Vladimir Putin has ordered his army to expand the war in 2026 and grab vast new tracts of Ukrainian territory, a top Kremlin general revealed on camera.

The move deals a damaging blow to Donald Trump‘s carefully crafted peace plan.

Putin has instructed his commanders to invade swathes of Sumy and Kharkiv border regions, revealed his military supremo General Valery Gerasimov on a trip to a frontline command post.

The new land seizure is billed as an expansion of a “buffer zone”, and the contentious order shows Putin has no intention of heeding US pressure to halt the fighting.

The fresh invasion initiative appears to be revenge for a Russian claim that Ukraine deliberately targeted a Putin palace at Valdai in Novgorod region in a drone swarm attack.

This is widely seen as a hoax and Russia has offered no scrap of evidence for the attack on a forest hideaway the Kremlin dictator shares with his love Alina Kabaeva, 42, and young sons aged ten and six.

Gerasimov relayed Putin’s order as he inspected Russia’s Northern group of troops ahead of the New Year which sees the country take 12 consecutive days of public holidays.

The 70-year-old general said: “The troops of the joint grouping are confidently advancing deeper into the enemy’s defences and in December achieved the highest offensive tempo to date.

“Over the month, more than 700 square kilometres [270 square miles] of territory was taken….

“The Northern Group of Forces has completed the liberation of Kursk region [in Russia] in accordance with the instructions of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief [Vladimir Putin], while establishing a security buffer in the border areas of Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions.

“The President of the Russian Federation [Putin] has set the task of continuing to expand the security buffer next year in order to ensure the peaceful lives of residents of Belgorod and Kursk regions.”

Trump had said he was “very angry” when told by Putin that Ukraine had attacked the Valdai palace – one of the most intensely guarded sites on earth.

Yet the US appeared to admit that the Russian dictator may not have been telling Trump the truth.

The American ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker cast doubt on Putin’s claim over a drone assault on the palace.

“It is unclear whether it actually happened,” he said.

He doubted Ukraine would do something so “reckless or not helpful” to a peace deal.

“The attacks on Putin’s residence in Valdai are a hoax. Nobody attacked it,” said Volodymyr Zelensky.

Railway workers at a secret line to the palace told reporters that they heard no sounds of eir defences.

The claims are being seen as a “false flag” to derail peace talks so Putin can go on fighting.

The Russians yet again hit helpless civilians overnight, especially in Black Sea port Odesa which faced heating and power cuts in subzero temperatures.

A baby aged seven months and two other children, eight and 14, were among Putin’s victims, as entire apartments were set ablaze in a fierce drone strike.

“It’s a disaster in Odesa. Part of the city is without electricity, heat, and water,” said MP Oleksiy Goncharenko. “All we should strive for is peace.”

Civilians were also wounded in Bila Tserkva, Kyiv region, as residential buildings were hit.

Ukrainę completed a record-breaking month of strikes on Russian energy facilities – seen as military targets.

In the latest strike, a strategic oil plant was ignited in flames at Tuapse in Krasnodar region.

A gas pipeline and a dock in the Black Sea port was also hit. Two people are reported wounded.