Donald Trump's decision to pursue peace in Ukraine without the direct involvement of Europe, or indeed Kyiv itself, has led to more than a week of political upheaval.

Here's a glance at how it all unfolded, day-by-day:

• 12 February: After a phone call, Trump said he and Putin agreed to begin negotiations to end the Ukraine war. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested Kyiv would need to cede territory to Russia in a peace deal
• 13 February: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would not agree to any peace deal drawn up without its involvement - European allies backed him
• 14 February: US Vice-President JD Vance used his Munich Security Conference speech to heavily criticise European democracies, almost entirely ignoring Ukraine
• 15 February: At the same conference, Zelensky called for the creation of an “army of Europe” as the continent's "old" relationship with the US was ending. The US announced peace talks in Saudi Arabia between delegations from Washington and Moscow
• 16 February: European leaders scheduled a last-minute meeting in Paris on the war in Ukraine
• 17 February: PM Keir Starmer said any Ukraine peace deal would require a "US backstop" to deter Russia. But he also said Europe would "have to do more" to defend Kyiv
• 18 February: Trump falsely blamed Zelensky for starting the war, which was started by a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022
• 19 February: Responding to his comments, Zelensky said Trump was living in a “disinformation space” created by Moscow - Trump then called Zelensky a "dictator"
• 20 February: European allies - including Starmer - denounced Trump’s words and backed Zelensky. Trump remained “very frustrated” with Ukraine’s president, but Zelensky said a meeting with a US envoy “restored hope”

Image source, Getty Images

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky needs to return to the negotiating table and strike a deal on US access to Ukraine's critical minerals, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz has said.

Zelensky rejected the US demand for a share of Ukraine's rare earth minerals on Wednesday, after Trump said he wanted a "deal" that would reflect the amount of aid provided to Ukraine from the US.

Waltz said the White House was "very frustrated" with Zelensky after he levelled "unacceptable" insults at US President Donald Trump earlier this week.

"We presented the Ukrainians really an incredible, and a historic opportunity," the adviser said, adding that it would be "sustainable" and "the best" security guarantee Ukraine could hope for.

But Zelensky had refused the offer, saying: "I can't sell our state."

Image source, Reuters

US President Donald Trump will only meet Russian President Vladimir Putin if the two sides make progress on ending the war in Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.

Speaking in an interview broadcast on X, Rubio said: "If we can, and that meeting is what seals the deal, I think everybody should celebrate that President Trump is a peacemaker."

Rubio said he discussed plans for a meeting between the two leaders when he met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Saudi Arabia this week, telling Lavrov and Russian officials: "There isn't going to be a meeting until we know what the meeting is going to be about."

The US secretary of state added that "you don't generally have these meetings until you know some outcome or some progress has been made".

The last time the US and Russia held face-to-face talks was back in June 2021, when former President Joe Biden held a summit in Geneva and he and Putin met.

James Waterhouse
Ukraine correspondent in Kyiv

Image source, Reuters

Yesterday, a news conference with US envoy Keith Kellogg and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was cancelled.

There were shoulder shrugs and lots of head scratching after the Americans suddenly changed the format.

Their possible reasons for doing so are lengthy.

You would imagine Kellogg would've been asked whether he believed he was sitting next to a dictator, as his boss Donald Trump has suggested.

According to US media reports, America had also just refused to recognise a UN statement, external, which labelled Russia as an aggressor and recognised Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Washington is increasingly aligning with Moscow. It is more than a negotiating ploy.

In addition, Kellogg's more senior colleagues, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz, are the ones directly dealing with Moscow.

It creates a dynamic of Donald Trump's “big boys” dealing with Russia while Ukraine struggles to get anything concrete out of a peace process it is yet to be involved in.

The White House is saying everything is on the table - Ukraine isn't even sitting at it.

What is crucial is Kellogg's ability to relay Ukraine's needs back to the White House, and Zelensky's ability to convey them.

He's been criticised in the past for not sufficiently doing that ahead of Donald Trump's second term, which is partly why Ukraine's in the pollical mire it is.

It's been a period of stuttering diplomacy in Kyiv.

The worrying pitfalls ahead of Starmer's US trippublished at 08:28 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February

08:28 GMT 21 February

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

When Keir Starmer visits the White House next Thursday, he will be treading a fine diplomatic line.

He will want to maintain his support for President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine's government. But he will also want to gain the ear of President Donald Trump over the talks he has begun with Russia to end the war.

All this while keeping out of the venomous verbal crossfire between Washington and Kyiv.

That will be no easy task.

Transatlantic relations are in pieces. The US president has upended America's longstanding support for Ukraine and sidelined Europe in the process.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth says European security is no longer a US priority.

What could Starmer offer the famously transactional president? He has already made a down payment by offering to deploy British boots on the ground in Ukraine as part of a post-war reassurance force.

This angered some European leaders who thought it premature and divisive.

The other thing Starmer could offer Trump is the strongest possible language he can muster promising to increase UK defence spending.

Diplomats say the main argument Starmer must make is to convince Trump that a fast deal on Russian terms would be against his own interests.

• Read more about the risks this trip pose to Starmer, and his trip to Washington

Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, is stressing that Keir Starmer's trip to Washington next week comes at a pivotal moment for the UK's special relationship with the US.

"This moment is one of the most serious moments I can remember for Britain's security and defence, with our closest allies - the US - now supporting Russia, it seems."

He's also been telling the BBC this morning that he's been urging Prime Minister Keir Starmer to spend more on defence.

He says a clear timetable is needed to get to 2.5% of national income being spent on the armed forces in the next two to three years.

"The conservatives left our economy, our public services and our defence in a terrible state and no one's pretending that there aren't some difficult questions," he adds.

He says they should confiscate Russian assets owned by oligarchs, which would "make a big difference" financially to helping Ukraine. Long term, they have to use UK-based resources to boost spending for defence, Davey says.

On Starmer's visit to Washington next week to meet Trump, Davey says: "I don't think you're going to get the best out of Donald Trump just by letting him get his way, and that's not in the British national interest."

He hopes the prime minister will "make clear we do have our differences".

The art of Starmer's deal with Trump will come down to difficult trade-offspublished at 08:07 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February

08:07 GMT 21 February

Harry Farley
BBC Political correspondent

As US President Donald Trump is scheduled to host the prime minister next week, the question is what Keir Starmer will offer his American counterpart to try and persuade him to come around to the UK's way of thinking about Ukraine.

We saw perhaps part one of that offer, when Starmer said he is ready and willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine.

It's difficult to see how he will not come under pressure to increase defence spending as well.

General Sir Nick Carter described the British Armed forces as "remarkably hollow" and said there'd been a process of neglect for the past 30 years.

Ministers have promised to set out a path to spend 2.5% of our overall economy on defence, but there's no timescale for when that would happen.

Downing Street sources I've been speaking to this morning are suggesting that any date for hitting that target won't be set out in Washington next week.

They're under pressure to go further, not just from the US president but from other people in Westminster.

Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, says there should be a new tax on digital services to increase defence immediately, with cross-party talks on going further to reaching 3% of GDP on defence).

We heard from the chancellor yesterday saying that she is committed to hitting the 2.5%, but she said there were difficult choices so that we can spend that money that is needed to keep our country safe.

There are no easy trade-offs here.

Image source, Getty Images

Ahead of Starmer's and Macron's trips to Washington, a former head of the British armed forces has said the UK and European countries need to "step up to the plate" to guarantee Ukraine's sovereignty in the event of a peace deal.

"I think that fundamentally there has got to be some form of guarantee of Ukraine's sovereignty in the future," retired General Sir Nick Carter told a BBC One Question Time special last night.

But he cautions that the UK's armed forces are "remarkably hollow" after a "process of neglect over a 30-year period".

A reminder: Starmer said last week the UK was willing to provide peacekeeping troops if necessary, but a US "backstop" would be needed to keep the peace and stop Russia attacking again.

• Ex-Army head says UK and Europe must step up over Ukraine

Image source, Getty Images

US President Donald Trump will host French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday next week, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt says.

This comes after a week of growing tensions between Ukraine and the US.

The two European leaders have been staunch on their support for Ukraine, with Macron hosting talks in Paris earlier this week while Trump's team met Russian delegates in Saudi Arabia.

The Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, has re-affirmed Britain's support for Ukraine ahead of the trip, telling attendees at the G20 Summit in South Africa on Thursday that the UK plans to act as a bridge between Europe and the US.

Image source, Reuters

In its latest update on the conflict, the Ukrainian military says it responded to an overnight attack of 160 Russian drones.

Ukraine's air force shot down 87 of the drones, with a further 70 likely lost to electronic countermeasures, it says.

The drones attacked 12 regions, including the Kyiv region.

Russian forces also attacked Ukraine's southern Odesa region with two ballistic missiles, Ukraine's military adds.

No casualties have been reported after the attacks so far.

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After Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said US President Donald Trump is "living in a disinformation space" created by Russia, Moscow hasn't held back in offering its own responses.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called Zelensky's comments "inadmissible" on Thursday.

"Often, representatives of the Ukrainian regime, especially in recent months, allow themselves to make completely inadmissible statements about the heads of other states," Peskov said.

On Russia's recent exchange with the US, Peskov said that the Russian-American dialogue will be restored in "all parameters".

• For context: Trump and Putin's call last week brought to an end a three-year freeze on direct contact between Moscow and Washington

Russia's ambassador to the UK seemed to agree with Trump's belief that Zelensky needed to hold elections, telling BBC's Newsnight that the Ukrainian leader's "legitimacy [came] to an end in May last year".

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed back on Wednesday that Moscow was refusing Europe a seat at the negotiating table, saying he "has never refused from having contacts with Europeans" when it comes to discussing Kyiv.

And when Trump blamed Ukraine for starting the war earlier in the week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “No Western leader has ever said anything like this, and he’s said it several times. This means that he understands our position."

Image source, Reuters

This week has seen US President Donald Trump kick-off a war of words with his Ukrainian counterpart, President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Speaking from Florida on Wednesday, Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of refusing to hold scheduled elections and hit out at his popularity among voters.

"He's low in the real Ukrainian polls. How can you be high with every city being demolished?"

Zelensky's first five-year term of office was due to come to an end in May 2024. However, Ukraine has been under martial law since the Russian invasion in February 2022, which means elections are suspended.

He has also drawn criticism for labelling Zelensky a "dictator" and said he "better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left".

His attacks came after Zelensky, reacting to US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia - which Kyiv was not invited to -said the US president was "living in a disinformation space" governed by Moscow.

The "dictator" slur quickly prompted criticism from European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said "it is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelensky his democratic legitimacy".

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer made it clear he backed Zelensky in a phone call to the Ukrainian president.

Zelensky has promised to hold an election when the conflict ends.

Image source, EPA

In his nightly address on Thursday, Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky described his day of talks with Trump's Ukraine envoy as restoring "hope".

"We need strong agreements with America, agreements that will really work," he says.

"Economic interests and security interests should always go hand-in-hand. And the details of the agreement are important. The better the details are drafted, the better the result," Zelensky adds.

Zelensky says he spoke to Kellogg about the frontline, and "the need to free all of our prisoners of war" held in Russia.

He says there is a need for a "reliable and well defined system of security guarantees so as the war doesn’t return and Russians are no longer able to maim life. We all need peace – Ukraine, Europe, America – everyone in the world.”

Zelensky also spoke to France's President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday evening, during which the pair discussed "next steps" and their views on security guarantees.

He adds that he spoke to the leaders of Denmark, Norway, Canada, South Africa and Finland.

"Peace is always a common cause, especially the peace we must leave for all future generations."

Tensions remain high between world leaders after US President Donald Trump moved to begin peace talks with Russia that did not involve European leaders.

In an address to the nation last night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “we all need peace”. He was speaking after talks in Kyiv with US envoy Keith Kellogg, which he says have restored "hope”. He also called for "strong agreements" with America.

The meeting came after a major rift opened between Zelensky and Trump, who called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator” earlier this week.

Trump is still “very frustrated” with Zelensky after he levelled “unacceptable” insults at Trump earlier in the week, according to White House security adviser Mike Waltz.

Meanwhile, fighting on the ground continues, with the Ukrainian military saying it responded to a Russian attack of 160 drones and two missiles overnight.

Stay with us as we continue to bring you the latest news lines from the conflict.

Malu Cursino
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

US President Donald Trump is "very frustrated" with the Ukrainian leader, his national security adviser Mike Waltz told a White House news briefing.

The comments come after Volodymyr Zelensky met the US envoy to Kyiv, Keith Kellogg, for talks on the war. A news conference the pair were due to hold was cancelled at the last minute, but Zelensky went on to say on social media the two had had "good discussions".

Ukraine's allies in Europe spent much of Thursday denouncing some of Trump's comments the previous day, as leaders from across the political spectrum reiterated that Russia had started the war - not Ukraine - and that Zelensky was not a "dictator", contrary to what Trump had said.

The UK said it remains "ironclad" in its support for Kyiv, while France warned that Russia poses "an existential threat" to Europe.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has hailed the US president's stance, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Russia "absolutely" agreed with Trump after he urged Zelensky to "move fast" to end the conflict.

We're now wrapping up our coverage, but there is plenty more on offer for you to stay in the know about the latest developments:

• Keep across continuing reaction in Washington DC in our US politics live page
• Watch: What Trump and Zelensky have said about each other as rift deepens
• A look at Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky's relationship over time
• Russian ambassador 'not sure' Ukrainians would re-elect Zelensky
• Starmer backs Zelensky after Trump calls him 'dictator'

The White House is hosting a press briefing, where national security adviser Mike Waltz has been asked about the war in Ukraine and whether Trump could be the subject of "manipulation" by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Waltz says "if there's anybody in this world that can go toe-to-toe with Putin... it's Donald J Trump," referring to him as the "dealmaker in chief"

He adds that he wants to "push back" on the notion that the US's European allies have not been consulted on a potential deal to end the war, saying that the president has spoken with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and France's Emmanuel Macron, and that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to visit next week.

On funding for the war, Waltz says "it is unacceptable" that the US "continues to bear the burden" of the war in Ukraine and the defence of Europe.

"We fully support our Nato allies", he says, but it's time for our European allies to "step up".

We can now bring you the latest from Washington as National Security Adviser Mike Waltz speaks at a news briefing at the White House.

Asked if President Donald Trump views his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as a dictator, after comments from Trump earlier this week in which he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator.

Trump is "very frustrated" with Zelensky right now, Waltz says.

"The fact that he hasn't come to the table, that he hasn't been willing to take this opportunity that we've offered", he says, adding that he hopes the Ukrainian will "very soon".

He doesn't directly answer the question, but finishes by saying: "We could argue all day long about what has happened in the past".

Waltz is also questioned on who is more at fault for the invasion of Ukraine - Vladimir Putin or Volodymyr Zelensky.

Waltz responds by saying that Trump's frustration with Zelensky is multi-fold. He adds that some of what he calls "insults" at Trump coming out of Kyiv are not acceptable.

Image source, Getty Images

We can now bring you further comments from the UK's Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who addressed attendees of the G20 Summit in South Africa earlier today.

He reiterates a desire to see a negotiated peace deal "with Ukraine at its heart", and on terms acceptable to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"We remain Ukraine's ironclad partner," he says, adding that the UK is committed to giving Kyiv £3bn a year for as long as the war lasts.

Lammy says he doesn't see an appetite from Russia to get a peace deal. "That peace could be achieved by leaving Ukraine tomorrow," he says.

Lammy says he looks forward to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's meeting with US President Donald Trump next week, adding the UK will continue to play an "essential role" as the bridge between Europe and the US.

Commenting on Trump's recent comments that Europe should invest more on its own defence, Lammy says: "We do have to do more. This is critical moment."

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he had a "good discussion" with the US envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg today.

According to Zelensky, the pair had a "detailed conversation" about the situation on the battlefield, how to return prisoners of war and "effective security guarantees".

Zelensky says Kyiv is ready for "a strong, effective investment and security arrangement with the president of the United States".

"Strong Ukraine-US relations benefit the entire world," Zelensky adds.

Zelensky's remarks come after a news conference between the pair was hastily cancelled earlier today.

Zelensky's spokesman informed reporters the American side had requested this.