Russia is opposed to European proposals on security guarantees for Ukraine and will not allow the presence of NATO troops on its neighbour’s territory, the Kremlin has said.

Speaking to reporters in Moscow on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said while Moscow welcomed recent efforts by United States President Donald Trump to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, he reiterated that Russia would not accept a European troop deployment there as part of security guarantees for Kyiv, as that would equate to a NATO presence in its neighbour’s territory – something it had long opposed.

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“In fact, at the very beginning, it was the advancement of NATO military infrastructure and the infiltration of this military infrastructure into Ukraine that could probably be named among the root causes of the conflict situation that arose,” said Peskov.

“So we have a negative attitude towards these discussions.”

Security guarantees against future Russian aggression loom as a key consideration in efforts to negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying he wants guarantees as part of a potential peace deal to be as close as possible to NATO’s Article 5, which holds an attack against one member state to be an attack on all.

Trump has said the US will not put troops on the ground in Ukraine as part of any future security guarantees, indicating that European countries should shoulder most of the burden of guaranteeing Ukraine’s security. Russia insists there must be no troop presence from NATO countries deployed in Ukraine, and instead says it should be one of the guarantors of Ukraine’s security.

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In comments to reporters, Peskov described Trump’s efforts to end the war as “very important” and said this month’s US-Russia presidential summit in Alaska had been “very substantive, constructive and useful”, adding that Moscow hoped the efforts would continue.

But while security guarantees were “one of the most important topics” in the negotiations, Russia did not believe it was helpful to discuss them in public, he said.

Zelenskyy calls for action

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said in a post on X on Wednesday that his teams were “accelerating the process of defining the details” of future multilateral security guarantees for Ukraine, and said the time was right to organise leaders’ discussions on the key priorities and timelines around the arrangements.

“Our teams are actively preparing the architecture of strong and multilateral security guarantees for Ukraine, with everyone involved – Europeans, Americans, and our other partners in the Coalition of the Willing,” he said.

“Military commanders, defense ministers, and security advisors – at different levels, we are preparing the components of future security,” he added. “It is already time to organise the format for the leaders’ discussions to determine the key priorities and timelines.”

He said Russia is “currently sending negative signals regarding meetings and further developments”.

“The Russians will only react to real pressure in response to all this. Pressure is needed. We are counting on it.”

Ukraine and the US have been pushing for a face-to-face meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders to advance peace negotiations, with the US president suggesting he would consider further sanctions on Moscow amid concerns Russia was stalling.

Energy infrastructure attacked

The latest comments came after Ukraine was hit by another barrage of drone attacks overnight, targeting critical energy infrastructure, and the Kremlin claimed it had captured a village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

In a post on X, Zelenskyy said 100,000 households in three regions – Poltava, Sumy and Chernihiv – had been left without electricity following the wave of attacks by nearly 100 drones that included strikes on energy facilities.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said in a statement on Telegram that the attacks had targeted infrastructure in six regions, significantly damaging gas transport infrastructure in Poltava and hitting equipment at a key substation in Sumy, the Reuters news agency reported.

“We regard the Russian attacks as a continuation of the Russian Federation’s deliberate policy of destroying Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure ahead of the heating season,” the ministry said.

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Power had since been restored in Poltava, Governor Volodymyr Kohut said in a statement on Telegram.

Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian gas production and import infrastructure in recent weeks, which it says are legitimate targets because they help Ukraine’s war effort.

The Ukrainian air force said it had downed 74 drones out of 95 launched by Russia overnight, with 21 drones striking nine locations around the country, Reuters reported.

Zelenskyy said the overnight wave of attacks – which had been “aimed specifically at civilian infrastructure” – had also struck a school in the Kharkiv region, and a residential apartment building in Kherson, resulting in injuries.

He said the ongoing attacks reiterated the need for the global community to do more to pressure Russia to stop its war.

“New steps are needed to increase pressure on Russia to stop the attacks and to ensure real security guarantees.”

The AFP news agency reported that at least two people had been killed in recent Russian attacks. It said two farm workers were killed by Russian artillery fire in Novovorontsovka, a village in the Kherson region, on Wednesday morning, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed its forces had taken control of the village of Ozarianivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.