Ukraine and US agree new peace plan after Moscow hit by another deadly bombing

The latest US-Ukraine peace plan suggests eastern areas seized by Russia could become free economic zones.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a "demilitarised zone or a free economic zone" could potentially resolve a stalemate over the future of the Donbas. Russia wants the whole region, even areas it has not captured, but Ukraine has said it is unacceptable.

Details of the plan came as two police officers were killed in a bombing in Moscow on Wednesday, the second in three days after the killing of a general on Monday. Ukraine has not confirmed it was behind the incidents, but has claimed responsibility for similar assassinations in the past.

The bombings could be Kyiv's way of trying to shift the narrative in peace talks and showing it is still on the offensive and able to hit Russia at home, says Sky's Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett. The revised 20-point plan was made public on Wednesday and follows recent US-Ukraine talks in Miami.

President Zelenskyy said a US proposal for a free economic zone was a "potential option" for a sovereign Ukrainian state but it would have to be agreed via a referendum. Such zones typically have laws different to those in the rest of a country, such as less tax and relaxed customs and regulations.

Mr Zelenskyy said the US and Ukraine had "significantly brought most of the positions closer together" but that negotiators still could not reach a consensus on territorial sticking points. He said he now wanted a meeting with Donald Trump as "sensitive issues" needed to be "discussed at leaders' level".

The future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's biggest, is another issue the US and Ukraine have not yet agreed on. America has suggested it should be a partner and chief manager in a consortium including Ukraine and Russia.

The updated peace plan also includes robust security guarantees and Article 5-like protections to protect Ukraine from future aggression, as well as EU membership and keeping its army at 800,000 personnel. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would set out its position based on information received by envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who met US officials in Florida over the weekend.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff was part of a delegation that held talks with President Vladimir Putin at the start of December but there was no breakthrough and the Ukrainian people have continued to suffer. It was hit by one of the biggest aerial bombardments of the near four-year war this week, with more than 600 drones and several dozen missiles launched.

Most were intercepted but at least three people, including a young child were killed, and there were widespread power cuts after hits on the electricity network. Read more from Sky News:British boy stabbed to death in Portugal namedFourth Palestine Action detainee pauses hunger strike President Zelenskyy also released a Christmas message of unity on Wednesday.

"Despite all the suffering that Russia has brought, it is not capable of occupying or bombing what matters most. That is our Ukrainian heart, our faith in one another, and our unity," he said in a video on Telegram.

He added: "In the skies over Kyiv and Zakarpattia, Odesa or Kupyansk - wherever we may be - Ukrainians are together tonight - marking Christmas on the same date, as one big family.".