Closing summary
This blog is closing now but you can find our latest full story on the falling out between the US and Ukraine here and all our Ukraine coverage here. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
The US and Ukraine appear to be heading towards an irreconcilable rift after Donald Trump escalated his attacks on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling him a “dictator” and warning the Ukrainian leader “better move fast” or he “won’t have a country left.” The US president also accused Zelenskyy – without evidence – of benefiting from continuing US financial and military support. Trump’s latest comments cast serious doubt on future US aid to Ukraine and mark the most explicit threat yet to end the war on terms favourable to Moscow.
Trump’s fiery Truth Social rant on Wednesday came after Zelenskyy accused the US leader of being “trapped” in a Russian “disinformation bubble”. The Ukrainian president said Trump was pushing “a lot of disinformation coming from Russia,” and accused Washington of bringing Russia out of global isolation through bilateral talks earlier this week in Riyadh. Zelenskyy also disputed Trump’s comments that most of Ukraine’s support comes from the US. US vice-president JD Vance warned Zelenskyy against “bad mouthing” Trump, saying criticising the president would not help his cause.
Zelenskyy’s comments at a press conference came in response to Trump’s claims that Ukraine was to blame for Russia’s 2022 invasion, remarks that echoed the Kremlin’s narrative. Trump said he was “disappointed” that the Ukrainian leader complained about being left out of talks between the US and Russia over ending the Ukraine war, and increased pressure on Zelenskyy to hold elections – echoing one of Moscow’s key demands. Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence, challenged him in a post that said: “Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war … . The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth.”
In a speech to business leaders in Miami later, Trump repeated his attacks on Zelenskyy and claimed that he “could have come [to the talks in Saudi Arabia] if he wanted”. Zelenskyy has said he was not invited to the talks.
Vladimir Putin said Ukraine would not be excluded from negotiations to end the war, and rejected claims that Moscow had rejected talks with Europe or Kyiv. On Trump, the Russian leader said the US president had begun receiving “objective information” about the war in Ukraine, which led him to “change his position.” He added that he was happy to meet with Trump, and said he “highly rated” the results of the Russia-US summit in Riyadh.
Zelenskyy said he would meet with Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, in Kyiv on Thursday. Kellogg, who is seen as Trump’s most pro-Ukraine adviser, arrived in Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian leaders on Wednesday. “Together with America and Europe, peace can be more reliable, and this is our goal,” Zelenskyy said in his daily evening address on Wednesday.
Keir Starmer expressed his support for “Ukraine’s democratically elected leader” during a call with Zelenskyy on Wednesday evening. German chancellor Olaf Scholz said that it was “wrong and dangerous” to deny Zelenskyy’s democratic legitimacy. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said there can be no Russia-Ukraine peace deal without the participation of Ukraine and Europe.
Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron are set to visit Washington next week, according to reports. Macron will meet with Trump at the White House, a US official said. Starmer is also expected to visit Washington next week, amid other meetings aimed at bringing an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, US national security advisor Mike Waltz said.
Sweden and Poland agreed to “strengthen and deepen cooperation” politically and in civil protection and civil defence, citing the worsened security situation across Europe. The statement of intent pledges to work together to improve national resilience and preparedness strategies, provide Ukraine support on strengthening national resilience and improve resilience and security in the Baltic region – particularly on critical infrastructure.
Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen announced the country needs a “massive rearmament” to avoid war as she announced Denmark will spend 50bn DKK over the next two years on defence. The investment brings Denmark’s defence spending up to 3% of GDP in the next two years (up from 2.4% in 2024). It comes after coming under huge pressure from the Trump administration over Greenland and its recent comments on cutting support to Europe and Ukraine.
Europe’s leading human rights official criticised US vice-president JD Vance’s “very problematic” speech on European democracy, offering an implicit rebuke to Vance’s take on free speech and politics across the continent. The Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, Michael O’Flaherty, challenged Vance’s claim that Europe had abandoned its values in an interview with the Guardian.
EU sanctions against Russia will be extended to cover aluminium imports and dozens more “shadow” vessels covertly exporting Russian oil below a price cap imposed by western allies. The new package, 16th since the full scale invasion in 2022, includes a ban on imports of Russian aluminium into the EU, said by EU officials to generate significant revenues for Russia. The approval of the package carries extra weight, amid fears in Brussels that Trump will seek to lift US sanctions against Russia as part of his effort to make a peace deal.
Updated
Russia has unleashed a mass drone attack on Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa for the second night running, knocking out power for thousands of residents and plunging parts of the city into darkness, the regional governor has said. Reuters reports:
Governor Oleh Kiper, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the latest night-time strikes had triggered a blackout for some 5,000 residents.
Kiper said nearly 90,000 people had been left in the dark in Odesa district in and around the city from the successive nights of attacks. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a similar number was without heating.
Kiper also said the strikes had triggered a fire at a restaurant and a storage facility and damaged an administrative building. One person was injured.
Photos on social media showed areas of the city in darkness.
Trump also complains that the US “had a deal [with Ukraine] based on rare earth and things but they broke it” two days ago. This is a reference to a deal the US pushed Zelenskyy to sign that would have given the US 50% ownership of Ukraine’s rare minerals with no security guarantees for Ukraine.
He complains that “Europe gets their money back in the form of a loan but we don’t” and “this war is far more important to Europe than it is to us”.
This is mostly not true. On the website of the EU delegation to the US, it says the EU and its member states have committed $145bn in financial, military, humanitarian, and refugee assistance to Ukraine and by 2027, it will have committed over $174bn. In addition, the EU agreed to provide $50bn in loans to Ukraine in October, it says, financed by seized Russian assets.
Donald Trump says Zelenskyy could have gone to Saudi talks if he wanted to
Donald Trump also lays into Volodymyr Zelenskyy again, saying he’d “better move fast or he’s not going to have a country left” adding that he “could have come [to the talks in Saudi Arabia] if he wanted”, although it does not appear Zelenskyy was invited.
He also repeats comments about Zelenskyy’s alleged low poll ratings (in fact levels of trust in the Ukrainian president are high at home) and the lack of elections in Ukraine, which has been under martial law since the war began three years ago. Trump also says,
It’s hope that my greatest legacy will be as a unifier and as a peacemaker.
It seems an odd comment given his recent comments on Ukraine and the Middle East, where he was threatened to displace the entire population of Gaza, in what would amount to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population.
Updated
Donald Trump has been speaking at a meeting of finance and tech leaders in Miami. He’s gone through many of his favourite topics but now he’s on to Ukraine, where he warns “there’s no profit in having world war three and we’re not so far way from it,” before adding: “now it’s not going to happen.”
He thanks Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – who not long ago was an international pariah over the chopping up of a Washington Post columnist in the Saudi consulate in Turkey – for hosting “historic talks” between Russia and the US over Ukraine, saying they were “very, very well”.
“It’s a big step,” he says, adding that satellite images of Ukraine show “a modern day version of Gettysburg”.
Updated
Here’s a bit more analysis on the outburst by the Ukrainian president, who said Donald Trump was living in a “disinformation bubble”, courtesy of our senior international correspondent, Julian Borger:
It is hardly surprising Zelenskyy lost his cool. Part of the reason he has a 57% confidence rating in the latest poll (13% above Trump’s own current standing) is because he has led his country through years of war with his heart vividly on his sleeve. Having been subjected to eight years of Russian aggression, followed by an entirely unprovoked full-on invasion which has killed tens of thousands of Ukrainian citizens, and then to be told on the world stage that: “You should have never started it”, would be too much for most people.
When slighted and sprayed with Trumpian falsehoods, other world leaders, with much less at stake, have resorted to a “smile-and-wave” default strategy, deflecting direct questions and changing the subject to some aspect of relations with Washington that is still functioning normally.
Zelenskyy did not do this on Wednesday. Instead, he said out loud the bit that European leaders keep quiet. Trump, he observed, is “trapped in this disinformation bubble”. He was stating the obvious, but not even Zelenskyy could have known how fetid the air inside Trump’s bubble has become. Now we know.
Read more below:
Summary of the day so far
It’s 1am in Kyiv, 2am in Moscow and 6pm in Washington. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
The US and Ukraine appear to be heading towards an irreconcilable rift after Donald Trump escalated his attacks on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling him a “dictator” and warning the Ukrainian leader “better move fast” or he “won’t have a country left.” The US president also accused Zelenskyy – without evidence – of benefiting from continuing US financial and military support. Trump’s latest comments cast serious doubt on future US aid to Ukraine and mark the most explicit threat yet to end the war on terms favourable to Moscow.
Trump’s fiery Truth Social rant on Wednesday came after Zelenskyy accused the US leader of being “trapped” in a Russian “disinformation bubble”. The Ukrainian president said Trump was pushing “a lot of disinformation coming from Russia,” and accused Washington of bringing Russia out of global isolation through bilateral talks earlier this week in Riyadh. Zelenskyy also disputed Trump’s comments that most of Ukraine’s support comes from the US. US vice-president JD Vance warned Zelenskyy against “bad mouthing” Trump, saying criticising the president would not help his cause.
Zelenskyy’s comments at a press conference came in response to Trump’s claims that Ukraine was to blame for Russia’s 2022 invasion, remarks that echoed the Kremlin’s narrative. Trump said he was “disappointed” that the Ukrainian leader complained about being left out of talks between the US and Russia over ending the Ukraine war, and increased pressure on Zelenskyy to hold elections – echoing one of Moscow’s key demands. Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence, challenged him in a post that said: “Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war … . The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth.”
Vladimir Putin said Ukraine would not be excluded from negotiations to end the war, and rejected claims that Moscow had rejected talks with Europe or Kyiv. On Trump, the Russian leader said the US president had begun receiving “objective information” about the war in Ukraine, which led him to “change his position.” He added that he was happy to meet with Trump, and said he “highly rated” the results of the Russia-US summit in Riyadh.
Zelenskyy said he would meet with Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, in Kyiv on Thursday. Kellogg, who is seen as Trump’s most pro-Ukraine adviser, arrived in Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian leaders on Wednesday. “Together with America and Europe, peace can be more reliable, and this is our goal,” Zelenskyy said in his daily evening address on Wednesday.
Keir Starmer expressed his support for “Ukraine’s democratically elected leader” during a call with Zelenskyy on Wednesday evening. German chancellor Olaf Scholz said that it was “wrong and dangerous” to deny Zelenskyy’s democratic legitimacy. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said there can be no Russia-Ukraine peace deal without the participation of Ukraine and Europe.
Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron are set to visit Washington next week, according to reports. Macron will meet with Trump at the White House, a US official said. Starmer is also expected to visit Washington next week, amid other meetings aimed at bringing an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, US national security advisor Mike Waltz said.
Sweden and Poland agreed to “strengthen and deepen cooperation” politically and in civil protection and civil defence, citing the worsened security situation across Europe. The statement of intent pledges to work together to improve national resilience and preparedness strategies, provide Ukraine support on strengthening national resilience and improve resilience and security in the Baltic region – particularly on critical infrastructure.
Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen announced the country needs a “massive rearmament” to avoid war as she announced Denmark will spend 50bn DKK over the next two years on defence. The investment brings Denmark’s defence spending up to 3% of GDP in the next two years (up from 2.4% in 2024). It comes after coming under huge pressure from the Trump administration over Greenland and its recent comments on cutting support to Europe and Ukraine.
Europe’s leading human rights official criticised US vice-president JD Vance’s “very problematic” speech on European democracy, offering an implicit rebuke to Vance’s take on free speech and politics across the continent. The Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, Michael O’Flaherty, challenged Vance’s claim that Europe had abandoned its values in an interview with the Guardian.
EU sanctions against Russia will be extended to cover aluminium imports and dozens more “shadow” vessels covertly exporting Russian oil below a price cap imposed by western allies. The new package, 16th since the full scale invasion in 2022, includes a ban on imports of Russian aluminium into the EU, said by EU officials to generate significant revenues for Russia. The approval of the package carries extra weight, amid fears in Brussels that Trump will seek to lift US sanctions against Russia as part of his effort to make a peace deal.
The US’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, met with the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, in Kyiv on Wednesday.
According to a readout from Zelenskyy’s office, Yermak “emphasised the importance of Keith Kellogg having full and objective information about the frontline developments” and said the US would be “briefed directly by the military command and local commanders”.
Yermak also noted that “Russia continues to use information manipulation and seeks to sow discord among [Ukraine’s] partners” and said Ukraine must be part of peace talks.
Yermak also told Kellogg that “no one wants to end this war more than Ukrainians” but that they needed to have a “just and lasting peace”, according to the readout.
Yan Patsenko, who is originally from Kyiv but now lives in Spain, told the Guardian they felt ambivalent about the Trump administration-led talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
“I have very mixed feelings about the peace process initiated by the Trump administration. On the one hand, I welcome the willingness of Russians and Americans to start talking to each other because I believe that much of this war’s roots lie in the Cold War-era perceptions they still hold about one another - to everyone’s detriment. I also welcome the intention to end the war in Ukraine through diplomatic means. After three years of bloodshed, this is what our families long for the most.
“On the other hand, I worry when I see these discussions happening behind closed doors, solely between representatives of Russia and the US. And I question how much of what they share publicly actually reflects the content of their private conversations.
“My biggest concern is that what is being presented as a peace process may, in reality, be nothing more than an attempt to negotiate between two competing imperial ambitions on how to divide Ukraine. I worry that this process remains entirely in the hands of a small circle of politicians who are the least affected by the consequences of their decisions.”
30-year-old Ivan, who is currently living in Los Angeles on a student visa, said:
“I voted for Zelenskyy last time and will vote for him again. So will my entire family and all my friends. There are people both in the country and abroad who are dissatisfied with the president, but in such challenging times, that’s not surprising.”
He agreed with many others that Ukrainian elections were impossible to hold while fighting continued. “There are hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the front lines. How would they vote? In the trenches?
“It looks like Trump doesn’t care about peace but rather about fulfilling his promise to ‘end the war’ for his voters, who don’t care what price Ukraine has to pay. A ceasefire without security guarantees, on the aggressor’s terms, is not peace - it’s just a short pause for Putin before his next offensive.”
Vance warns Zelenskyy against 'bad mouthing' Trump
US vice-president JD Vance warned Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy against “bad mouthing” Donald Trump, saying criticising the president would not help his cause.
In comments to the Daily Mail after Zelenskyy said Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space”, Vance said:
The idea that Zelenskyy is going to change the president’s mind by bad mouthing him in public media, everyone who knows the President will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration.
Vance added that Zelenskyy had been getting “bad advice” on how to deal with the Trump administration. “We obviously love the Ukrainian people … but we obviously think that this war needs to come to a rapid close,” he continued.
That is the policy of the President of the United States. It is not based on Russian disinformation. It’s based on the fact that Donald Trump, I think, knows a lot about geopolitics and has a very strong view, and has had a strong view for a very long time.
Updated
We reported earlier that the UK prime minister Keir Starmer held a call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy this evening to express his support.
Zelenskyy has released a statement about the call, saying Kyiv “never forget the respect the British people have shown for Ukraine and our citizens.”
“The United Kingdom’s role in fortifying Europe’s defence and security is important for us,” the Ukrainian leader posted to X.
We discussed upcoming plans and opportunities. UK’s support matters indeed, and we will never forget the respect the British people have shown for Ukraine and our citizens. Thank you for your support.
Ukranians express support for Zelenskyy after Trump’s comments he is a “dictator”.
Former Ukraine prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who leads the Motherland political party, said in a statement on Wednesday that “Ukraine is a sovereign state! Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the President of Ukraine. Legitimate until another is elected.
“Only Ukrainians can decide when and under what conditions they should change their government. Today, there are no such conditions,” said Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister of Ukraine and leader of the mildly oppositional Motherland faction in the Ukrainian parliament.”
Tymoshenko underscored that Ukraine’s constitution forbids holding elections during martial law and active warfare due to safety and voting rights concerns. Members of the military, for example, would not be able to cast a vote.
Britain and France are leading efforts to create a European “reassurance force” intended to prevent future Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities, ports and critical infrastructure in the event of a US-brokered peace deal.
The proposal, western officials said, would involve less than 30,000 troops and would be likely to be concentrated on air and maritime defence. Ground forces would be minimal and not deployed near the frontline in the east of Ukraine.
Among the aims of the force would be to ensure the safe reopening of Ukraine’s airspace to commercial flights and to maintain the security of seaborne trade over the Black Sea, critical to the country’s food and grain exports.
Ukraine’s electricity and other utilities have been repeatedly bombed by Russia during the near-three-year war, and maintaining their integrity is also deemed critical to the recovery of the country if the conflict is brought to a close.
It is unclear whether a force that is relatively small in number would be supported by Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has called for the creation of a deterrence force 100,000-150,000 strong, which involves the US.
Here’s more on this story:
Elon Musk took to X, the social media platform he owns formerly known as Twitter, to echo Trump’s rhetoric that Zelensky is a “dictator.”
“Zelensky cannot claim to represent the will of the people of Ukraine unless he restores freedom of the press and stops canceling elections!”
World leaders like the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer have denounced such comments.
Senate majority leader John Thune, who has expressed support for Ukraine in the past, responded to the comments Trump made about the country and its leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“What I’m in support of is a peaceful outcome and result in Ukraine,” Thune said in a weekly news conference. “And I think right now, the administration, the President and his team are working to achieve that. And I think right now you got to give them some space.”
“I think it’s in everybody’s best interest – Ukraine, Russia, Europe, the United States – if they can bring about a peaceful conclusion to the war. So that’s what this is about right now. And I think most of us want to support their efforts as they move in that direction and hopefully to a successful outcome.”
Updated
Starmer expresses support for 'democratically elected' Zelenskyy
The UK prime minister Keir Starmer spoke to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday evening to express his support, Downing Street said.
Starmer “stressed the need for everyone to work together” during his call with Zelenskyy, according to a readout from No 10. The statement continued:
The Prime Minister expressed his support for President Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader and said that it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the UK did during World War II.
“The Prime Minister reiterated his support for the US-led efforts to get a lasting peace in Ukraine that deterred Russia from any future aggression,” it added.
Zelenskyy to meet US envoy on Thursday
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will meet US envoy Keith Kellogg on Thursday.
Zelenskyy, in his daily evening address on Wednesday, said he hopes for “constructive” work with the US.
We are scheduled to meet with General Kellogg tomorrow, and it is very important for us that the meeting and our work with America in general be constructive.
“Together with America and Europe, peace can be more reliable, and this is our goal,” he added.
Former US vice-president Mike Pence has criticised Donald Trump’s comments blaming Ukraine for Russia’s invasion.
Trump, speaking to reporters on Tuesday evening, said he was “very disappointed” that the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy complained about being left out of talks between the US and Russia over ending the Ukraine war.
“I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat [at the talks],” Trump said. “Today I heard, ‘oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years ... You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
“Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war,” Pence, who was Trump’s vice-president during his first term, posted to X on Wednesday.
Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives.
“The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth,” he added.
Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s legitimact has “come to an end”.
Kelin, in an interview with BBC Newsnight, praised the Trump administration, saying it has “an understanding of what (Russia) is doing, why we are doing it, and what should be the outcome of it”.
For the first time we have noticed that [the US] are not simply saying that this is Russian propaganda and disinformation. They have listened and they hear what we’re saying.
The Russian ambassador added that Moscow did not want a temporary ceasefire or truce but an overall settlement.
Asked if Russia would give Ukraine some of their territories back, Kelin said:
Why should we? We have liberated these territories, upon which Russian people are living for centuries.
All the effort Kyiv had expended in wooing the White House, combining flattery with bribery and a share of Ukraine’s mineral wealth, imploded in minutes when Volodymyr Zelenskyy broke the fundamental rule of the new global reality: he told the truth about Donald Trump.
All America’s allies, the great majority of Republican leaders who have bowed to him, and a good number of his own cabinet, know full well that Trump is trapped in a disinformation bubble, but Zelenskyy said it out loud at a press conference on Wednesday.
In this new world where the foreign policy of the most powerful country on Earth has been rapidly reorganised around the fragile ego of a sullen and resentful old man, you might as well launch missiles at America’s eastern seaboard as utter a few words of rebuke.
Zelenskyy was aware of this. On Tuesday, he had complained that his country was being excluded from talks about its fate between the US and Russia in Riyadh. They were “about Ukraine but without Ukraine”, he said.
It was a fair point. What happened in Riyadh was an upending of western policy towards Ukraine, but none of that matters any more. This is year zero as far as Trump, Elon Musk and their supporters are concerned.
Read the full analysis: Kyiv’s White House wooing implodes as Zelenskyy tells the truth about Trump
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and deputy chair of Russia’s security council, has praised US president Donald Trump’s latest comments calling Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections”.
Trump is “200 percent right,” Medvedev wrote in a post on X.
If you’d told me just three months ago that these were the words of the US president, I would have laughed out loud.
Starmer and Macron to visit Washington amid Ukraine talks - reports
France’s president Emmanuel Macron is set to meet US president Donald Trump at the White House next week, Agence-France-Press reports, citing a US official.
Britain’s prime minister Keir Starmer is also expected to visit Washington next week, amid other meetings aimed at bringing an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Reuters reports, citing US national security advisor Mike Waltz.
Asked about the chances of reaching a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, Waltz told Fox News:
We’re engaging on all sides, and then the next step is we’re going to put technical teams forward to start talking more details.
Updated
Artem, 44, cybersecurity engineer from Odesa, was among scores of Ukrainians who shared with the Guardian how they felt about the Trump administration-led talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Artem said president Zelenskyy had more than 57% support in Ukraine, and predicted that this would rise after Donald Trump’s calls for new elections.
“Get your hands off our president. We will re-elect him after the war,” he said. “Putin has been president for more than 20 years - tell him to be re-elected if you are so brave!”
The proposals emanating from the talks so far, Artem said, amounted to “another betrayal of our country by the USA.”
“But, to be honest, it didn’t start with Trump’s victory. Since 2014, when Russia started occupation of Ukraine, there were Obama, Trump, and Biden. All of them, alongside Nato, were scared by the possible escalation and economic losses. And all of them pretended to be our friends and take care of us.”
A 35-year-old man who left Kyiv in 2020 and has since been living in Switzerland was among many who pointed out that it was unconstitutional to have elections while martial law was in place.
“It might be suicidal for Ukraine to cancel the martial law unless there is a strong security guarantee to deter any future Russian aggression,” he added. “Once the Ukrainian and Europeans have figured out how to secure such a guarantee, it would be necessary to have the elections.”
Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock also hit back at Donald Trump’s latest comments calling Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator”, branding them “absurd”.
Baerbock told broadcaster ZDF:
If you look at the real world instead of just firing off a tweet, then you know who in Europe has to live in the conditions of a dictatorship: people in Russia, people in Belarus.
As we reported earlier, the German minister said “no one but [Vladimir] Putin started or wanted this war in the heart of Europe”, adding that “we are working with all our might to further strengthen Ukraine”.
“We are at an existential waypoint for security and peace in Europe,” Baerbock said, adding that the goal was “achieving lasting peace for Ukraine - safe and protected from future Russian aggression”.
Scholz says Trump's comments about Zelenskyy 'wrong and dangerous'
Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was “wrong and dangerous” of US president Donald Trump to call Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator”.
“It is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelenskyy his democratic legitimacy,” Scholz said in quotes carried by the German newspaper Spiegel.
What is correct is that Zelenskyy is the elected head of state of Ukraine … The fact that proper elections can’t be held in the middle of the war is reflected in the Ukrainian constitution and electoral law.
French prime minister François Bayrou was questioned about France and the Ukraine war in the upper house on Wednesday afternoon and he said it was “a deliberate and absolutely unjustified aggression by Russia and [Vladimir] Putin on Ukraine”.
He said it was “the world upside down” believed to refer to the US negotiating with Russia to end the war.
We lived with the idea that the planet would be from now on regulated by the law, that no great country would attack the stability of borders and that international law would enable all countries to find their development and a certain idea of a stable future...all that has been overturned by Putin.
“We are living in a historic moment...a world turned upside down,” Bayrou added.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 8.30pm in Kyiv, 9.30pm in Moscow and 2.30pm in Washington. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
US president Donald Trump launched a fresh attack on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, calling him a “dictator” who had “done a terrible job”. Trump warned Zelenskyy that he “better move fast” or he “won’t have a country left”, and accused him – without evidence – of benefiting from continuing US financial and military support, suggesting he had an interest in prolonging the war rather than seeking its end. Trump’s latest comments cast serious doubt on future US aid to Ukraine and mark the most explicit threat yet to end the war on terms favourable to Moscow.
Trump’s latest Truth Social post came after Zelenskyy accused the US leader of being “trapped” in a Russian “disinformation bubble”. The Ukrainian president, in a combative press conference in Kyiv, said Trump was pushing “a lot of disinformation coming from Russia”. He accused Washington of bringing Russia out of global isolation through bilateral talks earlier this week in Riyadh, and rejected any suggestion of making broad concessions to Russia. Zelenskyy also disputed Trump’s comments that most of Ukraine’s support comes from the US.
Zelenskyy’s comments were in response to a series of inflammatory remarks from Trump on Tuesday evening, in which Trump first criticised him and suggested Ukraine was to blame for Moscow’s invasion. Trump said he was “disappointed” that the Ukrainian leader complained about being left out of talks between the US and Russia over ending the Ukraine war, and increased pressure on Zelenskyy to hold elections – echoing one of Moscow’s key demands. A French government spokesperson said Paris didn’t “understand the logic very well” of Trump’s suggestion that Zelenskyy was to blame for Russia’s invasion of his country and the resulting war.
The escalating war of words between the two leaders represents the deepest rift between Kyiv and its most powerful ally since Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly three years ago. The unprecedented escalation comes after senior US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss the war in Ukraine as well as economic and political cooperation, talks from which Kyiv and Europe were excluded. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau urged that Ukraine must be part of any talks about its future.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said Ukraine would not be excluded from negotiations to end the war, and rejected claims that Moscow had rejected talks with Europe or Kyiv. On Trump, Putin said the US president had begun receiving “objective information” about the war in Ukraine, which led him to “change his position.” He added that he was happy to meet with Trump, and said he “highly rated” the results of the Russia-US summit in Riyadh.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said there can be no Russia-Ukraine peace deal without the participation of Ukraine and Europe. “We are in close contact with our US counterparts. So what they are saying is they are trying to find out whether Russia even wants peace, because so far they haven’t wanted peace,” Kallas told a press conference in Cape Town.
Sweden and Poland agreed to “strengthen and deepen cooperation” politically and in civil protection and civil defence, citing the worsened security situation across Europe. The statement of intent pledges to work together to improve national resilience and preparedness strategies, provide Ukraine support on strengthening national resilience and improve resilience and security in the Baltic region – particularly on critical infrastructure.
Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen announced the country needs a “massive rearmament” to avoid war as she announced Denmark will spend 50bn DKK over the next two years on defence. The investment brings Denmark’s defence spending up to 3% of GDP in the next two years (up from 2.4% in 2024). It comes after coming under huge pressure from the Trump administration over Greenland and its recent comments on cutting support to Europe and Ukraine.
Europe’s leading human rights official criticised US vice-president JD Vance’s “very problematic” speech on European democracy, offering an implicit rebuke to Vance’s take on free speech and politics across the continent. The Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, Michael O’Flaherty, challenged Vance’s claim that Europe had abandoned its values in an interview with the Guardian.
EU sanctions against Russia will be extended to cover aluminium imports and dozens more “shadow” vessels covertly exporting Russian oil below a price cap imposed by western allies. The new package, 16th since the full scale invasion in 2022, includes a ban on imports of Russian aluminium into the EU, said by EU officials to generate significant revenues for Russia. The approval of the package carries extra weight, amid fears in Brussels that Trump will seek to lift US sanctions against Russia as part of his effort to make a peace deal.
Vlad, a 25-year-old lawyer from Kyiv, was among scores of Ukrainians who shared with the Guardian how they felt about the Trump administration-led talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
“This ‘deal’ [would mean] the capitulation of Ukraine, creating a nonsense precedent of violating international law, and humanitarian law,” he said. He felt incredulous that Russia, the “aggressor and occupier”, could be given control of the occupied territories, without having to pay reparations for the reconstruction of Ukraine, and the prospect of there not being legal prosecution of the Russian government.
“I am just enraged with the frustration and injustice I feel right now,” Vlad said. “Thousands of young men, people I know, died, only for this to happen.”
President Zelenskyy, he said, had done “a good job on beating the Russian invasion in the beginning”, but had made “lots of mistakes” later on during his mobilisation drive and with his appointment of certain ministers that were accused of corruption.
“However, the EU and the USA did not help us as they planned and told us,” he added. “The impotent policy of [president Biden’s national security advisor] Jake Sullivan and the EU are the main reason the war did not end at the end of 2022, when Russia was at its lowest point.”
Anhelina, 27, an administrator from Uman, Cherkasy oblast, was among scores of Ukrainians who decried that talks about ending the war had so far excluded Ukraine.
“The United States plays a significant role in the negotiation process, but the perspectives of European countries and Ukraine must be taken into account. We must ensure that the negotiation process is structured in a way that does not put Russia in a position of strength. We must understand that Putin does not want peace.”
Although she said she only supported some of Zelenskyy’s internal affairs policies, she did fully support his foreign policy. “I did not vote for him in the last presidential election and am unsure if I will vote for him in the next one. However, I am not opposed to having him as the president of Ukraine.”
Holding elections now, she said, would be “highly inappropriate”, as many were currently serving on the front lines or busy doing volunteer work because of the war.
“From what I observe in my surroundings,” she added, “the majority of Ukrainians who voted for him in the past would vote for him again.”
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Ukrainian drone attack kills one in Russia's Belgorod region, governor says
One man was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s border region of Belgorod, the regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
Italy is aiming to develop its own low-orbit satellites for government communications, its industry minister said on Wednesday, presenting it as an alternative to systems provided by Elon Musk.
Prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s government had previously said it was considering the use of Musk’s Starlink satellites to provide encrypted communications between officials operating in risky areas, Reuters reports.
But this suggestion was criticised by opposition politicians, who questioned the wisdom of handing a national security contract to a foreign entrepreneur who is also part of the US government under president Donald Trump.
“We are in fact working on the creation of a national low-orbit satellite system developed independently, with the involvement of the main national players,” minister Adolfo Urso said in the lower house of parliament.
Urso, a member of Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party, said that would offer a competitive alternative to infrastructure provided by other global operators, including Musk.
Urso did not give a timing for the development of the project and did not specify which companies the government had called in, but said the national space agency would carry out a feasibility study.
Musk has a warm relationship with Meloni and said last month he would be ready to offer his services to Italy.
Leading human rights official criticises Vance's 'problematic' take on Europe
Europe’s leading human rights official has criticised JD Vance’s “very problematic” speech on European democracy, offering an implicit rebuke to the US vice-president’s take on free speech and politics across the continent.
The Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, Michael O’Flaherty, told the Guardian that the US vice-president’s speech to the Munich Security Council last week had been “very problematic” and challenged Vance’s claim that Europe had abandoned its values.
“Europe, for all its flaws, for all its faults, can pride itself on its sustained effort to deliver on respect for human beings through its commitment to human rights,” he said in an interview in Brussels.
Vance, O’Flaherty said, seemed “to demand some kind of absolute free speech”, while European law had always imposed limits on what people can say, for example to avoid attacks on individuals and groups.
As well as an attack on Europe’s efforts to curb disinformation, Vance also appeared to suggest that a recent attack by an Afghan asylum seeker in Munich that injured at least 36 people was typical.
O’Flaherty responded:
I challenge the implication in Vice President Vance’s speech that migrants are the root of all evil in Europe. This is a much-repeated myth, which is dangerous because it puts people’s lives at risk.
O’Flaherty works for the Council of Europe, the pan-European human rights organisation, with 46 member countries from Iceland to Azerbaijan.
The Irish lawyer is particularly concerned about human rights in Ukraine, at a moment when Donald Trump has opened talks with Vladimir Putin, sidelined Kyiv and blamed Ukraine for being invaded by Russia.
O’Flaherty said he was disturbed by “false attributions of responsibility in the discourse right now”, pointing out this war was “Russian aggression against a sovereign country”.
While he said he could not comment on current talks, he stressed “it is essential that human rights are full front and centre in terms of any outcomes for Ukraine”, referring to kidnapped Ukrainian children, Ukrainian prisoners, people living in occupied territories in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, as well as the need for justice, and compensation for those who had lost everything.
The Council of Europe has played a leading role in trying to organise an international tribunal that would try Russia for the crime of aggression. The Council of Europe, O’Flaherty said, would continue to “insist on a peace with justice, because a peace without justice is an unreliable thing at risk of unraveling in time”.
Here is more from Trump’s Truth Social post in which he states: “this war is far more important to Europe than it is to us…”
Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle. The United States has spent $200 Billion Dollars more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back. Why didn’t Sleepy Joe Biden demand Equalization, in that this War is far more important to Europe than it is to us — We have a big, beautiful Ocean as separation.
Trump calls Zelenskyy a 'dictator without elections'
We have more detail on Donald Trump’s Truth Social post:
Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections” after the Ukrainian leader earlier on Wednesday accused Trump of being trapped in a “disinformation bubble.”
Zelenskyy admits that half of the money we sent him is “MISSING.” He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden “like a fiddle.” A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only “TRUMP,” and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the “gravy train” going. I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues…..
Zelenskyy 'better move fast' or he won’t have a country left - Trump
In a Truth Social post Donald Trump wrote Ukraine’s Zelenskyy “better move fast” or he won’t have a country left. Trump added that Zelenskyy had “done a terrible job” and called him a dictator “without elections”.
Updated
We have more from Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen.
She admitted that Denmark and other countries had made a mistake by cutting defence spending in recent years, saying:
It must never happen again.
Mette Frederiksen said in a message to Denmark and others:
Don’t cut back on defence again.
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni visited Pope Francis in hospital on Wednesday, a day after he was diagnosed with double pneumonia, saying that she had found him alert and responsive, Reuters reports.
“We joked as always. He hasn’t lost his proverbial sense of humour,” Meloni said in a statement.
Denmark needs 'massive rearmament' to avoid war - Frederiksen
Mette Frederiksen has announced that Denmark needs a “massive rearmament” to avoid war as she announced Denmark will spend 50bn DKK over the next two years on defence.
The Danish prime minister said that Denmark will “buy what here and now can contribute to a stronger defence and to a stronger deterrent.”
It comes after coming under huge pressure from the Trump administration over Greenland and its recent comments on cutting support to Europe and Ukraine.
The investment brings Denmark’s defence spending up to 3% of GDP in the next two years (up from 2.4% in 2024).
“This is the highest level in over half a century,” Frederiksen said.
More now from the German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock.
She dismissed Trump’s claim that Kyiv had “started” the fighting.
In a statement she said:
No one but Putin started or wanted this war in the heart of Europe.
She added that “we are working with all our strength to further strengthen Ukraine,” AFP reports.
Canada insists Ukraine must be part of US-Russia talks
Ukraine must be part of any talks about its future, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday.
Ahead of a meeting on the conflict and European security hosted by France, Trudeau said:
It’s a fundamental principle for Canada and for the vast majority of our allies... Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.
Putin's claims of new offensive from Kursk region a 'lie' - Ukraine official
Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council’s Center for Countering Disinformation said:
Putin’s information about a large-scale Russian offensive is a lie.
He added that a Russian reconnaissance unit had tried to cross but had been destroyed.
Updated
Putin says Russian troops crossed into Ukraine from Kursk region overnight
More from Putin, he says that a brigade of Russian troops had crossed into Ukrainian territory overnight, suggesting a ground attack on Ukraine’s Sumy region for the first time since Russia retreated from there in 2022.
“I was told an hour ago that at night fighters of the 810th brigade crossed the border of the Russian Federation and Ukraine and entered the territory of the enemy,” Putin said in televised remarks, referring to a brigade state media reported was deployed to Russia’s Kursk region near the border with Ukraine’s Sumy region.
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock says “we are at an existential crossroads for security and peace in Europe”, referring to the Ukraine talks.
More now from Vladimir Putin, who has said that Ukraine would not be excluded from negotiations to end the war, according to Reuters.
“Without increasing the level of trust between Russia and the United States, it is impossible to resolve many issues, including the Ukrainian crisis,” Putin said, referring to Tuesday’s meeting in Riyadh.
“The goal of this meeting was precisely to increase trust between Russia and the United States.”
Ukraine and European governments were not invited to the talks in the Saudi capital, heightening their concern that Russia and the United States might cut a deal that ignores their vital interests.
But Putin claimed Russia had not rejected talks with the Europeans or with Kyiv, and it was they who had refused to talk to Moscow.
“We are not imposing anything on anyone. We are ready, I have already said this a hundred times - if they want, please, let these negotiations take place. And we will be ready to return to the table for negotiations,” he said. “No one is excluding Ukraine.”
… and on that note, it’s a wrap from me, Jakub Krupa.
But stay with us on Europe Live: I am leaving you with Jane Clinton who will guide you through the rest of the afternoon.
Trump told me Ukraine will take part in talks, Putin says
The Russian president is also quoted as saying that US president Donald Trump told him that Ukraine would take part in future peace talks.
He also reportedly said that he would be happy to meet Trump, but that meeting still needs to be prepared.
Russia ready to negotiate on Ukraine, Putin says
We are now getting first reaction to yesterday’s US-Russia talks from Russian president Vladimir Putin.
He is quoted by Interfax and Tass agencies as saying that he is ready to get back to negotiations on Ukraine, which is a priority for Russia.
He also praised the US-Russia talks, saying their purpose was to increase trust between the two countries, and that the two sides acted without ‘bias or judgment’.
We will bring you more of his comments when we have them.
Trump's Ukraine claims - factchecked
And if you want Trump’s overnight comments evaluated and factchecked one by one, here’s a little explainer we put together with our Russian affairs reporter Pjotr Sauer.
(And if you prefer a tl;dr video of a factcheck by the former UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, it’s here.)
Updated
Zelenskyy's comments on Ukraine, Trump - video
If you want to catch up with Zelenskyy’s comments on video, we now have this clip for you:
Updated
Sweden, Poland agree to strenghten civil protection, defence cooperation
Nordics correspondent
Sweden and Poland have agreed to “strengthen and deepen cooperation” politically and in civil protection and civil defence, citing the worsened security situation across Europe.
The statement of intent, which is not legally binding but was signed by the Polish interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak and Swedish civil defence minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin in Stockholm, pledges to work together to improve national resilience and preparedness strategies, provide Ukraine support on strengthening national resilience and improve resilience and security in the Baltic region – particularly on critical infrastructure.
The letter, seen by the Guardian, also said they would cooperate on “identifying and analysing hybrid threats and countering its consequences”.
The agreement said:
Our geographical location in Central and Northern Europe, at the shores of the Baltic Sea, entails shared security challenges and calls for joint action.
The fundamentally worsened security situation in Europe following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the new dimension of Poland’s and Sweden’s relationship as allies in NATO, provide further rationale for deepening our partnership.
Both Poland and Sweden have been on the frontline in supporting Ukraine, politically as well as through military and civilian support. We will remain steadfast in our support for as long as it takes.
The letter added that the two countries “have a clear joint ambition to contribute to a secure, safe, and prosperous Europe.”
Updated
France 'doesn't understand logic' of Trump's Ukraine comment, spokesperosn says
France does not understand why US president Donald Trump has suggested Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was to blame for Russia’s invasion of his country and the resulting war, a French government spokesperson said on Wednesday.
“We don’t understand the logic very well,” spokesperson Sophie Primas told reporters, describing “the diverse, varied and often incomprehensible comments by President Trump”.
Reuters reported that Primas said Trump had made a number of comments on Ukraine over the past few days without consulting his European allies.
Updated
No plans for emergency EU summit 'at this point'
Brussels correspondent
The European Council President António Costa has no plans to call an emergency EU summit to discuss the Ukraine war, according to EU sources.
An emergency summit of the EU’s 27 leaders had been rumoured, in the wake of French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to host two meetings of EU leaders to discuss the war in response to Donald Trump’s talks with Russia.
Macron hosted crisis talks at the Élysee on Monday, which brought together the EU’s largest member states and the Nato secretary-general. He is also convening a video conference later on Wednesday with presidents and prime ministers of smaller countries, who were not invited to the first gathering.
An EU official said there were no plans “at this point” for a special European Council.
“Organising an extraordinary EUCO is not excluded either, but its purpose would be to produce results,” said the official, who added that Costa had begun consultations with EU leaders on two themes – EU support to Ukraine and security guarantees.
No peace deal without involving Ukraine, Europe in talks, EU foreign policy chief says
Southern Africa correspondent
There can be no Russia-Ukraine peace deal without the participation of Ukraine and Europe, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said, after meeting with her South African counterpart Ronald Lamola before the two-day G20 foreign ministers meeting starts tomorrow in South Africa.
“We are in close contact with our US counterparts. So what they are saying is they are trying to find out whether Russia even wants peace, because so far they haven’t wanted peace,” Kallas told a press conference in Cape Town.
It’s clear for any kind of peace deal to work it has to have Ukraine and Europe on board, because otherwise it will just not function. Because the implementation is in Europe, is in Ukraine.
So, nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine, and nothing about Europe can be agreed without Europe participation.
Trump's comments not intended to be accurate, but to shock, UK's ex-PM Johnson says
Former British prime minister Boris Johnson has sought to defend Donald Trump from criticism about his words on Ukraine, making a somewhat unusual argument that “Trump’s statements are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action.”
Here is what he said:
When are we Europeans going to stop being scandalised about Donald Trump and start helping him to end this war?
Of course Ukraine didn’t start the war. You might as well say that America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor.
Of course a country undergoing a violent invasion should not be staging elections. There was no general election in the UK from 1935 to 1945.
Of course Zelenskyy’s ratings are not 4%. They are actually about the same as Trump’s.
Trump’s statements are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action.
In particular the US can see $300bn of frozen Russian assets - mainly in Belgium. That is cash that could and should be used to pay Ukraine and compensate the US for its support.
Why is Europe preventing the unfreezing of Putin’s cash?
The US believes Belgium, France and other countries are blocking. It’s absurd. We need to get serious and fast.
Updated
Ukrainians, what do you think about US-Russia peace talks and Trump?
As Zelenskyy invites Kellogg to ask Ukrainians what they think of the US-Russia talks and Trump’s comments, let us do the same.
We’d like to hear from Ukrainians, including people in the Ukrainian diaspora, how they feel about the proposed peace process and the Trump administration-led peace negotiations so far.
If you are Ukrainian, what is your view on the prospect of having elections in Ukraine, and of Europeans troops in Ukraine? What are your views on president Zelenskyy?
You can submit your responses below.
Zelenskyy's comments on Ukraine's situation and Trump - summary
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused the US for bringing Russia out of global isolation through holding bilateral talks in Riyadh (11:38).
Zelenskyy said the focus is on what support Europe can provide to Ukraine if there is a reduction in US assistance (11:31).
He also said US president Donald Trump “lives in disinformation bubble,” as he called out a number of misleading statements made by Trump overnight, falsely suggesting he is not supported by Ukrainians and is blocking presidential elections in the country (11:35).
He also pointedly rejected the current US draft deal on minerals saying it was “not ready,” drafted under US law, and offering inadequate compensation. “I can’t sell it away, I can’t sell our state,” he said (11:51).
He rejected any suggestion of making broad concessions to Russia, saying any such idea was widely rejected by Ukrainians, and challenged US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, visiting Kyiv today, to go and talk to ordinary Ukrainians about their reception of Trump’s comments (12:02).
Zelenskyy also opposed the use of the word “conflict” to describe Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying it is a deliberate attempt to soften the perception of the aggression (11:41).
Updated
Talks with EU on funding Ukraine army ongoing, Zelenskyy says
Zelenskyy also says that he is talking with European allies about funding the Ukrainian army.
He says he thinks the EU is ready for these talks, but adds that he will have to “work on alternatives, too.”
He also says that Ukraine would be prepared to buy weapons from the US, as he says “the allow the Middle East to buy weapons from them.”
He concludes his press conference here.
Nato remains strongest guarantee for Ukraine, Zelenskyy says
Zelenskyy gets asked about what would make the best security guarantees for Ukraine, and he says that “Nato is the strongest guarantee.”
He says he doesn’t necessarily need US troops with air defence systems, as Ukraine “has our own people to man the systems.”
“But can we get the licenses for producing missiles or producing parts for the Patriot systems?,” he asks.
He says that an unnamed city is struggling with air defence at the moment as it ran out of missiles.
“That is wrong,” he says.
You can’t whitewash Russia's responsibility for war, Zelenskyy says
In a pointed comment pushing back on Trump’s references to polling, Zelenskyy says that making all concessions to Russia is supported by just one percent of the Ukrainian population.
“That answers all questions,” he says.
He says Russia remains “the guilty party,” and you “cannot launder them like money” and “whitewash” their responsibility for the war.
“You may think you can resolve everything with agreements. It is impossible. Nobody in Ukraine trusts Putin. We need clear security guarantees,” he says.
He continues:
“Kellogg is going to see this today … let him walk around Kyiv and other cities. 20, 30% of the capital is missing as it has been destroyed,” he says.
He challenges Kellogg to go out and talk to Ukrainians to ask them what they think of Trump’s comments:
Let him talk to the people. Do they trust their own president, or do they trust Putin? Let him ask about Trump, what do people think about Trump after his statements.
It’s important to just go out and talk to the people. Let him choose where he goes. He has his ambassador here. It is important for him to see for himself what’s happening. And then I am ready to go to the frontline with him. We will go, let him talk to the military.
We are 'stronger than at beginning of war,' Zelenskyy says
Zelenskyy says that Ukraine is “much stronger than at the beginning of the invasion,” rejecting narratives about the Ukrainian “failure to resist and the Russians occupying [everything] and being a strong army.”
He says Ukraine is “much more resilient” now, and “this guarantees our ability to speak with dignity, as equals, with partners, with allies or not.”
He also says that Ukraine is more self-sufficient, producing “30% of everything we need.”
Updated
Zelenskyy says that theoretical discussions on security guarantees outside Nato are difficult as “we do not have a lot of formats for security guarantees and [time] to build something new.”
“We want security guarantees this year, we want to end the war this year,” he says, and that is why Nato is a natural guarantor for any deal.
“I understand that every time I say Nato, they do not want us even mentioning that word, but this is where we are,” he says.
He adds that Ukrainians “are not playing games, … no backroom dealings, we say what we mean, whether the Russians are listening or not.”
He says that any security guarantees can be either made through Nato or through strengthening Ukrainian army, with funding, weapons and air defence.
'I can't sell Ukraine away,' Zelenskyy says on US draft minerals deal
Zelenskyy disputes Trump’s suggestions that the US has given Ukraine $500bn and opposes the idea of “giving back in minerals” through a mineral exploration agreement, saying “that is not a serious conversation.”
But he says he is prepared to work “on a serious document,” if it contains “security guarantees.”
“OK, let’s do a deal. Let’s share [it], depending on the investment … but we need security guarantees,” he says.
He says that he is prepared to make the US proposal public, although notes that “I do not think this will help our relations.”
“This document is not ready. It is outside my powers, outside the constitution and the laws of Ukraine, something [about the jurisdiction being] under the New York law,” he says.
But, crucially, “there is not a word about security guarantees.”
Look, we all want a victory, and we want Trump to win, and we want Ukraine to win, all of us to succeed.
But there is nothing clear here. Let’s put down percentages. So that was my suggestion.
But I am protecting Ukraine. I can’t sell it away. I can’t sell our state.
It's Russia's war against us, not 'conflict,' Zelenskyy says
Zelenskyy now calls out the US and US representatives in Riyadh for describing Russian illegal invasion of Ukraine as “a conflict,” and not “simply a war by Putin against us.”
“This softens it,” he says.
He says he had similar conversation with the previous US administration, when he “fought” against an official paper describing the war “as a conflict.”
“There was a[n attempted] shift in the policy to soften the terms to describe what Putin is doing against us, and we are standing up for Ukraine’s rights here. There’s nothing terrible, but we must recognise what’s happening,” he says.
US helps bring Russia out of global isolation, Zelenskyy says
Zelenskyy says the US “have helped Putin to come out of isolation” which he says was “completely fair because of their full scale invasion” on Ukraine.
He also rebukes Trump’s comments that most of Ukraine’s support comes from the US.
“The truth is somewhere else,” he says, but adds he remains “grateful for the support” and wants “the Trump team to have true facts.”
He goes on about the talks:
“This isn’t positive for Ukraine. What it does is that they’re bringing Putin out of isolation, and the Russians are happy because the discussion focuses on them,” he says.
He adds that Russia seems to be presenting itself “as a victim, and that is something new.”
Zelenskyy says Trump 'lives in disinformation bubble' with discord sowed by Russia
Zelenskyy now responds to Trump’s comments overnight.
He says that he “never comments on popularity ratings, especially my own or other leaders,” but he points out that the latest poll shows 58% of Ukrainian trust him.
“So if anyone wants to replace me right now, that will not work,” he says.
He also calls out “a lot of disinformation coming from Russia,” as he says that these figures seem to be shared with the US.
“Unfortunately, President Trump, with all due respect for him as the leader of a nation that we respect greatly … is living in this disinformation bubble,” he says.
Zelenskyy says he will look into collecting more data on trust in key global leaders to counter Russian disinformation, as he says he warns against “the misinformation circle around President Trump,” which he says includes representatives linked with Hungarian and Slovak governments.
“This is all concerning. Everything they are doing is to make sure that Ukraine is weak,” he says.
Updated
Focus on what Europe can do next, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is speaking now.
He says that there was “a strong message given to Europe from Ukraine” in his meetings with European leaders in recent days, and more meetings are coming, including in the UK, “in the next few weeks.”
He says the conversation focuses on “what Europe is prepared to do to help Ukraine if there is a reduction in the assistance from the US or something else,” as he stresses that “we must count on an allied position in Europe.”
He says there are plans for an hybrid meeting on the anniversary of the full-scale invasion on 24 February and gives comments on his conversations with the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, floating the suggestion that Ankara could potentially provide security guarantees for Ukraine.
Ukraine's Zelenskyy speaking now
I will bring you the latest shortly.
Sweden and Poland to sign agreement on civil defence
Nordic correspondent
Sweden and Poland are today expected to sign an agreement that will see the two countries collaborate on civil defence in light of the worsening security situation across Europe.
The letter of intent, due to be signed by the Polish interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak and Swedish civil defence minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin in Stockholm later today, is expected to cover protection of civilians, Baltic security and hybrid threat resilience.
Meanwhile, in Copenhagen, Mette Frederiksen’s government, looking to prove its preparedness in the face of criticism from the US which wants to gain control of Greenland, part of the Danish kingdom, is expected to present a new 50bn DKK defence agreement.
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Russian officials seize on Trump's false claim on Zelenskyy's approval rating
Russian affairs reporter
Russian officials on Wednesday seized on Donald Trump’s latest remarks, in which he questioned Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as Ukraine’s president.
Speaking on Tuesday evening, Trump falsely claimed that Zelenskyy’s approval rating was “at 4%” and described Ukraine as a country “blown to smithereens.”
While Zelenskyy’s popularity has declined in recent months, a fresh February poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) found that 57% of Ukrainians trusted the president, up from 52% a month earlier.
Pyotr Tolstoy, a senior member of Russia’s State Duma, called Trump’s remarks “significant” and suggested they would be “of great interest to those who call themselves politicians in Kyiv.”
Russia will be counting on Trump’s remarks to sow discord among Kyiv’s political elites and society at large, potentially weakening Ukraine’s ability to resist Russian forces.
Putin has previously dismissed negotiations with Zelenskyy, claiming his presidency is “illegitimate.”
'No alternative to eradicating root causes of Ukrainian crisis,' Lavrov says
Lavrov says 2025 marks 80 years since the end of the second world war as he goes on a rant about “manifestations of neo-nazism” globally, throwing false accusations against Ukraine, the Baltics, and Canada.
Following this aggressive line, he says that “there is no alternative to eradicating the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis,” as he repeatedly accuses Ukraine of a campaign against Russian culture.
No signs of softening his language after yesterday’s talks with the US there.
Russia and BRICS ‘stopping West from imposing Ukrainian agenda’ globally, Lavrov says
Lavrov now talks up the importance of the BRICS group of nations saying that Russia and the bloc are “stopping the West from imposing a Ukrainian agenda.”
BRICS consist of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
He then moves on to talk about the importance of diplomacy and cultural diplomacy, as he claims many Russian groups “are having a difficult time because of the Russophobia unleashed by the West.”
Lavrov hails Russia's 'unprecedented' alliance with China
Lavrov also speaks about Russia’s alliances with Belarus, North Korea, China and Iran, and countries in Africa.
He says the “comprehensive partnership with China” was “at an unprecedented level and exceeding any prior alliances of a classic type,” with both leaders attending important anniversaries in each other’s countries.
He also praises Russia’s relations with India.
He also talks about Russia’s plans to “replace the Euro-Atlantic model that is bankrupt,” with a new initiative “open to all alliances on the continent, including the European part of the greater Eurasia.”
Lavrov says Russia moves with 'multipolar world,' attacks 'selfish' West
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is speaking in the Russian parliament in Moscow.
He says that Russian diplomacy is “carrying out tasks set by the President, who has talked about it in details at his annual press conference and in many interviews.”
But he talks about the broader change in global politics:
I will tell you something that is a key issue for us at this stage of international development, and that is our move towards a multipolar world. It is a historic process, and it is to do with the subjective trend of new power centres appearing on the world map.
He continues:
Our partners in the Global South and in the east are unique civilisations and religions and are members of various integration associations, but all of them are united by a desire towards development, progressive development without external pressure…
He then turns to attack the West, amusingly trying to portray Russia as the leader of “progressive humanity” revolting against the West’s dominance in global politics.
At the same time, we must state that the collective West, although verbally are in agreement and accepting the multipolar realities, in reality, they still want to preserve their former dominance in the West.
…
The collective West cannot unite and is unable to renounce the selfish habits that it was governed by in the last five centuries when it ruled the world.
He also repeats his verbal attacks on Ukraine.
New EU sanctions on Russia
in Brussels
EU sanctions against Russia will be extended to cover aluminium imports and dozens more “shadow” vessels covertly exporting Russian oil below a price cap imposed by western allies.
The approval of the package carries extra weight, amid fears in Brussels that Donald Trump will seek to lift US sanctions against Russia as part of his effort to make a peace deal.
The new package, 16th since the full scale invasion in 2022, includes a ban on imports of Russian aluminium into the EU, said by EU officials to generate significant revenues for Russia. A further 73 vessels believed to be circumventing the oil price cap will be banned from EU ports, although that does not cover all the ageing tankers thought to be helping Russia evade sanctions.
A total of 48 people and 35 entities face asset freezes and travel bans, although their names have not been revealed. The EU is also removing broadcasting licences from 8 Russian media outlets and excluding 13 banks from Swift international payments system.
In an earlier draft the EU planned to stop the sale of games consoles and joysticks to Russia, which are thought to be repurposed for use in drone warfare. Diplomatic sources did not immediately confirm if these items made the final list, ahead of the expected publication of the sanctions next week.
Zelenskyy’s press conference has been pushed back, so we may have to wait a bit longer – but be assured that we will bring you all the key lines when it happens.
Putin and Trump could meet before end of February, Kremlin says
The Kremlin said this morning that any Putin-Trump meeting would take time to prepare, but could come before the end of the month, Tass and Interfax news agencies are reporting.
This will alarm European allies, after Trump was asked overnight if he could meet with Putin in February, and said: “Probably.”
UK prime minister Keir Starmer is the first European leader expected to meet with Trump in person at some point next week and European allies will hope this happens before the US president meets Putin.
Updated
Pope Francis had 'peaceful night' in hospital as he battles double pneumonia, Vatican says
Elsewhere, we have also hear from the Vatican this morning, as they issued a medical update on Pope Francis after his fifth night at the Gemelli hospital in Rome.
“The pope spent a peaceful night, woke up and had breakfast,” the Vatican said.
On Tuesday evening, the Vatican said that “the laboratory tests, chest X-ray, and the Holy Father’s clinical condition continue to present a complex picture,” with “the onset of bilateral pneumonia, which required additional drug therapy.”
US Ukraine envoy Kellogg arrives to Kyiv
US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg has just arrived to Kyiv.
Speaking to reporters at the train station, he says the US administration is listening to Ukrainian arguments, and stresses the US administration understands the need for security guarantees.
“My mission is to sit and listen and say, what are your concerns, … then go back to the US, talk to president Trump, secretary Rubio and the rest of the team, and just ensure that we get this one right,” he says.
Asked how confident he is that a good solution can be found, he says he is always confident of everything.
Kellogg was in Brussels and Warsaw yesterday, where he met with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, European Council president António Costa, and Polish President Andrzej Duda.
EU agrees new round of sanctions against Russia
And just before Zelenskyy speaks, we are getting reports that EU envoys agreed on the sixteenth package of sanctions against Russia, EU diplomats told Reuters.
Sanctions include a Russian primary aluminium import ban and listing of 73 new shadow fleet vessels.
We will get more detail on this soon from the EU, no doubt.
We are expecting to hear from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy soon.
We will bring you the latest here when he speaks.
Morning opening: Trump confuses Europe, again
You just never know where things are going to go with US president Donald Trump.
When he started talking about Ukraine last night, at first, he appeared to give his approval to the idea of deploying European peacekeeping forces there (“all for” and “fine”) and said he had no plans for pulling out US troops from Europe, despite some suggestions that Russia’s Putin would ask him to do that. So far, so good.
But the longer his statement continued, the worse it became for Ukraine.
Trump eventually said that Zelenskyy “should have never started it, ... could have made a deal,” as if it was Ukraine who invaded Russia and not the other way round, and repeated Russian key demands for elections in Ukraine, with unfounded allegations on president Zelenskyy’s poor approval rating.
This will ring alarm bells in Ukraine and across Europe again.
The US president also said last night that he was “much more confident” of a deal after the talks, adding “they were very good,” and that Russia “want to stop the savage barbarism.”
(Whisper it, but they can do it quite easily, being the ones who invaded.)
As Sean Savett, who was the spokesperson for the White House National Security Council under then-president Joe Biden, said more bluntly in a social media post: “Sounds like Trump bought Putin’s propaganda hook, line, and sinker.
On Tuesday, US state secretary Marco Rubio debriefed the Quint – France, Germany, Italy and the UK – and the European Union on the talks, promising they will stay “in close contact as we work to achieve a durable end to the conflict in Ukraine.”
But EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas issued a pointed warning: “Russia will try to divide us. Let’s not walk into their traps.”
One issue that was discussed during last night’s talks was a proposed moratorium on attacks on the energy infrastructure of Russia and Ukraine. It was rejected by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who insisted at his press conference that the Russians would never do that anyway as they only attack legitimate military targets.
You will be shocked – shocked! – to hear that Ukraine reported overnight a Russian attack on energy infrastructure in the southern region of Odesa, leaving at least 160,000 residents without heating and power. It is -7 degrees Celsius there.
More European allies are expected to meet in Paris today after protests over their exclusion from the hand-picked group invited for Monday’s first round of talks. The invitees reportedly include Norway, Canada, the Baltic states, the Czech Republic, Greece, Finland, Romania, Sweden and Belgium. We are yet to formally hear about it from the Élysée Palace.
No doubt there will be more consultations taking place behind the scenes, and US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellog will be in Kyiv today.
I will bring you the latest.
It’s Wednesday, 19 February 2025, and this is Europe live. It’s Jakub Krupa here.
Good morning.
