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Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders held Ukraine war talks with Donald Trump at the White House
Trump says he has called Vladimir Putin to arrange a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents
The call lasted for 40 minutes, according to the Kremlin
Zelensky says they have had "very good talks" today about "sensitive matters including security guarantees", adding he is ready to meet Putin bilaterally
Trump says security guarantees for Ukraine would be "provided" by European countries with "coordination" by the US
Trump says a ceasefire is not needed to negotiate ending the conflict, but President Emmanuel Macron of France and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urge for a ceasefire
What do the US, Ukraine, Russia and Europe want out of the talks and what are the key sticking points? Our security correspondent takes a look
Image source, Getty ImagesA reporter asks Trump about his previous statements that Zelensky can end the war immediately if he wants.
Trump says he thinks that's true, and that Russia, Ukraine and the US will have a trilateral meeting where there will be a "good chance" of ending the war.
Zelensky thanks Trump for his invitation and for his "personal efforts" to stop the war.
He also thanks US First Lady Melania Trump for writing a letter to Vladimir Putin about the Ukrainian children Russia has abducted.
He hands Trump a letter from Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady.
"It’s not to you, it’s to your wife," he tells Trump. They both laugh.
Image source, ReutersTrump and Zelensky are now seated together in the Oval Office, where they are addressing reporters.
Trump thanks Zelensky for being in the US today and said "progress is being made" to put an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
He says he had a "very good" meeting with Putin and there is "a good possibility that something could come out of it".
Trump notes that seven world leaders are also in the US capital and he will speak with them after his talk with Zelensky.
As high-level talks begin at the White House, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released a statement.
Notably, it does not directly criticise the US government, and instead trains its invective on the British government. The Kremlin has struck a more conciliatory tone towards Washington in light of Putin's meeting with Trump last week.
It accuses the UK of being "obsessed with the desire to constantly raise the stakes" in Ukraine, and says the British government "is pushing Nato partners to a dangerous brink, beyond which a new global conflict is not far away".
And with Zelensky expected to press for security guarantees as part of any peace settlement during talks at the White House today, the statement repeats the Kremlin's "categorical rejection of any scenarios that envisage the appearance in Ukraine of a military contingent with the participation of Nato countries".
Image source, ReutersAs Trump greeted Zelensky at the door, reporters shouted questions at the US president.
What is your message to the Ukrainian people?, he is asked.
"We love them," Trump says briefly as he posed for photos with Zelensky before the two walked inside.
Sarah Smith
North America editor, in Washington
This crucial White House meeting – convened in great haste – may be both the toughest and most consequential President Zelensky has faced yet.
No one can forget the show down that occurred the last time he met Donald Trump in the Oval Office. That’s why Keir Starmer has also arrived in Washington to lend the UK’s support to Ukraine – along with leaders from France, Germany, Nato and more – seven European leaders in all.
They are here to back up Zelensky – who has posted on social media today saying "Russia can only be forced into peace through strength, and President Trump has that strength".
Donald Trump will present the Ukranian leader with a plan he discussed with President Putin in Alaska on Friday, proposing that Ukraine give up control of territory in the east of the country – including areas not occupied by Russia – and receive assurances of Ukraine’s future security in return.
Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on CNN yesterday that Russia had agreed to allow security guarantees equivalent to the Nato Article 5 commitment that an attack one country is treated as an attack on all
Today’s meetings are not expected to produce a comprehensive peace plan. But they may move everyone closer to a final agreement that could eventually end the fighting.
Myroslava Petsa
BBC News Ukrainian, at the White House
I managed to speak to the Ukrianian delegation here in the grounds of the White House on condition of anonymity.
One senior Ukrainian official described to me the mood using only two words: hope and determination.
Another member of the Ukrainian delegation told me he wasn’t expecting the meeting to go the way it did back in February because all sides were now much better prepared and had done their homework.
That’s why so many European leaders were coming to DC today, he added.
Trump welcomes Zelensky to the White House
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived at the White House, where he is greeted by US President Donald Trump.
The pair shake hands before Trump shows Zelensky inside for their much-anticipated talks on ending the war with Russia.
Myroslava Petsa
BBC News Ukrainian, at the White House
Hours after Trump’s meeting with Putin on Friday, he called Zelensky to brief him on the Russian president’s demands for territory in return for a peace agreement.
If Zelensky agrees to Putin's terms on giving up land, something he has always rejected, he risks serious dissent domestically.
Numerous polls suggest Ukrainians object to the idea of ceding Ukrainian territory diplomatically that Russia could not take militarily.
Gifting Putin what he wants could lead to political upheaval in Kyiv and jeopardise Zelensky’s leadership.
But this leaves the Ukrainian president in a seemingly impossible position.
If he rejects Putin’s proposal in front of Trump, the latter may cut off military aid to Ukraine again.
Some fear today’s meeting could become another ‘Munich Betrayal’ - when a deal saw Hitler given Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland in 1938 in an attempt to stop a second world war in Europe.
The act of appeasement didn’t work, and failed to prevent the outbreak of World War Two.
Many Ukrainians fear that Putin knows this, and a weakened Ukraine would be one that’s easy to conquer. One way or another, this meeting leaves Zelenksy with some very difficult options.
Tom Bateman
State Department correspondent, reporting from the White House
I’m here on the packed lawn out front of the White House West Wing.
When Zelensky pulls up, the White House media pool, along with some Ukrainian colleagues, will then be allowed in at the start of the meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.
So it will be another high-profile, high-pressure moment for Zelensky – upon which the fate of Ukraine could hang.
I’ve just been chatting to my colleague Sumi Somaskandi on the BBC News Channel here on the lawn.
Sumi also interviewed Shashank Joshi, the defence editor of the Economist. He raised an incredibly important point about the so-called "security guarantee", that Trump’s negotiator Steve Witkoff said the US could back and the Russians had agreed to in Alaska.
Witkoff called it a "game changer". But we still don’t know much about the form of US backing.
Joshi raises the point that the Russians could mean something like the proposed security "guarantee" in a draft Russia-Ukraine agreement during failed talks in Istanbul in 2022.
This was seen as a non-starter as it would have effectively given Moscow a veto on Western military support for Ukraine, as analysts pointed out, external at the time.
Joshi suggests Witkoff, with his "poor grasp" of his brief to date, might have misunderstood what the Russians were talking about.
Volodymr Zelenksy is expected to meet President Trump later this afternoon in Washington.
Ahead of the meeting, Zelensky says Ukraine's "main goal is a reliable and lasting peace" for itself and Europe. He says Russia must be pressured to end its war in Ukraine and "new attempts at conquest".
The message, posted as European leaders trickle into the White House, includes a video of Zelensky meeting the leaders at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, in a move to signify the united front on the eastern side of the Atlantic.
You can see Zelensky's full message below:
Quote MessageWe must stop the killings, and I thank our partners who are working toward this and ultimately toward a reliable and dignified peace. Together with the leaders of Finland, the United Kingdom, Italy, the European Commission, and the NATO Secretary General, we coordinated our positions ahead of the meeting with President Trump. Ukraine is ready for a real truce and for establishing a new security architecture. We need peace.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine president
Image source, Getty ImagesFrench President Emmanuel Macron is now making his arrival.
Unlike some of his European colleagues - who met at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington this morning - he has come directly from Washington Dulles International Airport, where he landed a short time earlier.
The only person left now to arrive for this landmark White House meeting is Volodymyr Zelensky himself - whom we expect to see a little later.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany has joined his fellow European leaders at the White House.
He, too, is met by Crowley at the door.
Image source, Getty Images
Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring, reporting from Washington
The deputy head of Zelensky’s office, Pavlo Palisa, was carrying a rolled up sheet of paper on his way into the White House - a map perhaps?
With him are Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelensky's presidential office, and former defence minister Rustem Umerov.
Image source, AFP VIA GETTY IMAGESPresident of Finland Alexander Stubb is next to pull up to the White House.
He also gets out of his car, shakes Crowley's hand and heads inside.
That's nearly everyone now - just Macron and Merz still to arrive, with Zelensky expected to join them within the hour.
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesNext to arrive is Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
She shakes hands and exchanges a few words with Crowley, who leads her into the building.
Jonathan Csapo
BBC Producer
It is a little busier than usual on the White House driveway this afternoon.
The US Secret Service is moving reporters off the driveway and they are setting up a little rope cordon to mark where reporters can stand- and to make sure nobody gets run over as leaders' motorcades pull up.
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesPrime Minister Keir Starmer is arriving now.
He smiles as he leaves his vehicle and is greeted and led into the White House.
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesPresident of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is next to arrive at the White House.
She steps out of her car where she is also greeted by chief of protocol Monica Crowley, who says it's "good to see you again".
The two shake hands and walk towards the entrance.
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesNato chief Mark Rutte has just arrived at the White House – the first of the European leaders to do so.
He's greeted by Monica Crowley, the White House's chief of protocol.
Rutte will be joined by the other Europeans, who are making their way to the White House now.