Ankur Desai

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

Hi, I'm Ankur Desai, and on Monday 29th December, these are our main stories.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, says the United States has offered security guarantees against Russia lasting 15 years, but he would like them to last a lot longer.

Elsewhere, Taiwan has put its forces on high alert after China began a live-fire rehearsal of a blockade of the island.

And after these protests in India last week...

India's Supreme Court stops the suspension of the life sentence given to a former regional BJP legislator for raping a 17-year-old girl.

Also coming up in this podcast, we hear from the man who disarmed a gunman on Bondi Beach in Sydney after 15 people died when two men opened fire at a Hanukkah gathering at the famous beach location in mid-December.

And football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is still enjoying playing, he says, and he won't stop until he's scored 1,000 career goals.

We begin with our top story and the ongoing efforts to find a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

The US says an agreement is getting a lot closer.

Moscow says negotiations are at a final stage.

And Ukraine's President Zelensky described recent meetings with Donald Trump as great.

So a lot of optimism then, but it doesn't seem to have reached the streets of Kiev just yet.

That's according to these Ukrainians.

Unfortunately, the talks won't have an effect.

They're good for the people to understand what's going on, but I don't think the war will end soon.

And yet we have to wait for the deal to be reached.

Even after a deal, Russia could attack Ukraine.

So just what are the sticking points?

Well, speaking a few hours ago, President Zelensky said the main unresolved issues in the 20-point peace plan were control over Ukraine's eastern Donbass region and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.