James Waterhouse
Ukraine correspondent in Kyiv

US intelligence sharing is central to Ukraine's survival.

In the early battle of Kyiv it was shared intelligence from the US which allowed Ukraine to repel Russian forces in a way few predicted.

It's American information that helps alert mobile phones if there is an air strike – a nightly occurrence.

It also allows Ukrainian troops to identify the locations of invading Russian soldiers and launch long-range missile strikes.

The scope of this US pause is not yet clear.

But this is a White House approach which is less an unpopular measure to force Ukraine to negotiate, and more a reckless gamble with its future.

The question now is – where will Donald Trump stop?

We have now paused our live coverage, thanks for joining us.

We'll be pausing our live coverage shortly, but before we go here is a short summary of what unfolded today.

• The US suspended intelligence sharing with Ukraine, after pausing military support on Monday
• Senior US officials suggested the suspensions could be revoked if Ukraine takes what the American administration considers to be sufficient steps on joining peace talks
• Halting intelligence support would likely have serious consequences on the battlefield, says the BBC's Tom Bateman. And our security correspondent Frank Gardner says the move is a rude shock for the US's closest intelligence partners
• In an address to the French people, Macron said European defence chiefs will meet in Paris next week, and he told his citizens: "I want to believe the US will stay at our side, but we must be ready if that is not the case"
• Earlier in the day, Starmer insisted in the House of Commons that he believes the US remains a reliable ally

If you want more on this story, the BBC's Europe editor Katya Adler has taken a closer look at how European leaders are reacting to the changes in the US's position on Ukraine and the continent's security more broadly.

You can also read our main news article.

Returning briefly to Emmanuel Macron's speech, the French president suggested that he will open debate about extending the French nuclear umbrella to European partners.

"I have decided to open the strategic debate on the protection of our allies on the European continent through our (nuclear) deterrence," he said.

As it stands, France and the UK are Europe's only two nuclear powers, with programmes unique to their countries.

Historically, European Nato members have also had the safety net offered by the US' nuclear stockpile too.

However, with Donald Trump's commitment to the organisation under question, Germany's likely next Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called for France and the UK to extend their nuclear protection over Europe.

During his speech, Macron stressed France would always retain control of when it would use its nuclear arsenal.

"Whatever happens, the decision has always been and will remain in the hands of the President of the Republic, head of the armed forces," he added.

Image source, Getty Images

Here's part of Macron's televised address to his country earlier, as he said the US had changed its position on the Ukrainian war which had sent Europe into a new age.

Macron seeks to prepare France for tough choicespublished at 20:24 Greenwich Mean Time

20:24 GMT

Hugh Schofield
Paris Correspondent

This was a president seeking to make the French understand the unprecedented gravity of the current predicament: a continent, Europe, for the first time since World War Two obliged to fend for itself.

He said he hoped the alliance with the US would survive, but the French – and Europeans – had to prepare to go it alone.

This would mean re-industrialisation in defence and the raising of huge amounts of money.

How this might be done at the European level may become clearer in Brussels tomorrow, but the president indicated that important and painful choices would also have to be made in France.

The president also said that a huge change in France's nuclear doctrine was possible, as part of the European defence rethink.

Until now France's nuclear deterrent has been used solely as a guarantor of national sovereignty, but he said discussions could take place over extending the nuclear umbrella to other countries.

One US Republican senator tells the BBC that he believes "we need to continue" supporting Ukraine, "but I think it's even more important for Europe to step up and contribute more".

Speaking to the BBC's state department correspondent Tom Bateman, Senator John Cornyn says "Russia clearly can't be trusted" and he is "sceptical of any promises" its President, Vladimir Putin, makes.

"That's why we need some sort of backup plan, hopefully led by the Europeans, but supported by the United States."

That need for European involvement is reiterated by Senator Rick Scott.

"Russia is the aggressor... Ukraine needs to win", he says, but "the Europeans are going to have start standing up" in their defence of the country."

"You can't expect American taxpayers... to do all this", he adds.

Democratic lawmakers in the US have slated the decision to suspend military assistance - and intelligence sharing - with Ukraine.

Senator Cory Booker tells the BBC's state department correspondent Tom Bateman that he had not heard the reports of a halt to intelligence sharing with Ukraine "but that would be unacceptable to me, and pretty outrageous".

He adds that the stopping of military aid is a "betrayal of Congress's intent", since it has already approved funds for Ukraine.

Senator Tim Kaine calls it "a huge mistake". "This secession of aid, military aid that Congress has appropriated, I think, is illegal," he adds.

This is something Democrats in Congress will "try to stop", Senator Chris Murphy says, "but it doesn't seem like Republicans are willing to stand up for democracy abroad or here at home right now".

"Donald Trump is allied with Vladimir Putin, there is no mystery there", he says.

A potential threat to Five Eyespublished at 19:49 Greenwich Mean Time

19:49 GMT

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

As recently as during the Munich Security Conference, less than three weeks ago, British officials were insisting that it was "business as usual" when it came to the UK’s incredibly close working partnership with Washington on intelligence-sharing.

At a working level, Whitehall officials have always maintained, the relationship between the UK’s three intelligence agencies – SIS (MI6), MI5 and GCHQ – and their US counterparts is immune to the vicissitudes of which way the political wind is blowing.

But there is nothing "business as usual" about cutting off your embattled ally from vital intel in the middle of a war. Intelligence from UK and other allied nations’ assets can still flow to Kyiv and the indications are that if and when President Trump gets the mineral deal he wants from Ukraine, plus some concessions towards an eventual peace deal, then America's intel taps could well be turned back on.

Yet this has been a rude shock, not just for Ukraine, not just for America’s close partner Britain, but also for other members of the so-called Five Eyes partnership.

This is the mechanism whereby much intelligence is shared between five English-speaking nations: the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The US, with its roughly US$100bn intelligence budget, provides the lion’s share. The UK, while specialising in human intelligence-gathering, has a budget roughly 20 times smaller than that.

Image source, EBU

Macron has just finished addressing the French people. Here's what we heard:

• The French president said "we are now in a new era", describing how the US has changed its position on the war in Ukraine and has threatened Europe with increased trade tariffs
• European military chiefs will meet in Paris next week, he announced
• France, along with Ukraine and others, have prepared a durable peace plan he said, adding his nation must be ready if the US is no longer by its side
• Macron also made the case for increased defence spending

We can now bring you some more comments from Macron's address.

Macron says France, along with Ukraine and other European countries have prepared a "solid and durable plan for peace" and that once peace is agreed European peacekeepers can be deployed to secure it.

He adds he went to the United States two weeks ago to defend this.

"I want to believe the US will stay at our side, but we must be ready if that is not the case," Macron says.

Peace in Ukraine must be brought on quickly, he says, before adding that whether it is the case or not, European countries must be ready to face the Russian threat.

Macron also reacts to the new tariffs introduced by Donald Trump.

As a reminder: Tariffs of 25% were placed on US imports from Canada and Mexico yesterday, as well as 20% on Chinese goods.

The French president says that Europe must prepare in case the US president imposes similar measures on its bloc.

Macron says "there will be a reaction from our part", if this does happen, and that he will do everything to convince Trump that this would be a bad decision.

The French president then rounds off his televised speech by referencing principles that drive French society, before La Marseillaise plays him out.

The path to peace cannot go by "abandoning Ukraine", Macron says.

He adds that Russia didn't respect a previous ceasefire arrangement that had been negotiated, and therefore "we can no longer believe the words" of the country's leader.

Macron says he is working with allies in the UK, Germany and several other countries in Europe.

He talks about security guarantees for Ukraine after any peace deal is agreed, including the "deployment of European forces" to the country.

And he says he plans to hold a meeting of European army chiefs in Paris next week.

Macron moves onto address the war in Ukraine specifically.

He says that it is not only the Ukrainian people who are fighting bravely, but France's security is also threatened.

He says that if one country can invade another, then nobody can be sure of what will happen - history has shown us this.

The threat of Russia is there, and it is touching us, Macron adds.

The French president goes on to list ways this threat is being carried out by Putin, citing attacks on hospitals as well as claiming that the country is manipulating opinions on social media.

Who can believe that Russia will stop with Ukraine, he asks, after suggesting that the country is focusing on arming itself.

We're now hearing from French President Emmanuel Macron, via live translation.

He says the US has changed its position on the Ukrainian war, while at the same time wanting to impose trade tariffs on Europe.

He says security has become more uncertain, adding "we are now in a new era".

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

I'm currently at the White House press briefing, where Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt refuses to be drawn into reporter's questions regarding a pause in intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

While Leavitt said that - as far as military assistance - the US has simply paused and is "reconsidering" funding, she referred questions about intelligence sharing to the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Ukraine was overshadowed at this briefing by other matters, including tariffs and direct talks between the US and Hamas over the fate of hostages in Gaza.

By the standards of the White House, it was somewhat short.

The BBC has reached out to both the NSC and CIA for comment on the intelligence sharing pause.

Image source, PA Media

Ahead of an EU summit in Brussels tomorrow, we're expecting to hear from French President Emmanuel Macron in a short while.

In a social media post this morning, the French leader told his citizens: "At this time of great uncertainty, when the world is facing its greatest challenges, I will speak to you tonight at 8pm." (19:00 GMT).

We'll keep an ear across what Macron says and you'll be able to watch it by pressing watch live at the top of this page, so stick with us.

Image source, Getty Images

Ukraine’s former president Petro Poroshenko has told the BBC that he “remains an optimist” about the deterioration in relations between his country’s leader and Donald Trump.

Poroshenko led Ukraine from 2014 to 2019, and visited the US president in the White House during Trump’s first term in 2017, where he secured sanctions relating to Russia's actions in Crimea.

“That was exactly the same President Trump,” he tells the BBC News channel. “It’s absolutely possible to renew our transatlantic unity.”

And, Poroshenko suggests that disagreements over whether the US provides security guarantees as part of a minerals deal are unnecessary too.

“We do not depend on American troops, we depend on American military assistance,” he says, adding that support from European partners is also crucial.

US intelligence sharing is "more important" for Ukraine than the military aid cut-off, the Economist’s defence editor Shashank Joshi tells the BBC's PM programme.

That's because "they could fight for months without munition, however they will feel this immediately", he says.

"It’s at times been absolutely fundamental for Ukraine", Joshi says, explaining that "on day one of this conflict" Western intelligence supplied to Ukraine allowed them to anticipate and defend against a Russian assault on an airport outside of Kyiv.

Since then, US intelligence has been used for alerts on incoming ballistic missiles, as well as for information to effectively use long-range strike systems.

But Joshi says Ukraine also has some indigenous intelligence sources as well as commercial sources, adding: "I also don’t want to suggest that it’s cataclysmal and they can no longer see anything at all."

He says for now, Ukraine still has access to Starlink - Elon Musk's satellite internet company - but they anticipate it could be cut off soon and are actively working on replacements.

Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

Image source, EPA

Intelligence sharing paused: The US has suspended intelligence sharing with Ukraine on top of a pause to military support. The move was confirmed by Trump's national security adviser and the head of the CIA, and could have serious consequences on the battlefield.

But freeze might come to an end: Mike Waltz, the US national security adviser, says President Trump would consider restoring military aid to Ukraine if peace talks are arranged. Speaking to Fox News, Waltz said "the president will take a hard look at lifting this pause" if they can "nail down these negotiations" and put confidence-building measures on the table.

Progress in US-Ukraine relations?: On Tuesday evening,President Trumpsaid in his address to Congress that he had received an "important letter" from Zelensky, in which the Ukrainian leader suggested he was ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible. "I appreciate that he sent this letter," Trump told lawmakers, adding there were now "strong signals" Russia is "ready for peace".

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring

Away from the US, President Zelensky also says Ukraine is hoping to "resume movement" in talks about EU membership: "We are expecting support from our partners."

The Ukrainian president adds that earlier today he spoke to the prime ministers of the Netherlands, Portugal and Slovenia, as well as the German chancellor.

"We are getting ready for the EU summit taking place in Brussels tomorrow," he says.

"Everyone can see how fast diplomatic events are unfolding."