Summary
Live Reporting
Edited by Jacqueline Howard and Alys Davies, with Katy Watson reporting from Kyiv
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Nato military leaders to meet tomorrow to discuss Ukrainepublished at 17:21 British Summer Time
The defence chiefs of all 32 Nato countries will meet virtually tomorrow to discuss the diplomatic efforts to secure peace in Ukraine.
They will be briefed by US Air Force Lt Gen Alexus Grynkewich – who also oversees all Nato operations in Europe – on the results of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s Alaska meeting last week.
“As diplomatic efforts to secure peace in Ukraine progress, looking forward to his update on the current security environment,” Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chairman of Nato’s military committee, posts on X.
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White House briefing likely to be dominated by Ukrainepublished at 17:09 British Summer Time
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House
Image source, BBC / Bernd Debusmann JrImage caption, A cloudy view from the White House today
It’s so far an exceedingly quiet day at the White House, particularly when taken in comparison to what was something of a chaotic day yesterday during the visit of Zelensky and the European leaders.
Only a handful of reporters – mostly regulars who are here daily – are milling about. Yesterday, there were hundreds, including sizeable contingents visiting from Europe.
As things stand, it does not appear that we will hear from Trump directly again today, following his phone call with Fox News this morning.
At 13:00 EST (18:00 BST), the president is due to sign a piece of legislation into law, but behind closed doors, with no press access expected.
At the same time, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will hold a briefing – which is likely to be dominated by questions about Ukraine and the potential for peace negotiations, as well as more details on the US role in any security guarantees in the future.
Stay with us for more details.
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Ukraine working with allies on ‘specifics’ of security guaranteespublished at 17:01 British Summer Time
Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC MonitoringUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is working with allies to decide the specifics of possible security guarantees that could be provided to Ukraine following the summit in Washington yesterday.
“We are now actively working at all levels on the specifics, on what the architecture of the guarantees will look like, with all members of the Coalition of the Willing, and very concretely with the United States,” he writes in a post on X.
“This is one of the major results of Washington talks. I am grateful to everyone who is helping.”
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Trump and EU leaders have had enough of Russia’s delay, deny, distract tactic – Latvian FMpublished at 16:57 British Summer Time
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesLatvia’s foreign minister has addressed whether a meeting taking place with Russia and Ukraine is likely, in an interview with the BBC.
“The Russian tactic is well known: delay, deny, distract,” Baiba Braze tells BBC Verify Live.
“But we have seen President Trump and other leaders have had enough of it.”
Braze then explains there are three key aspects officials are looking to follow in the next steps of negotiations – this includes maintaining co-operation between the Europeans and the Americans; as well as continuing to support Ukraine in defending itself.
Thirdly, Braze says another “big line of effort” is “weakening Russia” – in a nod to sanction packages against the Kremlin.
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Zelensky’s White House return – what happened yesterday?published at 16:48 British Summer Time
Media caption, Watch: Key moments from Zelensky, Trump White House talks
Just over 24 hours ago, European leaders were arriving in Washington for talks on the future of Ukraine – let’s have a quick reminder of what happened:
- For the first time since his explosive row with Donald Trump in February, Volodymyr Zelensky returned to the White House for talks on Ukraine
- This time, the Ukrainian leader was also backed by European leaders including Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron, and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni
- The day of meetings followed Trump’s Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin on Friday, and the group discussed the likelihood of a peace deal with the Russian leader in a behind-closed-doors meeting
- During the talks, Trump backed away from calling for a short-term ceasefire deal before negotiations to end the war take place – but a rebuttal came from Germany’s Friedrich Merz who said: “I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire”
- Zelensky and his colleagues were pleased, though, with Trump’s commitment to help with security guarantees in the event of a peace deal being reached – though we’re yet to find out exactly what these might look like
- Ultimately, our BBC Monitoring Russia editor writes, Zelensky left the White House unscathed after February’s bruising encounter, but there are still no guarantees that Zelensky and Putin will meet face-to-face to end the war
- Since yesterday’s White House meet, the “coalition of the willing” have convened again today – our political correspondent has more on how the meeting focused on briefing the group’s wider membership on yesterday’s Oval Office talks
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Trump repeats key Kremlin position on Nato membershippublished at 16:25 British Summer Time
Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring
Image source, CNP/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesIn his interview with Fox News, Donald Trump repeats another key talking point we’ve been hearing from the Kremlin for years.
He says Russia “was right” to object to Ukraine’s membership of Nato because, it said, according to the US president, “we do not want an opponent on our border”.
Ukraine’s request “was very insulting” to Russia, Trump says.
But while Vladimir Putin is vehemently opposed to the vague and distant prospect of Ukraine joining Nato, he is not so worried about the actual membership of other neighbours of Russia.
The Russian leader has on numerous occasions used Ukraine’s aspirations to join the alliance as a justification for launching his so-called “special military operation”. He claims that Ukraine would have attacked Russia with Nato’s encouragement and assistance, had he not invaded it first.
However, Ukraine’s membership of Nato was not a realistic prospect before the invasion, and still isn’t – despite Kyiv’s pleas that it would provide protection against Russian attacks.
In contrast to Ukraine, Russia does not seem to be worried as much about Nato membership of other neighbours, such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which joined the alliance in 2004.
Sweden and Finland (another neighbour of Russia) joined the alliance after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but Putin was unconcerned. “We’ve got nothing to worry about regarding Finland’s and Sweden’s membership of Nato. If they want to join – let them,” he said.
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As diplomatic efforts gear up, strikes continuepublished at 16:02 British Summer Time
Image source, ReutersUkrainian officials say Russia hit Kremenchuk, an industrial city in the central Ukrainian region of Poltava, overnight.
The attacks targeted “oil and transport infrastructure”, according to the city’s mayor, Vitalii Maletskyi, who posted a video on Telegram showing a huge plume of smoke over the city and warned residents to take care of unexploded munitions.
An oil refinery in Kremenchuk – the largest in the country – is a frequent target of Russian strikes.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian security services say they have struck two ammunition depots near the village of Bilokurakyne, in the largely Russian-controlled Luhansk region.
In the same Telegram statement, it adds that 30,000 households in Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine, have lost power after a Russian drone attack this morning.
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‘Ukraine cannot join Nato’, Slovak PM sayspublished at 15:45 British Summer Time
Image source, Getty ImagesSlovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has re-emphasised his objection to Ukraine gaining Nato membership.
Posting on X, Fico writes: “When, from the very beginning of the war, I rejected Ukraine’s Nato membership as a fundamental prerequisite for ending the conflict, I was publicly crucified.
“Today, the fact that Ukraine will not be in Nato is already taken for granted.”
In a three-minute video posted alongside the text, Fico says that in order for the conflict to end in Ukraine then it must be understood that Ukraine cannot become a Nato member state.
For context: Fico has been a vocal critic of the European Union’s support for Kyiv and in October 2023, when he was re-elected as prime minister, he ended Slovakia’s military aid to Ukraine.
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What we know about today’s ‘coalition of the willing’ meetingpublished at 15:34 British Summer Time
Iain Watson
Political correspondent
Image source, EPA/ShutterstockThe “coalition of the willing” was formulated by the leaders of the UK and France in March – following the disastrous meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky the previous month – and the group’s first meeting was held in April.
It now consists of more than 30 European and Commonwealth countries.
The main focus of the virtual meeting earlier today was to brief this wider membership on yesterday’s discussions in Washington – with Prime Minister Keir Starmer stressing their “constructive” nature.
But it also focussed on practicalities.
From the outset, the UK prime minister has called for security guarantees with a strong US “backstop”. He saw Trump’s willingness to participate in these security guarantees as a significant step forward.
But the details matter. It’s been announced that the coalition’s planning teams will meet with their US counterparts in the coming days, with the head of the British armed forces Admiral Sir Tony Radakin already on his way to Washington.
During the meeting, discussions were had on the “reassurance force” that would go into Ukraine when hostilities end with the aim of deterring future Russian aggression.
Although dubbed “the coalition of the willing” some members could be best described as semi-willing – offering arms and logistical support but not a military presence on the ground.
There has been a lot of emphasis placed on “regenerating” Ukraine’s own armed forces – with training and equipment supplied by the coalition.
The Kremlin has previously opposed the prospect of any Nato members putting boots on Ukrainian ground.
The coalition also discussed further sanctions on Russia if Putin shies away from peace talks – but President Trump’s own sanctions threat seems to have been paused following last week’s summit with Putin in Alaska.
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Leaders speak after ‘coalition of the willing’ callpublished at 15:27 British Summer Time
We’re starting to hear from world leaders after a “coalition of the willing” meeting this morning to discuss security guarantees to protect Ukraine if a peace deal is reached.
A Downing Street spokesperson said Prime Minister Keir Starmer co-chaired the virtual meeting with more than 30 international leaders who “discussed how further pressure – including through sanctions – could be placed on [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin until he showed he was ready to take serious action to end his illegal invasion”.
Estonian PM Kristen Michal posted on X that his country “is ready to contribute with boots on the ground. It is important that work continues on the details”.
Polish PM Donald Tusk said the leaders of Canada, Japan, Turkey, New Zealand and European countries “assessed the outcomes” of the meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska “very realistically”. “We all confirmed the need for continued support for Ukraine in the war with Russia”, he said.
European Council President António Costa said: “Ukraine has been – and will remain – at the top of Leaders’ agendas in the weeks and months ahead, as we continue to support efforts toward a just and sustainable peace.
As a first step, Russia must immediately end the violence.”
And Italian PM Giorgia Meloni said the West is united “to build peace and ensure the security of our Nations and our peoples”.
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Russia and Ukraine carry out body exchange – Russian mediapublished at 15:19 British Summer Time
Sandro Vetsko
BBC MonitoringRussia has returned the bodies of 1,000 killed Ukrainian troops, and has received 19 bodies from Ukraine, Russian state news agency Tass reports, citing Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky.
Tass also reports the exchange was carried out as part of agreements reached during previous talks between the two sides in Istanbul.
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The key lines from Trump’s interview on Foxpublished at 14:56 British Summer Time
A short while ago, Donald Trump spoke on Fox News, making his first major comments since the US president and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky met in the White House on Monday, along with other European allies.
Here is a recap of the key lines:
- Trump says he is arranging a meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Zelensky that wouldn’t include him initially. “If that works out, then I’ll go to the [trilateral] and close it up,” he says
- He says he hopes Zelensky would “show some flexibility” in negotiations
- Trump is emphatic that US troops will not be in Ukraine as part of security guarantees sought by Kyiv
- European nations on the other hand could have soldiers in Ukraine as part of a deal, Trump says
- He also says Ukraine and Nato allies have to abandon efforts to have Ukraine join the security alliance and for the return of Crimea, which Russia occupied in 2014. “Both of those things are impossible,” he says
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He says his call with Putin yesterday didn’t take place in front of European and Nato allies. “I thought that would be disrespectful to President
Putin,” he says
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Starmer outlines next steps in virtual ‘coalition of the willing’ meetingpublished at 14:38 British Summer Time
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has co-chaired a virtual meeting of the “coalition of the willing” this morning with more than 30 international leaders, following the White House talks on Monday.
A Downing Street spokesperson says Starmer outlined next steps for “coalition of the willing” teams and US counterparts to meet in the coming days to strengthen plans on security guarantees and “prepare for the deployment of a reassurance force if the hostilities ended”.
They add that further possible sanctions on Russia have also been discussed unless Russian leader Vladimir Putin shows he is “ready to take serious action to end his illegal invasion”.
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Unanswered questions in Trump’s vision for Ukraine guaranteespublished at 14:31 British Summer Time
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White HousePresident Donald Trump’s interview this morning has provided perhaps the most clarity to date on his vision for the US role in providing a security guarantee to Ukraine – one in which no American soldiers are operating on the ground.
Instead, he foresees that the US may help in other ways, notably with air support.
What that means, however, remains a bit unclear. It could range from everything from aerial intelligence gathering – known in the US military as ISR, or Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance – to air defences or manned combat air patrols.
The latter wouldn’t be without precedent. The US, for example, implemented a years-long no-fly zone over parts of northern and southern Iraq after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
But such an operation is not without risk, and it’s far too early to say what any potential rules of engagement would be.
On the domestic side, Trump’s vow that no American boots on the ground will likely help appease the more isolationist wing of his base, which is extremely wary of any US entanglements in foreign conflicts.
Trump, after all, campaigned heavily on avoiding the long and costly US military engagements that characterised its involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan for two decades after 2001.
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Ukraine is ‘going to get a lot of land’ – Trumppublished at 14:02 British Summer Time
Trump is then asked whether he discussed potential “land swap” deals with world leaders, including Zelensky, at the White House yesterday.
“Ukraine is going to get their life back,” he says. “They’re going to get a lot of land.”
“But this was a war” he goes on to say, and “Russia is a powerful military nation… whether people like it or not”.
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Trump says other countries are ‘willing to put people on the ground’published at 13:39 British Summer Time
Trump is asked how the talks with world leaders in the White House went yesterday. He calls them “good people” who “want to end the war”.
He says the conflict in Ukraine is closer to them because “we have an ocean that’s separating us”.
“So it’s a different kind of a thing for them. When it comes to security, they’re willing to put people on the ground,” he adds.
The president says the US is willing to help with aspects of security, for instance, through air support, but stresses that joining Nato can’t be the key form of security Ukraine relies on.
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No US boots on the ground in Ukraine, Trump sayspublished at 13:24 British Summer Time
Breaking
Trump is asked what security guarantees could look like for Ukraine, to which he says France, Germany and the UK are among those who “want to have” boots on the ground, adding “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem”.
Asked if the US will have boots on the ground as part of a security guarantee for Ukraine, Trump is categorical about that not happening.
“You have my assurance and I am president,” he says.
“I’m just trying to stop people from being killed.”
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Trump: Zelensky needs to be flexible in negotiationspublished at 13:14 British Summer Time
Image source, PA MediaDonald Trump is speaking live on Fox News. The US president is asked for an update on a possible trilateral meeting involving Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.
He says he called Putin yesterday and hopes that the Russian leader’s behaviour is “going to be good”.
If not, it’s going to be a “rough situation”, Trump adds.
Trump says that he hopes Zelensky “does what he has to do”, but stresses that he needs to be “flexible” in negotiations too.
Trump adds that he wouldn’t say Zelensky and Putin are ever going to be “best friends”, but observes that the two leaders are the ones that “have to call the shots”.
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‘Coalition of the willing’ confirms continued support for Ukrainepublished at 12:44 British Summer Time
Image source, EPAImage caption, Emmanuel Macron co-chairing the “coalition of the willing” meeting on Ukraine
A call among members of the “coalition of the willing” to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine appears to have concluded, with some participants posting their reactions on social media.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his country “welcomes ongoing efforts towards achieving a just and enduring piece, including yesterday’s discussions with Washington”.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says that leaders of Canada, Japan, Turkey, New Zealand, and European countries assessed the outcomes of the Alaska meeting “very realistically”.
“We all confirmed the need for continued support for Ukraine in the war with Russia,” he adds.
As we’ve been reporting, the meeting follows yesterday’s talks among European leaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump at the White House.
We’ll have more details shortly.
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Putin thought to be reluctant to hold talks in western Europepublished at 12:36 British Summer Time
Imogen Foulkes
Geneva correspondentSwitzerland is keen to host such an event for many reasons;
to remind the world of the relevance of Geneva amid deep financial cuts to UN
agencies based there, and, perhaps, to signal its good intentions to President
Trump, in the hope of getting a better deal than the shock 39% tariffs he
recently imposed on Swiss products.But whatever Switzerland wants, the final decision on a
venue, if the talks even go ahead, lies with the big powers.President Putin in
particular is thought to be very reluctant to come to western Europe for talks,
preferring perhaps Turkey, or the United Arab Emirates.
