Sir Keir Starmer says "there must be a US backstop" for a lasting peace agreement in Ukraine, after European leaders met in Paris for an emergency summit on Ukraine
The UK prime minister says "this is a once in a generation moment for the collective security of Europe"
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Europe and the US must work together on security, and Polish PM Donald Tusk says there should be no decisions about Ukraine without its involvement
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says there's no role for Europe in any peace talks, speaking before heading to Saudi Arabia for talks on Ukraine with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
Ukraine's President Zelensky is also in Saudi this week, but says he's not involved in the US-Russia talks
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 - Zelensky says at least 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed defending the country
Watch: There must be a US backstop to deter Russia - Starmer
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz goes on to say there should be "no split" between the US and Europe on responsibility for Ukraine security.
He adds that European funding is in discussion, and has proposed a "supplementary budget margin".
We will bring you any further lines from European leaders as they leave the summit in Paris.
Image source, ZDFThe meeting between European leaders in Paris now appears to have ended and we're now hearing from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
He begins by saying support for Ukraine must continue, adding no dictate can be imposed on Ukraine, Reuters news agency reports.
He says if European states spend more than 2% of GDP on defence, Germany considers this should not be part of EU budget limits.
Scholz goes on to say that Germany will continue to invest in military spending, and that it must be more flexible with its budget rules.
As we've been reporting, Keir Starmer and other European leaders have convened in Paris for a meeting to discuss Ukraine.
In a clip posted on X from the French capital, the UK prime minister says any settlement in the Ukraine war needs to be a "lasting peace deal, not just a pause for [Vladimir] Putin to come again".
"There's also a wider peace here, which is the collective security and defence of Europe. And here I think we've got a generational challenge," he adds.
Starmer goes on to say that "we've all got to step up in terms of capability and what we do as Europeans".
We will bring you more from the meeting in Paris when we have it.
The US is yet to appoint its chief negotiator for Tuesday's talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia, says Yuriy Ushakov, a leading figure on the Russian team heading for Riyadh.
Ushakov, who is President Vladimir Putin's aide, tells Russia's state-run Channel One TV channel that the mood of the Russian team is "business like" ahead of the meeting in the Saudi capital.
He says the two sides have agreed during phone talks that they will be discussing how to "restore normal relations" between Moscow and Washington, how to "start possible negotiations on Ukraine", and the "prospects of contacts on the highest level".
Image source, Office of the President of UkraineUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he expects that General Keith Kellogg, US President Donald Trump's envoy to Ukraine, will be visiting Kyiv on Thursday.
"We're waiting for Kellogg. We had an agreement for him to arrive on 20 February, to stay for two days and maybe more," Zelensky tells reporters.
"I want to take him to the front, and he'll go with me to the front, I think he won't refuse. I want him to learn about all the issues, to talk to our military personnel," the Ukrainian leader adds.
Over the weekend it was revealed that Kellogg would not be in attendance at this week's summit in Saudi Arabia where representatives from the US and Russia will meet.
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesUkrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko has told the BBC that Ukrainians are "concerned" the expected talks between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin "may take a wrong turn".
The 37-year-old MP from the Holos (Voice) party stresses that Kyiv has been very clear "there can be no negotiations and especially no agreements" signed without Ukraine at the table.
"Hopefully we will get heard. And it's hopefully not just for the sake of Ukraine, but...for the sake of a long standing peace and the whole of Europe", she says, adding that Europe must also play a prominent role in any negotiations.
"This war... is happening on the territory of Ukraine; Ukraine is part of Europe. It's happening in Europe."
Kristina Volk
Reporting from Oberhausen
More now from our visit to a refugee centre for Ukrainians in the German city of Oberhausen, where one woman, Lydia, tells us she has been left homeless following Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
The group Lydia is with feels anxious about the latest developments, agreeing that they “just don’t know what will happen next”.
And, Lydia adds: “With America and Russia talking about Ukraine without including us, we are really unsure about the future.”
They are all grateful to Germany for giving them a safe place to stay but say more support is needed.
When asked if they want Germany and Europe to support Ukraine with more weapons and even troops on the ground, everyone chimes in, enthusiastically saying: “obviously, yes this is what we need”.
Ukrainian student Sophia, who now lives in Glasgow, is worried about what post-war life will look like in Ukraine if the conflict ends.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, she says if a peacekeeping deal is agreed, "it would give us kind of hope, but what Ukraine will look like if I decide to come back to my country to rebuild it or to live again or to visit my family, where I will go?"
She says it would be good to get additional troops and support from other countries, but worries that they won't fight for Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers are scared but "do it because it's our country. It's like, first of all, our responsibility to save our families," Sophia adds.
Her parents live in Zaporizhzhia, near the front line.
"It's impossible because you can go outside, you can be killed, no problem. You can stay home, you will be killed. There is no safe place at all."
Kristina Volk
Reporting from Oberhausen
Lydia, a Ukrainian refugee, says she has nothing to go back to after her home was destroyed
At a refugee centre in the German city of Oberhausen, a group of elderly Ukrainians gather around a table for coffee.
They are talking about how the Russian President Vladimir Putin claims to “free Ukrainians” but say “the only thing he freed us of is “separating them from our families” who they had to leave behind.
When Lydia talks about the destruction of her village in the eastern part of Ukraine, she has tears in her eyes prompting the other women to comfort her.
She says “most of us who are here have lost everything. Everything is gone, back home. There is nothing we can go back to.”
Despite this, everyone in the group says they want to go back to the country. They say this is also the reason they have remained living at the refugee centre, even though they would be legally allowed to search for their own accommodation.
Tom Bateman
Reporting from Riyadh
Image source, ReutersMarco Rubio departed Israel for Saudi Arabia earlier on Monday
Tuesday’s meeting in Saudi Arabia between senior US and Russian officials will be a “first step” towards seeing whether Moscow is “serious” about talks to end the war in Ukraine; but will not amount to the start of negotiations, according to the US State Department.
The talks in Riyadh will mark the most significant turning point in ties between Washington and Moscow since the start of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, and follow President Trump’s call last week with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“This is a follow up on that initial conversation between Putin and President Trump about perhaps if that first step is even possible,” said State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce.
“I don't think people should view this as something that is about details or moving forward in some kind of a negotiation,” she added.
Asked whether the meeting would work towards a Trump-Putin summit, Bruce said: “I presume that if you're going to have a meeting that's going to determine what more is possible, there will be something else that comes, and I think that all of these individuals have a history of getting things done.”
Image source, Getty ImagesWe can now bring you the latest images from Riyadh as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
He was joined by other key US officials as they prepare for talks with Russian officials on Tuesday.
As a reminder: Marco Rubio has travelled to Saudi Arabia to discuss Gaza and the Israel-Hamas war on Monday.
Rubio is also scheduled for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin's aide, Yuriy Ushakov, on Tuesday.
Kyiv will not be taking part in the talks in Saudi Arabia, the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
After PM Keir Starmer said the UK is "ready and willing" to put British peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, the former head of the British Army said it doesn't have the numbers to send a "large force" to Ukraine for an "extended period".
So - how many troops does the UK have?
As of October 2024, there were 74,612 members of the UK’s regular army forces (excluding Gurkhas and volunteers), according to the latest Ministry of Defence (MoD) figures, external.
And that number has been falling in recent years - it was 82,040 in October 2021.
In June 2024, Starmer claimed that the Tories had cut the army to its smallest size "since Napoleon" and missed recruitment targets every year. On the statistical point about the army's size in terms of regular troop numbers, the Labour claim does seem to be broadly correct.
In 1800 - at the start of the Napoleonic era - the army was about 80,000-strong, according to data released by the MoD in 2017, external.
Image source, UK ParliamentThe leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey says there should be a vote in parliament over the deployment of troops, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer suggested he was ready to put UK peacekeeping troops in Ukraine if and when the war ends.
In a post on X, external, Davey says the prime minister is "absolutely right" about deploying troops in Ukraine to "deter Putin", adding he's confident all sides of the House would agree with Starmer, other than Reform.
Earlier today, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat told BBC Radio 5's Matt Chorley that the British army would find it very hard to maintain troops on the ground.
"Let’s be honest with the British people. The British army would currently find it very hard to maintain 5,000 troops on the ground. We’d need 150,000 there. The UK contribution would be… well not huge," he says.
"The reality is if Keir Starmer wants to have this role, this position - and a British PM should have this role - then we need to make the investments that go with it."
Image source, UK ParliamentPrime Minister Keir Starmer's announcement, ahead of the Paris meeting, that the UK is "ready and willing to contribute" troops to Ukraine is a "major announcement," says the former top civil servant in the Foreign Office.
Lord Simon McDonald tells BBC Radio 4 that he believes the prime minister's plans would still need "proper preparation" and a debate would need to be held in the House of Commons.
"It’s not something the prime minister in my view should decide all by himself," says McDonald.
The former Foreign Office chief notes there should be a very clear mandate on what the British forces are doing there, and confirmation that they have the capabilities to sustain their presence in Ukraine.
"So this is big and early days," he says.
"UK armed forces are highly capable and can move at speed but they need to know precisely what is expected of them."
As we've reported, Emmanuel Macron is currently hosting European leaders in the Elysee Palace for an emergency summit on Ukraine.
The French president also spoke with US President Donald Trump ahead of the meeting, according to a French presidency official.
Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockEarlier today, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters at an election campaign event of the need for a "strong Ukrainian army" when asked whether German troops could be deployed for a potential future peace mission in Ukraine.
"How can peace be guaranteed without decisions being taken over the heads of Ukrainians? It is quite clear to me that the focus must be on a very strong Ukrainian army, even in times of peace," the chancellor said.
"This will be a major task for Europe, the United States and international allies."
He says that there will be "no question of European troops in Ukraine" as long as there is a war, adding that future questions about the security architecture will be discussed "when the time comes".
Scholz is one of a number of European leaders gathering in Paris today for an emergency summit to discuss the war in Ukraine. We'll bring you the latest from that meeting as details emerge.
Nick Beake
Europe correspondent, in Copenhagen
Denmark will be the only Nordic nation at Monday's meeting in Paris. But it will, in a way, also be representing the interests of its Baltic neighbours to the east – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – all of whom border Russia and feel particularly vulnerable to any future Putin attack.
The shockwaves generated by the second Trump term have already been reverberating around Denmark.
President Trump's renewed desire to take over Greenland – an autonomous Danish dependent territory - propelled Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on a whistle-stop tour of European allies last month to shore up support.
In Paris, Frederiksen finds herself once again in a hastily-convened meeting to respond to Trump's reshaping of the transatlantic security landscape.
The Danish PM has not yet followed in Starmer's footsteps of pledging peacekeeping boots on the ground in Ukraine.
Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen has been quoted by Danish media as saying he is not ruling it out – but that it is too early to talk about.
As we've just reported, European leaders have begun arriving at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
We can bring you more images of them being greeted by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Image source, ReutersEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with Macron
Image source, ReutersGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz with Macron
Image source, ReutersDenmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen with Macron
Liza Fokht
BBC Russian service, reporting from Paris
European leaders have arrived at the Elysée Palace for impromptu talks on Ukraine.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was one of the first leaders to arrive. President Emmanuel Macron greeted Starmer with a brief exchange, asking how he was.
After that, other delegates attending the emergency meeting arrived, heading up the steps of the palace in front of us.
They were received with a guard of honour by the French military.
Image source, PoolEuropean leaders have begun arriving at the Elysee Palace in Paris for the impromptu summit.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is among those who has just arrived.