Summary

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has clashed with US President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance in extraordinary exchanges in the Oval Office - Watch the video at the top of this page

  • Trump bluntly accused Zelensky of "gambling with World War Three" and said he should make a peace deal with Russia "or we're out"

  • Zelensky said there should be "no compromises" with Russian President Vladimir Putin

  • A much-anticipated minerals deal was not signed and Zelensky was told to leave the White House

  • Speaking later to Fox News, Zelensky said the spat with Trump was "not good for both sides" but he thought the relationship could go forward

  • UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has spoken with both Trump and Zelensky, a spokeswoman said, adding that he "retains unwavering support for Ukraine"

  • Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022

Media caption,

Watch: From laughter to anger, how the meeting spiralled

  1. Ukraine says seven injured in 'massive' Russian drone attack on Kharkivpublished at 05:00 Greenwich Mean Time

    Firefigthers tackle a blaze after a Russian drone attack in Kharkiv, north-eastern UkraineImage source, Kharkiv region state emergency service DSNS

    Ukraine says seven people were injured in a "massive" overnight drone attack on the north-eastern city of Kharkiv.

    The state emergency service DSNS says 64 people - most of them patients - were evacuated from a three-storey medical facility that was on fire after being hit by one of the drones.

    Residential buildings, a shopping centre and other civil infrastructure facilities were damaged in the city, the DSNS says.

    In Russia, the country's defence ministry reported that 48 Ukrainian drones had been "intercepted and destroyed" overnight in eight regions, including in Crimean peninsula which was annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

  2. Trump: A ceasefire could take place immediatelypublished at 04:38 Greenwich Mean Time

    Bernd Debusmann Jr
    Reporting from the White House

    Media caption,

    Watch: Zelensky 'overplayed his hand' at the Oval Office, says Trump

    Speaking to reporters outside White House after his meeting with Zelensky, Trump said that to resume talks Zelensky must say he wanted peace.

    He also claimed that Zelensky wanted to come back to the White House "right now" but that was not convenient for Trump.

    He added that a ceasefire could take place "immediately".

    "We're not going to keep fighting, were going to get the war done or let them go and see what happens, let them fight it out," the president told reporters.

  3. Analysis: Ukraine is left on a perilous pathpublished at 04:19 Greenwich Mean Time

    James Waterhouse
    Ukraine correspondent in Kyiv

    James WaterhouseImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    James reporting from Kyiv on Friday night

    If you are watching Ukrainian TV tonight, the meeting was reported in quite a straight, measured way. They simply referred to a minerals deal that was not signed.

    But of course it is the spectacular way things broke down in the Oval Office which has shocked many, with some expressing their shock online.

    Here in Kyiv, the people we spoke to are actually quite proud of the way Volodomyr Zelensky stood up to a near-coordinated shouting assault by the US president and vice-president.

    This was still nevertheless a high-stakes visit for Ukraine’s leader. This was not about purely minerals or money.

    It was about trying to engage Donald Trump to try to get him to produce a deeper co-operation with Ukraine that may amount to what are called security guarantees - military pledges that underpin any future ceasefire.

    Because the belief here, fundamentally, is that without America’s support as a safety net, any ceasefire would barely be worth the paper it is written on. Europe by its own acknowledgement is struggling to fill that gap, and Ukraine has always needed external help whilst it has done the fighting.

    It leaves Ukraine down a perilous path with a destination still unknown. But it could, from today, lose this war.

  4. How that escalated quicklypublished at 03:56 Greenwich Mean Time

    Myroslava Petsa and Daniel Wittenberg
    BBC Ukrainian, in the Oval Office

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) and US President Donald Trump in the Oval OfficeImage source, EPA

    The day began with the same cordial routine the White House reserves for visiting foreign dignitaries.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was welcomed by President Donald Trump at the door of the West Wing with an honour guard, and the leaders shook hands politely.

    We were in the Oval Office as part of Ukrainian media pool, witnessing the well-rehearsed formalities.

    Zelensky presented President Trump with the championship belt of Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk.

    Trump complimented Zelensky's clothing.

    So far, so diplomatic.

    But minutes later, what erupted was unprecedented to say the least. The genial tone devolved into acrimony and chaos. Voices were raised, eyes rolled, aspersions were cast - and all in front of the world's TV cameras.

    Journalists in the room watched with gaping mouths, as extraordinary exchanges followed.

    Afterwards, our American colleagues remarked that they had never seen anything like it. "A scene like this was simply unimaginable in the White House," one told me.

    Continue reading: What it was like in the room during the shouting match

  5. Watch: 'We're not the ones gambling with World War Three'published at 03:27 Greenwich Mean Time

    Media caption,

    Watch: 'Unpleasant to see' - Ukrainians react to Trump and Zelensky's spat

  6. White House says situation 'much different' from start of warpublished at 03:05 Greenwich Mean Time

    White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily White House press briefing at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on February 25, 2025 in Washington, DC.Image source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Karoline Leavitt

    White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has said the American people are "sick and tired of footing" the bill for Ukraine.

    "He [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky] refuses to recognise the practical reality of this war," says Leavitt to reporters outside the White House. "It has been going on for years, his countrymen are dying, and the people who have been funding this effort - the American people - are sick and tired of footing this bill."

    Zelensky, she adds, finds himself in a "much different situation" now than in 2022, when the war in Ukraine began.

    "The cards are not in his favour. They are in President Trump's favour," she says, adding Trump has different priorities than the last US administration and wants an end to the war.

    "It doesn't seem like Zelensky wants that quite yet," she says.

  7. What to know about the Russia-Ukraine warpublished at 02:34 Greenwich Mean Time

    Anna, who is about to turn 80 and has no family, is evacuated by members of the 'East SOS' charity foundation from the frontline city of Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, 25 February 2025,Image source, EPA
    Image caption,

    A woman being evacuated from near the front line in Ukrainian-held Donetsk this week

    Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine just over three years ago.

    On 24 February 2022, 200,000 Russian soldiers entered the country - with President Vladimir Putin claiming at the time that he would take the capital of Kyiv in a matter of days.

    Putin has repeatedly claimed that the "special military operation" was aimed at "denazifying" Ukraine and preventing Nato expansion.

    In the years that have followed, millions of Ukrainians have fled and tens of thousands of military service members on both sides are believed to have been killed or injured.

    Russia has taken swathes of Ukrainian territory in the east. In 2014, the year widely considered the true start of the conflict, Moscow annexed Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, after the overthrow of Ukraine's pro-Russian president.

    In response to the conflict, Western nations have targeted Russia's oligarchs and businesses with sweeping sanctions, as well as supplying Ukraine with vital military and other aid.

  8. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Zelensky should apologisepublished at 01:43 Greenwich Mean Time

    U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations confirmation hearing at Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 15, 2025 in Washington, DC.Image source, Getty Images

    Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, just appeared on CNN for an interview.

    Speaking to the network's programme "The Source", Rubio describes the meeting earlier today between Presidents Donald Trump and Volodomyr Zelensky as a "fiasco" and said the Ukrainian leader should apologise.

    “There was no need for him to go in there and become antagonistic,” Rubio says of Zelensky.

    “When you start talking about that aggressively – and the president is a deal maker, he made deals his entire life – you’re not going to get people to the table,” he says.

    Rubio then adds: "You start to perceive that maybe Zelensky doesn’t want a peace deal. He says he does, but maybe he doesn’t."

  9. Analysis

    Trump-Zelensky row signals major crisis for Natopublished at 01:31 Greenwich Mean Time

    Jeremy Bowen
    International Editor

    Swedish soldiers take part in a Nato exercise in Latvia. Photo: 25 February 2025Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

    The relationship between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky was bad enough before the shouting match in the Oval Office.

    President Trump had already called him a dictator and said Ukraine started the war - which is a lie.

    Now the US-Ukraine alliance nurtured by Joe Biden is in pieces.

    The public breakdown also signals a major crisis looming between European members of Nato and the US.

    There will be many more doubts and questions about the US commitment to European security outside Ukraine. The biggest is whether President Trump would keep the promise his predecessor Harry Truman made in 1949 to treat an attack on a Nato ally as an attack on America.

    Those concerns are based on what appears to be Trump's determination to restore a strong relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    He has put heavy pressure on Ukraine while offering Putin big concessions - that would have to be made by the Ukrainians.

    The security of Ukraine is coming a poor second - and Europeans are worrying theirs is too.

  10. Ukrainian delegation quiet after extraordinary daypublished at 01:24 Greenwich Mean Time

    Myroslava Petsa
    BBC News Ukrainian, in Washington DC

    The Ukrainian delegation here in Washington has gone quiet.

    A planned appearance by President Zelensky at a think tank earlier this evening was cancelled at the last minute – after the buffet had already been served.

    Ukrainian officials are still trying to process what happened today.

    But there’s no doubt in government circles that this trip has gone terribly wrong.

    A day that was meant to bring about a new chapter in US-Ukraine relations has ended with the two sides in uncharted territory.

    US support has proven critical for Ukraine’s survival – President Zelensky said as much on Fox News this evening.

    He heads to London on Saturday to meet UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, an important ally.

    But Kyiv will be thinking hard about how to salvage damaged relations with their most important partner - the United States.

  11. Starmer speaks to Trump and Zelensky, reiterates 'unwavering support' for Ukrainepublished at 01:23 Greenwich Mean Time

    Chris Mason
    Political editor

    A No 10 spokeswoman says:

    “The prime minister has tonight spoken to both President Trump and President Zelensky.

    “He retains unwavering support for Ukraine, and is doing all he can to find a path forward to a lasting peace based on sovereignty and security for Ukraine.

    “The prime minister looks forward to hosting international leaders on Sunday including President Zelensky.”

  12. Ukrainians react to White House meetingpublished at 01:23 Greenwich Mean Time

    Vitaliy Shevchenko
    BBC Monitoring's Russia editor

    Here's a look at some of the Ukrainian reaction to the tense meeting in the White House.

    Political commentator Volodymyr Fesenko tells Ukrainian TV: “President Zelensky’s nerves probably failed him. He should have been more restrained and flexible, especially reacting to JD Vance. And it’s best not to argue with Trump”.

    Ukrainian journalist Illia Ponomarenko also weighs in: "It's just shameful. They are shamelessly bending over backward to find anything—anything at all—to pick at in Zelensky," he wrote on X.

    "And all of this is happening in front of the entire world, before the global press, live on air. They are trying everything on earth to break Zelensky".

    Officials in Ukraine have also responded. Maksym Kozytsky, head of regional administration in western Lviv region, writes: “I’ve been watching the events in Washington closely. England had Richard the Lionheart, we have Volodymyr the Lionheart.”

  13. Zelensky says spat with Trump was 'not good' but relationship can be salvagedpublished at 01:22 Greenwich Mean Time

    Brandon Livesay
    Reporting from New York

    Media caption,

    Watch moment Zelensky, Vance and Trump get into angry exchange over Ukraine war

    Hello and welcome to our continued coverage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's dramatic visit to Washington DC.

    What was supposed to be a diplomatic trip to sign a rare minerals deal with the US turned into a fiery clash in the Oval Office - with Zelensky on one side and US President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance on the other.

    In front of them was a room full of media, watching on in shock as the trio argued and talked over each other.

    No minerals deal was signed, and Zelensky was told to leave the White House.

    Later in the day, Trump told reporters that he did not think Zelensky wanted peace and that the Ukrainian leader had overplayed his hand.

    Not long after that, Zelensky appeared on US TV network Fox News and said he had regrets over how that meeting played out, but that he thought the relationship could be salvaged.

    If you would like to read through how a truly extraordinary day in global politics played out, you can revisit our coverage here.

    Stick with us as we continue to bring you the latest.