The Kremlin vowed Monday to ramp up hostilities on Ukraine in response to what it alleged was a “terroristic attack” on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s property — just a day after President Donald Trump said he was close to producing a deal that would bring peace to the region.

Trump, after a Sunday meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago, , sounded optimistic about getting closer to a peace agreement. But it was clear Monday that very little has changed as the war — both on the battlefield and in the information space — raged on.

Yuri Ushakov, a top Putin aide, said Monday that an alleged Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian president would trigger “the most serious response.” He also said Putin informed Trump of the attack by phone Monday morning.

The White House, when asked for comment, only pointed to a social media statement from press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying “President Trump has concluded a positive call with President Putin concerning Ukraine.”

Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago that he “heard” about the attack, but didn’t know the details. “That would be too bad,” he said. “That would not be too good.” Asked about it a second time, the president sounded more credulous, stating that he was “angry” about any “offensive” attack by Ukraine would jeopardize the peace talks.

Zelenskyy, intent on getting Trump to see Putin as the primary impediment to peace, called the Kremlin’s allegation of a strike on the Russian leader’s residence “a complete fabrication intended to justify additional attacks against Ukraine, including Kyiv, as well as Russia’s own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war.”

Blasting the “typical lying tactics of the Russians,” Zelenskyy noted on X that Moscow has “already struck Kyiv, including the building of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine…Ukraine does not take steps that could weaken diplomacy. Russia always takes such steps. This is one of many things that sets us apart.”

The latest round of acrimony offered further evidence that, for whatever progress Trump and Zelenskyy said they made Sunday on a 20-point peace plan and negotiations about U.S. security guarantees, the two sides are still far apart.

The chief unresolved issue remains the fate of the Donbas region. About 15 percent of that strategic region in the East remains Ukrainian. The area is of particular interest to Russia, as capturing the last land parcel would give the Kremlin control of Ukrainian trenches. Zelenskyy has agreed to either keep the area Ukrainian, or make the land a demilitarized “free economic zone” — but Russia has continued to insist the land would ultimately be Russia’s.

That insistence has continued even after Trump’s most recent Mar-a-Lago meeting.

Putin spokesperson Dmitriy Peskov told reporters Monday “of course” the full transfer of Donbas to Russia is needed as part of a peace deal to which the Kremlin would agree. The total control of Donbas by Russia has been a nonstarter for Ukraine, which has fought nearly four years to defend the remaining parcel of land.

But the meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was more cordial and potentially productive than some of Zelenskyy’s past visits to the U.S. have seemed. The president praised the Ukraine leader’s courage. And both men made joint expressions of public optimism following two hours of talks.

Trump did not suggest, as he had previously, that Ukraine deserved equal blame for the war that began nearly four years ago with Russia’s invasion. But he continued to be a booster for Putin’s position, saying without evidence that the Russian president “wants to see [the war] ended.” He also said Putin, who has continued to pound Ukraine’s cities in recent days, is “going to be helping” with rebuilding Ukraine, and that Russia is interested in seeing its neighbor “succeeding” once the war has ended.

That comment elicited an eyeroll and chuckle from Zelenskyy, who stood at Trump’s side at a lectern during a short press conference after following their two hours of talks.

Trump also suggested that Ukraine’s refusal to cede additional territory could simply lead to Russia taking it by force in the future.

Peskov on Monday capitalized on Trump’s views. “Ukraine is losing lands and will lose them further,” he said.

One European official, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the state of negotiations, said any progress made is good. But, the person added, that the “bar is really low for what counts as a good meeting” between Trump and Zelenskyy.

“It’s good they seemed a bit closer, but listening to Trump go on and on about how he understands Putin and how he wants Ukraine to succeed — it’s beyond naive,” the official said.“And that’s actually the thing that’s preventing progress. Until Trump stops eating out of Putin’s hand and applying real pressure, he has no reason to really negotiate.”

Zelenskyy, however tactfully, made a similar point in one of several posts on X Monday. “Together with the Americans, we share [a] single position: the war must be ended through diplomacy, and Russia must be pressed into it – otherwise the war will continue,” he wrote.

Trump’s repeated declarations that Putin wants peace are at odds with what chief of staff Susie Wiles said was his personal view of the conflict. Wiles, in an interview with Vanity Fair published this month, said the president privately “thinks [Putin] wants the whole country” and isn’t interested in cutting a deal that gives Russia part or even all of the contested Donbas region.

Trump, who backed off the idea of a deadline for the peace talks, did not directly answer a question Sunday about what, if anything, he’d do to increase pressure on Moscow if negotiations fail. He instead accepted the grim possibility that the war would continue and “millions” more people would die.

In Ukraine, Trump’s characterization of the talks landed with a thud.

“It is absolutely painful for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people when we are sitting without electricity, without heat and running water during the winter because Russia chooses to terrorize us, to attack our peaceful cities,” Kira Rudik, a member of Ukrainian parliament, said in a Monday interview on CNN. “And at the same time, Putin lies to President Trump and President Trump allows him to continue doing so and allows him to continue doing so.”

Zelenskyy told reporters after leaving Mar-a-Lago Sunday evening that Trump is offering 15 years of security guarantees, and that he is pushing him to extend the time frame to 30, 40 or 50 years. He also emphasized that any peace plan that includes territorial concessions couldn’t be adopted without a referendum in Ukraine. And he expressed doubt about Russia’s willingness to agree to a 60-day ceasefire that would allow for a public vote.