverage of the war in Ukraine as Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to meet Donald Trump for the latest round of diplomatic talks in Florida at about 1:00pm (18:00 GMT).
Their meeting at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago home will be the pair’s first in-person encounter since October, when Trump refused to grant Zelenskyy’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
The pair will discuss an updated version of a US-brokered plan to end the nearly-four year war, which Russia is yet to support.
In the days before the meeting, Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s capital, using missiles and drones to attack Kyiv and try to increase the pressure on Zelenskyy.
This morning, Ukrainians again woke up to reports of strikes in parts of the country, including in Kherson, where the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said one woman was injured after Russia launched “massive shelling”.
Zelenskyy has said the priority is securing US security guarantees in order to protect Ukraine against future Russian aggression. The meeting will also likely focus heavily on management of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which has been a major sticking point so far in the negotiations.
Moscow controls about 75% of the Donetsk region, and about 99% of the neighbouring Luhansk (known collectively as Donbas).
At a closed-door meeting with Russia’s business elite last week, the Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly reiterated his demand that Ukraine hand over the entire eastern Donbas region as part of any peace deal.
On the key question of the future of the region, Zelenskyy, who has so far rejected any territorial concessions, has suggested a “free economic zone” was a potential option.
Moscow has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine must withdraw from all of the eastern Donbas region, even areas still under Kyiv’s control.
Florida
Area to watch for tropical development in Gulf to bring downpours to drought-stricken Florida | Latest Weather Clips | FOX Weather
Area to watch for tropical development in Gulf to bring downpours to drought-stricken Florida
While this area to watch for tropical development may not actually become tropical, it will definitely bring rain to Florida, which desperately needs it. The system is likely to bring the most significant rain to the Florida panhandle down south to Tampa, but the entire state can expect some moisture through midweek next week.
Gulf system to bring downpours to Florida
FOX 13 Meteorologist Jim Weber is continuing to watch an area in the Gulf that is expected to bring much-needed rain to Florida this weekend. He said the system will likely drift to the north and northwest and will linger before heading to the northeast. He said to get a tropical depression, or a tropical storm there needs to be winds and a closed low and he is not seeing that in the models yet. Weber is also tracking a system off the coast of Africa that has a 10% chance of developing over the next week. He says it will likely enter a hostile environment and dissipate.
TAMPA, Fla. – Forecasters are tracking a broad disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast that could bring much-needed rain to parched communities this weekend.
Gulf tropical development potential
What we know:
Models continue to indicate there is a potential for an area of low pressure to form over the northeast Gulf off the west coast of Florida over the weekend.
The National Hurricane Center says an area in the Gulf has a 30% chance of tropical development over the next seven days.
Models a shifting away from the forecast of the system moving over the state and off the coast of the Carolinas. Models are now indicating a more likely scenario that it lingers in the Gulf over the weekend and may drift more to the northwest near the Florida Panhandle or Louisiana coast. Early next week conditions look like they will become less conducive and may prohibit much development. Regardless of whether it organizes, the system will bring tropical downpours and increased moisture across Florida and parts of the Southeast.
FOX 13 Meteorologist Jim Weber states we are close to 7.50″ below average on our rainfall in Tampa for the year. A weak area of low pressure or tropical system can be beneficial in helping to make up for the rainfall deficit we have been experiencing. Drought conditions continue over much of the state of Florida. If this system ends up drifting more westward, it would limit the total amount of rainfall and the highest totals would be along the immediate west coast.
Atlantic tropical development potential
A tropical wave southeast of the Cabo Verde Islands remains disorganized.
It is moving west-northwest and, according to the NHC, there is a chance for slow development over the next day or two. By the weekend it is expected to move into less conducive conditions and Saharan dust will begin to affect this wave, limiting its moisture. The time for this system to develop is very limited and will not develop after the weekend.
The NHC is giving it a 10% chance of developing.
Weather factors and storm names
What we don’t know:
Officials cannot yet confirm if the disturbance will overcome environmental hurdles like land interaction, wind shear and dry air. Computer models remain uncertain on how much this system will develop over the waters of the Gulf. If it stays over the warm waters of the Gulf longer, it may give it additional time to organize. Interactions with land and wind shear will likely pose obstacles in further development.
To become a tropical system, it must develop a defined circulation with organized thunderstorms. If it reaches maximum sustained winds of 39 mph, it will become a tropical storm and be named Bertha.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13Meteorologist Jim Weber, the National Hurricane Center tropical weather outlooks, as well as forecast computer models.
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