Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky and JD Vance clashed in an extraordinary shouting match at the White House, with Trump telling the Ukrainian president to "make a deal or we're out"
You can watch their angry exchanges in the video on this page
The US president tells his Ukrainian counterpart to be "thankful" and accuses him of "gambling with World War Three"
Zelensky says there should be "no compromises" with Vladimir Putin - but Trump says Kyiv will have to make concessions to reach a peace deal with Russia
Afterwards, Zelensky was told to leave the White House and a planned news conference with the two presidents was abruptly cancelled
"He can come back when he is ready for peace," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform
It was an unprecedented moment of tension, our correspondent at the White House says
Watch moment Zelensky, Vance and Trump get into angry exchange over Ukraine war
We're expecting Keir Starmer to arrive at the entrance to the West Wing of the White House any minute now.
We'll update you as soon as that happens. Follow along by tapping the watch live icon at the top of the page.
Gary O'Donoghue
Senior North America correspondent
Image source, Getty ImagesThis is not a partnership of equals.
Bear in mind that America is the most powerful country in the world, Britain is a pretty small country off Europe.
However, British governments since World War Two have believed they can exercise and have exercised influence on the Americans through the so-called special relationship, and that’s what Keir Starmer is going to try to re-kindle today.
He doesn’t have many Trump cards, but he will try to appeal to that history, which is not something Donald Trump particularly cares about. But he also might try to appeal to the shared interests on trade and global security, and on China as an enemy for everyone in the west.
So, there are some buttons Starmer will attempt to press, but he doesn’t come to the White House, frankly, with much to offer. This is why you’ve heard Starmer stress the increase in defence spending, which will and has gone down very well with this administration.
Chris Mason
Political editor, reporting from the White House
Hello from the White House Press Briefing Room.
The dogs have had a good sniff of my bags — and thankfully left my bagel untouched — and I am now perched here awaiting our call into the Oval Office.
The prime minister should be here in a bit for what will be one of the landmark moments of his first year in office. It’ll be the first time we have ever seen Keir Starmer and Donald Trump together — their one other face to face meeting at Trump Tower in New York in September was away from the cameras.
British diplomats reckon that meeting and subsequent phone calls have established a good, warm, human relationship between the two men.
We’ll soon get to see for ourselves how much is in that.
Today's Trump-Starmer talks are likely to be dominated by the war in Ukraine, with the UK prime minister pushing for US security guarantees if and when the war ends to deter Russia from invading again.
But there are other matters up for discussion between the two leaders: namely trade relations on AI and energy, according to a senior US official.
The official tells reporters ahead of the meeting that the US is looking for "reciprocal and equal trade" and to "deepen" economic ties.
Image source, EBUThis is where Keir Starmer is due to pull up shortly. We're watching and waiting...
When Starmer and Trump meet today, it's expected that the two will discuss the UK's defence spending which - as we just mentioned - the British PM has announced will increase to 2.5% of the national income by 2027.
Trump has long called for European members of the Nato military alliance to pay more for their defence - today, senior US officials indicated he's "very pleased" with Starmer's plans.
But while the defence spending has gone up, the number of staff in the UK's army has continued to wane. As of the end of 2024, the army had just shy of 74,000 personnel - down from more than 104,000 at the start of 2012.
Image source, Getty ImagesAlastair Campbell (pictured in 2015) advised Tony Blair while the former Labour leader was prime minister
Alastair Campbell - formerly an adviser to ex-British PM Tony Blair - also has a take on how Starmer should handle the talks with Donald Trump: he needs to be "very, very clear" about the messages he wants to land.
Campbell says Starmer should approach the subject of security guarantees for Ukraine from a position of strength, citing his plans to raise UK defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027.
“You state what your position is... you talk about why it matters to Ukraine and to the wider world if Putin is allowed to think that he has won the war," Campbell tells the BBC.
Campbell also says Starmer shouldn’t dwell on the so-called “special relationship” between the UK and US, and instead focus on the "principles and values" which the two nations share.
"The hard facts of this are what matter," he says.
Image source, Getty ImagesJohn Bolton, who served as national security advisor during Donald Trump's first presidency, has weighed in on how Keir Starmer should approach his upcoming meeting with the US president.
"Flattery often works," Bolton tells BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.
"I wouldn't spend a lot of time on the situation in Ukraine. I wouldn't spend a lot of time on Britain and what he's done. I wouldn't spend a lot of time on American national interests.
"I would spend a lot of time on Donald Trump's ego," he says.
Bolton, who had a falling out with Trump, has been an outspoken critic of the president.
On Starmer's aim to get security guarantees for Ukraine, Bolton believes the chances of achieving this are "close to absolutely zero".
"If Starmer can achieve that, he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize," he says.
Ahead of Keir Starmer's meeting with the US president, we've looked at how other leaders are navigating their relationship with the world's most powerful politician:
How world leaders are navigating their relationship with Trump
Image source, ReutersSenior US administration officials tell reporters the White House is "very pleased" with Keir Starmer’s plans to increase defence spending to 2.5% of national income by 2027.
Ahead of the UK PM's arrival at the Oval Office, the officials say: “President Trump does continue to urge our Nato allies to increase their spending even further toward 5% to address years of underfunding in the defence capabilities of Nato.”
Trump has long been a staunch critic of the previous US administration's military support for Kyiv and wants Europe to play a bigger role in any future security guarantees for Ukraine.
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House
Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr/BBC NewsGood 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:
Stay with us for further updates.
Image source, Reuters
Jonathan Beale
Defence correspondent
Image source, EPAThe 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, ReutersFormer 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."
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 ImagesA 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 ImagesWhen 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, ReutersWe 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.