Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko says he doesn’t believe Russia is interested in a peace deal with Ukraine, but hopes US President Donald Trump will use his influence to make it happen.

Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday and said the pair were getting “very close, maybe very close” to an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.

But on Monday, that progress was halted when Russia accused Ukraine attempted attack on the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in northern Russia.

Zelenskyy rejected the accusations, accusing Russia of lying to “undermine” the peace process and create a false pretext for attacking Ukraine.

In February 2026, it will be four years since that Russia launched a full invasion of Ukraine and 12 years since then Russia illegally occupied Crimea in 2014.

Goncharenko, an opposition representative from the European Solidarity party of Ukraine, spoke with As it happens guest host Paul Hunter on these latest developments. Here is part of their conversation.

Donald Trump said that peace in the region is “closer than ever before”. Do you see it the same way?

I hope he knows more than I do. Because, unfortunately, I see that Russia does not want any peace and they are just trying to gain time. But I hope I’m wrong and President Trump is right.

WATCH | Russian accusations throw a spanner in the peace negotiations:

Peace hopes in question as Russia says Ukraine targeted Putin’s residence

Russia accused Ukraine of attempting to attack President Vladimir Putin’s residence in northern Russia on Monday, a day after US President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida and said they had made progress on an agreement to end the war. Kiev dismissed Moscow’s accusations as baseless and said they were designed to undermine peace talks.

Through Trump, the USA has committed to security guarantees now for up to 15 years. Volodymyr Zelenskyy would prefer a 50-year commitment. what do you think

Look, anything is better than nothing, but definitely 15 years is not enough. This war in Ukraine has been going on for 12 years. It is not four years (of war). It is 12 years (war) of war.

If we are talking about a guarantee of safety, why should we limit it to a certain number of years? The United States has many such agreements with Japan, with South Koreaand I have never heard that any of these agreements are time-limited. So I don’t know why they should be limited in the case of Ukraine.

What do you think about the reliability of security guarantees or their effectiveness? I mean, when it comes to boots on the ground, Ukraine has been on its own so far, hasn’t it?

Definitely the best guarantee of security is your own armed forces. And I think that after the war ends, Ukraine will not be an (importer) of security, but (an) exporter. I think that Ukraine can guarantee the security of many countries in the world with our armed forces and experience from the battlefield of the 21st century.

So definitely, it’s a pretty relative thing. But that’s better than nothing. And we just need to engrave in stone that we, with the United States, are allies. Definitely, Ukraine needs it. But I think the United States needs it too.

Trump talks about…”tricky questions.” … Probably one of them is security guarantees. The other (is) the land that Russia took in eastern Ukraine. In this regard, Zelenskyy is clear and firm… Would the Ukrainian people accept territorial concessions?

We need to clarify what we mean when we say concessions. If we call concessions by Ukraine accepting that part of our territories is Russia, then this will never happen. This is simply unacceptable.

If we are talking about concessions such as recognizing the fact that part of our territory is under Russian control, that is a fact. And the Ukrainian people are ready to accept that and say: Yes, these are illegally occupied territories. We do not know when these territories will be returned. That’s it. That’s life. We continue to live.

This is what Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claims yesterday and today Ukrainian forces attempted an attack in the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelenski denies it. What can you tell us about this?

It seems that Russia is afraid that the negotiations have indeed been quite effective and are now looking for a justification for wanting to continue the war. So that’s another lie from Russia. Unfortunately, a very predictable thing.

Where is this going? I mean, you’re talking about the number of years it’s been going on, going back to Crimea…. Do you see an end to it?

Maybe it will end when one country, Russia or Ukraine, disappears. Or maybe it will end tomorrow.

(As long as) Russia is an empire and, in an imperial way, looks like aThere will be a threat in the world — not only for Ukraine, but for the entire planet.

Do you think that Putin is interested in an agreement, in peace? I mean, Trump, after a two-hour phone call yesterday, says that Putin is interested in at least seeing this revised 20-point plan.

No, I don’t believe in this. Putin is not interested in that. But I believe that President Trump… cannot leave Putin with any option but to accept peace.

But will he do it or not? I don’t know

You are a member of the opposition in Ukraine. Somehow, your job is to oppose and be critical, I guess, according to Volodymyr Zelensky. What do you advise him in terms of the way forward?

He is doing good work abroad. Diplomacy should be continued. We must end this war as soon as possible.

And then he no longer has to run for president. And in doing so, he will save his legacy as a president who protected the country in the most necessary moment. But it’s time for him to go after the war is over.