By SUSIE BLANN, Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “hasn’t read” a U.S-authored peace proposal aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

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Trump was critical of Zelenskyy after U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators completed three days of talks on Saturday aimed at trying to narrow differences on the U.S. administration’s proposal. But in an exchange with reporters on Sunday night, Trump suggested that the Ukrainian leader is holding up the talks from moving forward.

“I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn’t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago. His people love it. But he hasn’t — Russia’s fine with it,” Trump told reporters on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. “Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I’m not sure that Zelenskyy’s fine with it. His people love it, but he hasn’t read it.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin also hasn’t publicly expressed approval for the White House plan. In fact, Putin last week had said that aspects of Trump’s proposal were unworkable, even though the original draft heavily favored Moscow.

Trump has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Zelenskyy since riding into a second White House term insisting that the war was a waste of U.S. taxpayer money. Trump has also repeatedly urged the Ukrainians to cede land to Russia to bring an end to a now nearly four-year conflict he says has cost far too many lives.

Zelenskyy said Saturday he had a “substantive phone call” with the American officials engaged in the talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Florida. He said he had been given an update over the phone by U.S. and Ukrainian officials at the talks.

“Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.

Trump’s criticism of Zelenskyy came as Russia on Sunday welcomed the Trump administration’s new national security strategy in comments by the Kremlin spokesman published by Russia’s Tass news agency.

Dmitry Peskov said the updated strategic document, which spells out the administration’s core foreign policy interests, was largely in line with Moscow’s vision.

FILE- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a Kyrgyzstan-Russia talk at the Administrative complex Yntymak-Manas Ordo, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Nov. 26, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

“There are statements there against confrontation and in favor of dialogue and building good relations,” he said, adding that Russia hopes this would lead to “further constructive cooperation with Washington on the Ukrainian settlement.”

The document released Friday by the White House said the U.S. wants to improve its relationship with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah and that ending the war is a core U.S. interest to “reestablish strategic stability with Russia.”

Speaking on Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum, Trump’s outgoing Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, said efforts to end the war were in “the last 10 meters.”

He said a deal depended on the two outstanding issues of “terrain, primarily the Donbas,” and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Russia controls most of Donbas, its name for the Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk regions, which, along with two southern regions, it illegally annexed three years ago. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and is not in service. It needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel, to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.

Kellogg, who is due to leave his post in January, was not present at the talks in Florida.

Separately, officials said the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Germany would participate in a meeting with Zelenskyy in London on Monday.

As the three days of talks wrapped up, Russian missile, drone and shelling attacks overnight and Sunday killed at least four people in Ukraine.

A man was killed in a drone attack on Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region Saturday night, local officials said, while a combined missile and drone attack on infrastructure in the central city of Kremenchuk caused power and water outages. Kremenchuk is home to one of Ukraine’s biggest oil refineries and is an industrial hub.

Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the cold.

Three people were killed and 10 others wounded Sunday in shelling by Russian troops in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.

AP writers Darlene Superville and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed reporting.

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Greenland is hosting annual meetings with U.S. officials to discuss bilateral ties at the end of a year in which U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up talk of a U.S. takeover of the mineral-rich island that is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.

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The meeetings starting Monday will include a bilateral “joint committee” meeting between Greenland and U.S. officials that will discuss cooperation “in a number of important areas,” according to a statement from Greenland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Science.

A separate “permanent committee” meeting will involve the Danish government. Similar meetings were held last year in the United States.

Vivian Motzfeldt, who heads the ministry, said Greenland was “pleased” to host the two days of meetings.

“Through these successful meetings, we ensure that the interests of the Greenlanders and the Americans are respected for the benefit of all parties,” she said, adding the aim was to “develop cooperation in areas of common interest.”

Trump stirred concerns earlier this year in Greenland, Denmark and the European Union, which counts Denmark among its 27 member countries, by reviving talk of a U.S. takeover of Greenland after returning to office for his second term.

The issue had drifted off headlines but then Danish officials summoned the U.S. ambassador in Copenhagen in August following a report that at least three people with connections to Trump carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.

Earlier this year, U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited a remote U.S. military base on the island and accused Denmark of underinvesting there.

Trump has said Greenland is crucial for U.S. security and hasn’t ruled out taking the island by military force, even though Denmark is a NATO ally of the U.S.

By LORNE COOK, Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — A top European Union official on Monday warned the United States against interfering in Europe’s affairs and said only European citizens can decide which parties should govern them.

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European Council President Antonio Costa’s remarks came in reaction to the Trump administration’s new national security strategy, which was published on Friday and paints European allies as weak while offering tacit support to far-right political parties.

It’s “good” that the strategy depicts European countries as an ally, but “allies don’t threaten to interfere in the domestic political choices of their allies,” Costa said.

“What we can’t accept is the threat of interference in European political life. The United States cannot replace European citizens in choosing what the good or the bad parties are,” he said in Paris at the Jacques Delors Institute, a think tank.

The strategy was critical of European free speech and migration policy. U.S. allies in Europe face the “prospect of civilizational erasure,” the document said, raising doubts about their long-term reliability as American partners.

But Costa, who chairs summits of the 27 national EU leaders, said Europe’s “history has taught us that you can’t have freedom of speech without freedom of information.”

The former Portuguese prime minister also warned “there will never be free speech if the freedom of information of citizens is sacrificed for the aims of the tech oligarchs in the United States.”

The security strategy is the administration’s first since President Donald Trump returned to office in January. It breaks starkly from the course set by President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, which sought to reinvigorate U.S. alliances.

President Donald Trump, right, seated with Sec. of State Marco Rubio, left, at a Kennedy Center Honors reception for recipients at the State Department, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

It comes as the U.S. seeks an end to Russia’s nearly 4-year-old war in Ukraine, a goal that the national security strategy says is in America’s vital interests.

But the text makes clear that the U.S. wants to improve its relationship with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah and ending the war is a core U.S. interest to “reestablish strategic stability with Russia.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said the document “absolutely corresponds to our vision.” Over the course of the war, Russia has worked to drive a wedge between NATO allies, particularly between the U.S. and Ukraine’s main backers in Europe.

“If we read closely the part about Ukraine, we can understand why Moscow shares this vision,” Costa said. “The objective in this strategy is not a fair and durable peace. It’s only (about) the end of hostilities, and the stability of relations with Russia.”

“Everyone wants stable relations with Russia,” he added, but “we can’t have stable relations with Russia when Russia remains a threat to our security.”

Top EU officials and intelligence officers have warned Russia could be in a position to launch an attack elsewhere in Europe in three to five years should it defeat Ukraine.

By MARC LEVY and KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Republicans in key battleground U.S. House districts are working to contain the political fallout that may come when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act.

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For a critical sliver of the Republican majority, the impending expiration of what are called enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 is a pressing concern as they potentially face headwinds in a 2026 midterm election that will be critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda.

One of those is first-term U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., whose victory for the Allentown-area seat last year was among the narrowest in the nation.

Mackenzie is part of a bipartisan group that has been pressing for an eleventh-hour compromise, advocating for an extension of the tax credits that tries to fix perceived flaws and bring down health care costs. But the push is a long shot due to entrenched GOP opposition to the health overhaul known as “Obamacare.”

“I think that we need to deal with the reality of where we are now and even if you have a broken system, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t provide or offer relief to individuals who are dealing with those high costs right now,” Mackenzie said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Democrats have been laying the groundwork, starting with this fall’s shutdown fight, to make the health care issue a focus of next year’s campaigns.

The party’s strategy for capturing the House majority centers on pinning higher bills for groceries, health insurance and utilities on the policies of Trump and Republicans.

Republicans torn over an extension

In Washington, Republicans from competitive House districts have authored or signed onto bills that would temporarily extend the tax credits. A new bipartisan proposal unveiled Thursday has drawn support from roughly 15 Republicans and 20 Democrats so far.

“I have 40,000 people in my district who rely on this health care and doing nothing to prevent a spike in their premiums is wrong,” said U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., a sponsor of the plan.

FILE – Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., center, accompanied by Rep. Zachary Nunn, R-Iowa, left, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., right, speaks at a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

Thirteen Republicans — including Mackenzie — signed a letter in late October to the House speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., encouraging the temporary extension of the tax credits, saying letting them “lapse without a clear path forward would risk real harm to those we represent.”

Johnson hasn’t committed to a short-term extension vote before Jan. 1 and has dismissed the looming premium increases as affecting a small percentage of Americans.

More than 24 million people have ACA health insurance, including farmers, business owners and other self-employed people who don’t have other health insurance options through their work.

Many benefit from subsidies that lower their out-of-pocket cost. Those subsidies include the enhanced premium tax credits, which were added and then extended under Democratic President Joe Biden when his party was the majority in Congress.

Some Republicans — including Mackenzie — couch their support for an extension with the caveat that changes must be made. One is rooting out insurance broker fraud. Another is backing off subsidies for higher earners.

Time is running out

U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, one of the California Republicans whose districts have been redrawn to favor a Democrat, sponsored a bill to extend the tax credits for two years. His bill would also impose an income eligibility cap to exclude higher earners.

Kiley said the current system isn’t working, but there’s not enough time to make systematic reforms before millions of Americans “just suddenly pay double on their premiums.”

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., also has a bill to temporarily extend the credit, and said letting the subsidy lapse will make it harder for Republicans to retain the majority next year.

“People say, ‘well, it’s not that many people,’” Van Drew said. “The kind of election we’re going to have in the midterms in multiple districts is going to be decided by one or two points. It’s going to be close. It’s going to be tight, and it does matter. It absolutely matters politically.”

U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, chair of the House Republicans’ campaign arm, said the tax credits won’t be “decisive” in next year’s election when other things are likely to be on voters’ minds.

Democrats will run on affordability

But U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington state, who chairs the House Democrats’ campaign arm, said swing-district Republicans won’t be able to distance themselves from the expiration of the tax credits.

“The number one issue across the country is affordability and health care is a key part of that,” DelBene said.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that 3.8 million more people will be uninsured in 2035 if the tax credits aren’t extended. But the tax credits also come with a cost: Extending them would increase the deficit by $350 billion over the next decade.

The expiration of the tax credits means enrollees will see annual premiums more than double — from an average of $888 in 2025 to $1,904 in 2026, according to health care research nonprofit KFF. That’s an increase of 114%.

The size of the increases varies by state, age and income and will be more extreme in Mackenzie’s district, according to state data, which puts the average premium increase at 178%.

FILE – State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, in Allentown, Pa., Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

A primary field of Democrats is shaping up for the nomination to challenge Mackenzie. They say they’re hearing from people who are struggling to afford rising premiums.

One of those Democrats, Ryan Crosswell, said rising insurance costs are a “breaking of promises” by Trump, Republicans and Mackenzie. Another Democrat, Carol Obando-Derstine, called the impending expiration a “crisis of (Mackenzie’s) own making.”

Mackenzie says he’s made it clear repeatedly that he supports an extension, but that “I am not the speaker, I don’t set the calendar or the agenda. I’m not the leader, I can’t call up bills.”

Enrollees facing hard choices

In Mackenzie’s district, more than 20,000 people received the enhanced tax credits in 2025, according to state data. He won his race last year by 1 percentage point, or about 4,000 votes.

One of those 20,000 people in Mackenzie’s district is Patrick Visconti, who switched to a low-premium, high-deductible plan because he couldn’t afford to keep his plan with a premium that is more than doubling from under $200 to over $500 a month.

Visconti, 59, who works as a self-employed landscaper and a bus driver, said the plan he picked is “crappy coverage.”

“I’d rather pay the $200 a month. But I can’t get anything for $200,” Visconti said.

Lynn Weidner, a home care worker in Mackenzie’s district who works nearly 80 hours a week, said her $400 premium will increase to $680. But, she said, she’s leaning toward selecting the plan because she has various conditions — including an iron deficiency — that require regular medical care.

“So I’m trying to find places where I can cut money so that I can afford my insurance come January, which is stressful,” Weidner said.

Lynn Weidner, a home care worker who worries that the cost of her health insurance plan in the Affordable Care Act marketplace will rise, poses in front of her home, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Allentown, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)

Freking reported from Washington.