Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr/BBC News

Good morning from the White House, where journalists and staff have been trickling in for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit.

It's still relatively quiet, even if the briefing room is starting to fill up. Outside, a handful of TV reporters and crews are doing lives, despite an unpleasant drizzle.

Events here begin at about 12:15 EST (17:15 GMT), at which point the PM is due to arrive. We should catch glimpse of his handshake with Donald Trump before they enter into the Oval Office of the West Wing.

Once inside, reporters will have a brief opportunity to ask the two leaders questions.

During past visits from foreign leaders - such as French President Emmanuel Macron's on Monday - these occasions have turned into question-and-answer sessions with a small group of reporters.

Later on, there will be a full-scale press conference with the two leaders in the East Room of the White House.

Keir Starmer is due to arrive at the White House in the next few hours for talks with US President Donald Trump.

Before then, we'll take you through some of the background to their meeting, while our correspondents dig into the details of what's to come.

First, though, here's a look back and what's been happening so far today:

• Russian and US delegates met in Istanbul to discuss finding new "common ground"

• During a meeting with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Vladimir Putin said he was hopeful on this front - and that "problems" like the war in Ukraine could be solved
• Some context: The meeting in Turkey comes just a week after the first high-level, in-person talks between the two powers in Saudi Arabia
• Starmer's meeting comes a day before Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky visits DC to sign an agreement on sharing the country's mineral resources with the US
• Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko praised the draft deal, calling it "necessary” for the protection of Ukraine

Stay with us for further updates.

Image source, Reuters

The security guarantees Ukraine is seekingpublished at 15:16 Greenwich Mean Time 27 February

15:16 GMT 27 February

Jonathan Beale
Defence correspondent

Image source, EPA

The Trump administration’s already made clear it will not be putting any US boots on the ground if Russia agrees to end its war.

It would be up to European nations to shoulder the burden to ensure any ceasefire holds. But neither Europe nor Ukraine believe that alone would be enough to deter Russia from attacking again.

That’s why they want the world’s most powerful military to back them up. There are some practical steps the US could take short of direct involvement.

First, agreeing to continue to supply Ukraine with weapons. Europe is still doing that, but one western source says the US has provided “the cream” - such as long range missiles, air defence systems and intelligence.

The US could also help rebuild Ukraine’s armed forces with training. But what European nations and Ukraine really want is a firm commitment from the Trump administration that it would intervene if Russia attacked again.

That’s why President Zelensky has been pressing hard for Nato membership – with the alliance’s Article 5 stating that an attack on one is an attack on all. The Trump administration has ruled that out.

But European allies still hope, at the very least, they can get some kind of guarantee, in writing, that the US would act if Russia attacked again.

Image source, Reuters

Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has praised the draft US-Ukraine minerals deal, calling it "necessary” for the protection of Ukraine.

“For me, this agreement is definitely not about money or minerals,” writes Poroshenko on Facebook.

“It is an agreement about preserving the state and Ukraine's ability to resist Russia.”

Poroshenko says he hopes the current Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, will defend Kyiv when he meets Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, adding: “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."

• What we know about US-Ukraine minerals deal

As we reported earlier, seven people have been reported killed and 42 houses destroyed in Russian attacks on Ukraine's Donetsk region in the last 24 hours.

Ukraine's top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, is visiting a front in eastern Donetsk, where he says Russia is stepping up its assaults.

"The enemy is conducting intense offensive actions in this area, trying to break through the defences of our troops and capture three settlements," Syrski says in a social media post.

Below are images taken in the aftermath of these latest attacks:

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

A former European Union Commission president says Ukraine should be offered a "limited" membership to the EU.

Jean-Claude Juncker tells Euronews the bloc needs to be "very careful" about adding new members.

Juncker cites concerns over corruption, a weak economy, and a lack of state structure as the reasons to offer Ukraine a second-tier membership. That would give Ukraine a voice during debates and access to Europe's single market - but no vote.

"We don’t want to give them the impression they are far away from membership but show they are on the way to membership without having all the rights and all the possibilities of real membership," Juncker says.

Image source, Getty Images

When Keir Starmer meets Donald Trump later on, they are likely to mull over security guarantees for Ukraine that might follow a ceasefire with Russia.

Starmer has suggested that the UK may send military members to the country as a peacekeeping force after a truce is agreed.

But, during negotiations over a possible minerals deal with Ukraine, Donald Trump has refused so far to assure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the US might do the same.

Now, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha says that a focus on getting “boots on the ground” might not even go far enough to guarantee Ukraine’s protection.

“Securing Ukraine’s sky and sea is equally, if not more important,” he suggests in a social media post.

“Land, sky, and sea must all be in focus”.

Talks in Istanbul between delegates from Russia and the US have concluded, Russia's state-run Tass news agency reports.

Representatives from the two nations spoke for more than six hours today. The talks' stated aim is to resolve ongoing disputes between Washington and Moscow.

A little earlier, Putin said "Western elites" were unhappy with the renewed dialogue and are trying to disrupt it.

Image source, Reuters

We can bring you a bit more now from Putin's remarks at the FSB security agency meeting a little earlier, which were released by Russia's state-run news agency TASS and translated by our colleagues at BBC Monitoring.

Putin claims that some "Western elites" are trying to disrupt the new dialogue between Washington and Moscow.

"We understand that not everyone is happy with the resumption of Russian-American contacts. Some Western elites are still determined to maintain instability in the world. These forces will try to disrupt or compromise the dialogue that has begun", the Russian president says.

"We need to take it into account and use all the possibilities of diplomacy and special services to prevent such attempts," he adds.

Putin also says the West is beginning to collapse "from within", saying this is "evidenced by the problems in the economy of many Western countries".

As we reported earlier, Russia and the US have today sent delegations to Turkey for a new round of talks - a move Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says is bringing the two countries "closer to overcoming the disagreements".

Representatives have been meeting in Istanbul in what is expected to be the first in a series of meetings between the two countries, aiming to remove "irritants" from their relationship.

Speaking to reporters, Zakharova adds that the dialogue will strengthen "confidence-building measures".

Russia's President Vladimir Putin says that talks between the US and Russia today give him "hope" that "problems" such as the Ukraine conflict can be solved.

"The first contacts with the new US administration give some hope. There is a mutual desire to work on restoring relations," Putin says during a meeting with Russia's FSB security agency, as reported by the AFP and Reuters news agencies.

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier today, Finland's Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said she thinks it is "excellent" that Starmer is visiting Trump to convey messages the UK and Europe are aligned on.

Valtonen told the BBC World Service's Newsday programme that Finland has defended itself from the aggression of neighbouring Russia before, and knows the "long-term threat is there to stay, independently of what happens with Ukraine".

"It's in the European interest to, of course, aid Ukraine and also weaken Russia", while working to negotiate a deal on lasting peace, because the "entire world is watching," she said.

There is "no way" UK PM Keir Starmer's new baseline for defence spending will satisfy US President Donald Trump, Lord Simon McDonald, the UK's former head of the diplomatic service, says.

McDonald says the pledge to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by the next parliament will "be treated as a baseline".

"There is no way that will satisfy the president."

McDonald notes that, when the pair met for dinner in September last year, Trump referred to Starmer as his friend. This meeting is "a basis on which they can build," McDonald tells the BBC.

He also says that the British Royal Family is "a card that only Starmer can play" during the talks.

Trump has expressed admiration for British royals, with one of the highlights of his first presidency being his state visit to Buckingham Palace.

McDonald believes these elements will help Starmer present a compelling case to Trump during their private talks.

As we've been reporting, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will be meeting US President Donald Trump in the White House, where the war in Ukraine and European defence will be important issues on today's agenda.

This week marked three years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine as well as the 11th anniversary of Crimea's annexation. If you're just coming to our live coverage now, here is a recap of the other main events this week:

• During his visit to Washington, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested a truce could be brokered between Russia and Ukraine within weeks
• Starmer announced plans to increase the UK's defence spending to 2.5%by 2027, while cutting the foreign aid budget
• As Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky butted heads over a deal on US access to Ukraine's minerals in return for the US's past funding, Putin offered a mineral deal of his own, including access to resources in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories
• A US-Ukraine mineral deal was then agreed, but does not include security guarantees for Ukraine, which Zelensky hopes to see
• Representatives from the US and Russia have been holding closed-door talks in Istanbul, aimed at resolving disputes over the work of their respective embassies

And just a reminder that Zelensky will be visiting Washington on Friday, during which Trump has said the minerals deal will be signed.

Russian forces have slowly expanded the amount of territory they control in Ukraine over the past year, mostly in the east of the country.

But Ukrainian forces have made those advances as slow and difficult as possible and have staged a counter-offensive into Russian territory, breaching the border into the Kursk region.

• Before the full-scale invasion, Russia seized Ukraine's southern peninsula of Crimea in February 2014, annexing it soon afterwards
• Within a few weeks of the invasion in February 2022, Russia was in control of large areas of Ukraine and had advanced to the suburbs of Kyiv, but they hit very strong Ukrainian resistance
• By October 2022, the picture had changed dramatically and, having failed to take Kyiv, Russia withdrew completely from the north
• Western support for Ukraine in 2022 endured in 2023. Frontlines hardly moved through the year
• But 2024 saw Russia grind forward in eastern Ukraine, with Moscow's war machine churning mile by mile through the wide open fields of the Donbas, overwhelming villages and towns
• By 12 February 2025, Russia had advanced about 40km (25 miles) west of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine. They have also recently taken the town of Kurakhove and have continued advancing to the north east, towards the city of Pokrovsk

You can take a look at the map below to see how these occupied territories have changed since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
BBC Monitoring's Russia editor

Peskov also details Russia-US talks taking place in Turkey today:

“Today’s meeting in Istanbul is at expert level. Our diplomats are working to develop the understanding that was reached in the telephone conversation between the two presidents and the agreements reached in Riyadh by the high-level delegations. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves for now.”

On prospects for mending relations between Russia and the US, the Kremlin spokesman said “nobody expects quick and easy decisions”, but added that they can be repaired if the two countries continue displaying the current “political will”.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
BBC Monitoring's Russia editor

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rules out territorial concessions to Ukraine.

“The territories that have become parts of Russia and are included in our country’s constitution and an inalienable part of Russia. This is a fact that absolutely cannot be denied or discussed,” he told a daily press briefing.

This also suggests that Russia intends to continue fighting at least until it captures all of the four Ukrainian regions Moscow claims as its own. According to the Russian constitution, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions are part of Russia even though Russian forces do not fully control them.

Peskov’s remarks come one day after Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov similarly suggested that Russia was seeking full control of the four regions.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
BBC Monitoring's Russia editor

Six civilians have been confirmed dead and 10 injured following Russian attacks on the Ukrainian frontline town of Kostyantynivka yesterday, Ukrainian authorities say.

Donetsk regional administration head Vadym Filashkin also says, external that elsewhere in the region one civilian was killed and one was injured in Pokrovsk.

Ukrainian police say, external 42 residential houses have been destroyed in the Donetsk region in Russian attacks over the past 24 hours.

A look back to the frontline in eastern Europe now as the Ukrainian military says it shot down 90 out of the 166 drones launched by Russia overnight, targeting various regions.

An additional 72 drones were "lost" without causing any damage, the air force adds in a Telegram post.

According to the military, Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy were affected by the attack.

While we wait for Washington to wake up, let's take stock on what today has in store:

• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to arrive at the White House at 12:15 local time (17:15 GMT).
• At 12:20 local time US President Donald Trump and Starmer will meet privately, before making public remarks and answering some questions
• Starmer and Trump will then hold a joint news conference at 14:00 local time

Meanwhile in Istanbul, Russian and US officials have begun talks at the US consul general's residence.

Unlike Starmer and Trump's meeting later today, these talks are being held behind closed doors and the names of those involved have not been made public.