Vitaliy Shevchenko
BBC Monitoring's Russia editor

Residents of the Ukrainian frontline city of Zaporizhzhia are worried that Donald Trump’s plans for ending the war amount to a betrayal of Ukraine.

“There’s a lot of talk about Trump betraying Ukraine, and this looks very bad for us,” Oleksandr Bezedinov, who I went to school with, tells me. “You can try to find positives, but the way it looks in the news it’s disastrous. I don’t see what Trump will achieve if that’s how it ends. Selling Ukraine out is no achievement.”

Viktoria Mochalova, a psychologist from Zaporizhzhia, is suspicious of any potential deals the US and Russian presidents may strike.

“If it’s true that agreements are being made between Trump and Putin, this means we’ve been sold out. I’m worried that Trump is so blatantly contemptuous of international law. Putin is a criminal," she says.

But Anna Holovchenko, an IT specialist in Zaporizhzhia, is more hopeful: “He’s all mouth and no trousers. His words don’t always translate into actions. [What he said] Is not a nice thing to hear, but that’s the way he is.

"We’ll just have to live and see. Public pronouncements and international politics are two different things.”

It's been a busy day for Nato defence chiefs as they met in Brussels to discuss security priorities, including an increase in defence spending and ongoing military support to Ukraine.

Here's the latest photos from the meeting:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

After this morning's Nato meeting, Polish defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz says a plan has been agreed to increase the alliance's rapid response force.

On its website, Nato describes the rapid response as a "highly ready and technologically advanced" collection of land, sea and air units which can be deployed "quickly, wherever needed".

Kosiniak-Kamysz says this will strengthen Nato's ability to protect it's eastern flank, particularly Poland.

“Here the unity of the allies is underscored and preserved,” he adds.

A new reality for Ukraine and its European alliespublished at 12:46 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February

12:46 GMT 13 February

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

Ukraine and the rest of Europe are still metaphorically blinking as they take in the impact of yesterday’s double whammy from the White House and the US defence secretary.

Russia, the pariah state for the last three years, is coming in from the cold. Not completely, of course, it is still heavily sanctioned, but the notion of no talks with President Putin until he withdraws his invading army from Ukraine is now history.

The leaders of the world’s two most powerful nuclear-armed nations are going to sit down and talk, probably in Saudi Arabia, and even visit each other’s capitals.

"Wait… what? How did that happen? Why didn’t anybody ask us?" appears to be the reaction on this side of the Atlantic.

The oft-repeated mantra that there can be no discussion about Ukraine’s future security without Ukraine’s input sounds noble but the reality is that President Trump sees this war as Europe’s problem and even possibly partly of Europe’s making – a long-held view of Vladimir Putin’s.

So when Western leaders gather in Munich shortly for Europe’s most important annual security conference they now know where America’s limitations are when it comes to Ukraine.

No to Nato membership, no US troops are coming to help defend it and Kyiv, says the US, must know that regaining all the territory seized by Moscow is simply "not realistic".

Image source, Getty Images

The EU's foreign policy chief says it is not "good tactics" to give in to Russia's demands before negotiations on a peace deal have even started.

Speaking in Brussels, Kaja Kallas says that Europe and Ukraine would need to be involved in any peace talks for a deal to work, and that Ukraine would continue to receive their support even if it rejects a deal struck between Russia and the US, Reuters reports.

Earlier in the day, Kallas - who is also vice president of the European Commission - met Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who she says assured her "Ukrainians are standing firm and will not give up".

"Europe will stand firm too and continue supporting Ukraine in their fight", her post on X adds.

With the east coast of the US just waking up this Thursday morning, Donald Trump has just posted on his Truth Social platform that he had "great talks with Russia and Ukraine yesterday".

There is a "good possibility of ending that horrible, very bloody war!!!" he writes.

Image source, Getty Images

We can now bring you exclusive comments from Jake Sullivan, the former national security advisor to President Joe Biden.

Sullivan tells BBC HARDTalk it's "plausible" to believe that Vladimir Putin would be "sitting in Kyiv today" had Donald Trump been in office when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Defending the Biden administration, he says Trump has been handed "a lot of leverage" to negotiate a fair deal for Ukraine and hopes he doesn't "pull the rug out" from under them.

"Zelensky himself has said the war has to end through diplomacy," he adds.

• Sullivan's full interview will be available from tonight on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds

Ben Tavener
Moscow producer

Image source, Reuters

The Kremlin tells the BBC during a daily call with reporters that Wednesday’s telephone conversation between President Putin and President Trump was “very important” and heaps praise on the new US administration for “doing everything it could so that peace can prevail”.

By contrast, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accuses the former US president Joe Biden’s administration of doing everything so the Ukraine war would continue and of shunning relations with Moscow in recent years.

Peskov tells the BBC that the position being taken by the new Trump administration to Ukraine peace talks “appealed to them much more” and that Russia was open to dialogue.

The Kremlin would not be drawn on whether this was the first telephone conversation between the two leaders, nor who initiated it.

Peskov would also not comment on whether Trump would come to Moscow for Russia’s key Victory Day parade on 9 May, adding that a “mutual invitation [to visit each other’s country] was one thing” and that the details of the actual meeting were another – to be worked on.

He says there was no definite timeframe for the two leaders to meet, but that it was clear talks should happen soon given the long list of topics to discuss.

He would not be drawn on Trump’s comments that the meeting would take place in Saudi Arabia. President Putin would decide in due course who will lead negotiations for Russia, he says.

Image source, Getty Images

Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov is now speaking, and starts by thanking Rutte for his support.

They want to "continue our conversation" today, he says, with a focus on security assistance.

"All the allies are supporting [security assistance plans], the US is with us... Nato is taking over our security assistance and training, so it is already in process", he says.

"At this stage, the message is that we're continuing, we're strong, we're capable, we're able, we will deliver," Umerov adds, and thanks other countries for their continued support.

Both men now leave the stage to continue meetings and discussions.

Image source, Getty Images

Nato chief Mark Rutte and Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov are on the stage now.

Rutte starts by saying Nato's goal is to get Ukraine into the best possible negotiating and fighting position.

He says he wants any negotiation outcome to be lasting and strong, so that Putin never tries to seize Ukrainian land again.

He also mentions more than 50bn euros have been invested in military support for Ukraine and says a joint command structure has been set up between Ukraine and Nato.

This, he explains, will help Nato capture key lessons and learn from Ukraine.

We're about to hear from Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte and Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.

We'll bring you their top lines as we get them.

Image source, Getty Images

Back at the Nato headquarters in Brussels, defence ministers have gathered for their official family photo.

In a few minutes, we expect to hear from Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte and Ukraine Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.

Stick with us as we bring you the top lines from the press conference. You can follow along by clicking watch live at the top of the page.

Mariana Matveichuk
BBC Ukrainian

Residents of Kramatorsk in the east of Ukraine have woken up bewildered by news that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to start negotiations to end the war.

The city, which I recently visited, is just 20km from the frontline. It is under constant threat of occupation by Russians, but has so far held on. The sound of explosions and air raid sirens is background noise to those living here.

Vita Brezhnieva, who owns a pet grooming salon in the city, tells me: "I am upset that there was a conversation about Ukraine without Ukraine. They didn't even warn us."

She adds that she fears President Putin will "buy off" President Trump.

Though he feels cautiously optimistic, Andrii Horlov, a priest, says he'll be waiting for more information.

"It's clear that something needs to be done, because every day we are losing people and territories. But under what conditions - that is the question," he said.

Still in the Commons, Maria Eagle rejects the idea the UK has been "betrayed by our allies" after the Lib Dem's Europe spokesperson echoed the party leader's accusation that the US has turned its back on Ukraine, the UK, and Europe.

Sir Ed Davey yesterday said that if Ukraine is forced to give up territory, it will be the "greatest betrayal of a European ally since Poland in 1945".

Eagle reiterates "there can be no negotiation for Ukraine without Ukraine involved".

She adds a "just peace" includes pursuing those who committed war crimes during the war.

Image source, UK Parliament

Moving to the UK, we can now bring you comments from Defence Procurement Minister Maria Eagle, who is responding to US calls for European nations to increase defence spending.

Eagle is responding on behalf of Defence Secretary John Healey, whom we've mentioned is currently attending a Nato meeting in Brussels.

She says "we are and we will" ramp up spending, pointing out that "Nato allies pledged €40 billion in 2024 and went on to provide €50 billion" - the majority of that coming from European nations, she notes.

"Europe is stepping up," she says. "2025 will be the critical year for Ukraine."

More now on the drone attack that Ukraine says it experienced overnight.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the drones were launched from Russia's Bryansk, Oryol, Smolensk and Kursk regions to the north-east, and the Krasnodar territory to the south-east.

It adds that the 85 drones that were shot down - out of 140 - were downed over eastern, central and southern parts of the country, while parts of Odesa and Kharkiv "sustained damage" as a result of the attack.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
BBC Monitoring's Russia editor

There's shock and dismay in Ukraine after yesterday’s announcements by Donald Trump that he and Vladimir Putin had agreed to start negotiations on ending the war.

“It’s getting more turbulent, and our country’s survival is in question,” says commentator and former MP Boryslav Bereza, external.

"It's interesting to watch the world slide towards World War Three, repeating the same mistakes it made before World War Two," says popular activist and commentator Serhiy Sternenko, external.

Concerns have been growing about what the negotiations will look like and any potential concessions that could be made.

Journalist and MP Viktoria Syumar, external worries that “our country will be forced towards an extremely humiliating peace, on terms that are not quite clear yet.”

Ukrainian army officer and popular commentator Yuriy Kasyanov, external said he is outraged that “hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians killed in this war have been disregarded”. But, he goes on, "we've got a job to do".

As we reported in the post below, Russia has claimed it has taken control of a small settlement in the Donetsk region of Ukraine - just to the east of the city of Pokrovsk.

Experts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believe Pokrovsk is one of Russia's main targets this winter.

Three years into the war, Russian forces continue to edge - albeit slowly - further west into Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine has made advances into Russian territory too, specifically in the Kursk region. In recent days both countries have made small advances in the area, according to the ISW.

Russian troops have bee advancing towards western Sverdlikovo, just past the Russia-Ukraine border, to oust Ukrainian troops.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have pushed along the 38K-028 highway, north-east and north-west of Fanaseyevka, Russia, the institute adds.

More: 'It's like hell': Race to evacuate residents from Ukraine front-line city

The Russian defence ministry says its troops have taken control of the settlement of Vodiane Druhe in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, according to the Reuters news agency.

Neither the BBC nor Reuters have been able to independently verify the claim.

Local media reports say the area has seen a number of clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces over the last few days.

With the US facing criticism from fellow Nato members for leaving Ukraine out of negotiations, it's worth looking at what President Zelensky has said he would like to see from such talks.

Earlier this week, he told the Guardian, external he would offer to "swap" land Ukraine captured in Russia's Kursk region for some Ukrainian territory held by Moscow.

However, Ukraine has seized much less land than Russia, so Kyiv would have to chose which section of their original territory they would like to see returned.

Zelensky has admitted he doesn't know which he would pick as "all our territories are important, there is no priority".