I had a long and detailed conversation with President Trump. I appreciate his genuine interest in our shared opportunities and how we can bring about real peace together.

We discussed many aspects—diplomatic, military, and economic—and President Trump informed me about what… pic.twitter.com/flmigxqtbl

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 12, 2025

UPDATE 1500 GMT:

At least one civilian has been killed and 20 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine in the past 24 hours.

Air defenses downed 85 of 140 drones launched by Russia across 10 regions overnight. Another 52 were lost to electronic counter-measures.

In the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, one person was slain and 10 wounded as the Russians damaged two high-rise buildings and 12 private houses.

The other casualties were in the Donetsk, Sumy, and Odesa regions.

UPDATE 1116 GMT:

Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has stressed, “Nothing can be discussed on Ukraine without Ukraine or on Europe without Europe.”

Sybiha said Ukrainian membership in NATO is still the cheapest way to guarantee security with no compromise over the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.

We want a complete accord. It is in the interests of the United States. With the Trump leadership, with a strong European commitment and European unity, we have a chance to give fresh impetus to this process. But as far as I am aware, our American allies have not yet finalized their plans.

All our allies have said the path of Ukraine towards Nato is irreversible. This prospect is in our Constitution. It is in our strategic interest.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says a deal to end Russia’s invasion should not be imposed on Ukraine: “The next task is to ensure that there is no dictated peace.”

He added, “It is quite clear to me that there can be no solution that is not also a solution in which the US is involved.”

Meanwhile, Scholz ruled out sending German troops to Ukraine to monitor an agreement: “Everyone knows that this is out of the question now.”

He said Ukraine’s future after a peace deal required “a strong army” larger than before the war and equipped with western weapons.

UPDATE 0933 GMT:

Poland’s Europe Minister Adam Szłapka has expressed concern about Donald Trump’s call to Vladimir Putin and plan for direct US-Russia talks over Ukraine, saying it follows the logic of “a 19th-century concert of powers: we’ll have a chat and come up with something.”

He referred to Russia’s mass killing of civilians in Bucha, near Kyiv, in March 2022:

The statement we got from President Trump that they spoke not only about the war, but also other things..it is somewhat strange. Talking about artificial intelligence and so on, while [we are] thinking about the images of the Bucha massacre is somewhat hair-raising.

UPDATE 0820 GMT:

Speaking to reporters before the NATO Defense Ministers meeting in Brussels, TV presenter Pete Hegseth has insisted that the withdrawal of the Trump Administration’s support is not a “betrayal” of Ukraine.

He proclaimed that Russia’s invasion was “a factory reset for NATO” with “realization that this alliance needs to be robust, strong, and real”.

But he spoke of “increased defence spending across the board” and “an important European responsibility”, rather than backing of Kyiv.

Praising Trump as “the best negotiator on the planet”, he was asked if the direct US-Russia talks amounted to a betrayal of Ukraine’s resistance. He responded:

That is your language, not mine. Certainly not a betrayal.

There is no betrayal; there is a recognition that the whole world and the US is invested in peace, in a negotiated peace.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte avoided direct reference to Donald Trump’s statement, saying, “Clearly a lot happened yesterday…[which] will be debated today and over the coming days and weeks.”

There is also a clear convergence emerging that we all want peace in Ukraine, rather sooner than later.

We all want Ukraine to be in the best possible position when those talks start to make sure they can be concluded successfully.

It is crucial that whatever comes out of these talks is durable and enduring….We cannot have Putin again trying to capture a square mile of Ukraine in the future.

Having avoided any pushback against Trump and Hegseth on Wednesday, UK Defense Secretary John Healey said today:

We have seen the calls from President Trump overnight. We all want to see a durable peace and no return to conflict and aggression, and let’s not forget. Russia remains a threat well beyond Ukraine.

My message will be there can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine, and Ukraine’s voice must be at the heart of any talks.

Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair echoed about “a very frank and important discussion”:

Canada is resolved that we will be there for Ukraine to ensure a just and a durable peace….

It is essential from our perspective that Ukraine must be part of that negotiation and we are going to continue to support them to be in the strongest possible position.

In the most significant criticism of Trump and Hegseth, Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said it would have been better if the US had not given concessions to Russia before negotiations even started, such as a bar on Ukrainian membership of NATO or acceptance of Russian occupation.

He noted that a quick peace deal would not necessarily resolve all worries about Russia’s increasingly assertive policy in the region, and Europeans would not be just able to “sit back and relax”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Flattered by Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump has effectively ended US support of Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s three-year full-scale invasion.

In a series of statements on Wednesday, Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared direct US-Russian negotiations over Ukraine’s future, announced the cutback and possible end of American aid to Kyiv, and insulted Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump posted on Truth Social that he had a “lengthy and highly productive phone call” with Vladimir Putin, in which they agreed to start peace talks on Ukraine “immediately”.

Further supporting Putin, Trump said that they both “want to stop the millions of deaths taking place” from Russia’s invasion, and he bragged that Putin referred to his US Presidential campaign motto of “common sense”.

Rejecting Zelensky’s insistence that talks must include Kyiv and Europe, he said US and Russian teams will start talks immediately. They would call Zelensky to “inform him of the conversation”.

The US team will include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and real estate investor and envoy Steve Witkoff.

Significantly, Trump excluded his envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, who had advocated ongoing military aid for Kyiv to ensure a position of strength at the negotiating table.

Trump added that he and Putin had agreed to visit each other’s countries, with their first meeting to take place in Saudi Arabia.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin set up Trump’s shift by released the American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, detained in Moscow in August 2021 and sentenced to 14 years in prison for possession of a small amount of marijuana.

US officials reportedly freed a Russian cyber-criminal in exchange, but the Kremlin’s bigger reward was the play to Trump’s ego.

Trump sent Steve Witkoff, his envoy to the Middle East, rather than Kellogg to Moscow for the ceremony of Fogel’s release.

In its summary of the phone call, the Kremlin signalled its intention to suppress Ukraine: Putin had mentioned to Trump “the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be achieved through peaceful negotiations”.

Trump’s Putdown of Zelensky

Trump later posted on Wednesday that a conversation with Zelensky went “very well”, saying the Ukraine President “like President Putin, wants to make peace”.

He said further talks with Ukrainian leaders will be held during the Munich Security Conference on Friday, with the US side led by Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

However, in commments to reporters, he belittled Zelensky. Asked if he was concerned about excluding the President from discussions, Trump replied, “I don’t think so as long as he’s there.”

He continued, “Sometime [Ukraine is ] going to have to have elections too….His poll numbers aren’t particularly great.”

Zelensky avoided a confrontation with Trump, posted about the call and not referring to the direct US-Russia talks.

<

I had a meaningful conversation with @POTUS. We long talked about opportunities to achieve peace, discussed our readiness to work together at the team level, and Ukraine’s technological capabilities—including drones and other advanced industries. I am grateful to President Trump… pic.twitter.com/2SIOTX3jEp

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 12, 2025

Zelensky said earlier that he had productive and constructive discussions with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who gave him a first draft of a potential agreement on Ukraine’s natural resources.

Trump repeated to reporters that he would seek to “secure” future military aid against the provision by Ukraine of $500 billion in rare earth minerals and other natural resources.

Hegseth: Europe Can Take Over

Speaking to defense ministers in Brussels before Trump’s announcement, TV presenter Hegseth signalled the Administration’s withdrawal from support of Ukraine.

He said Europe “must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine” and then declared that everyone must accept the Russian occupation of around 25% of the country.

We must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusory goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.

Hegseth did not indicate whether this was the Trump Administration’s acceptance of short-term Russian occupation, or a longer-term implicit acceptance of Vladimir Putin’s “annexation” of four Ukrainian regions as well as Crimea.

But he proclaimed that he was “here today to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe”.

@SecDef Pete Hegseth: "We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective."pic.twitter.com/gqgvXcF3FE

— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) February 12, 2025

Europe Tries to Rally

European leaders tried to rally at a meeting of foreign ministers from Ukraine and its allies in Paris.

Seven European countries — Ukraine, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain, and the UK — and the European Commission said in a joint statement:

Our shared objectives should be to put Ukraine in a position of strength. Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations.

Ukraine should be provided with strong security guarantees. A just and lasting peace in Ukraine is a necessary condition for a strong transatlantic security.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said nothing must be decided on Ukraine without Kyiv and Europe. “We need a just peace for everyone,” he emphasized, saying a war of aggression cannot be allowed to succeed.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock echoed that there must be Ukrainian input. She said it was very important that Europe is united with regard to Ukraine and that it must be prepared for negotiations.

“We have been ready for the last three years for peace, unlike Russian President Putin,” she said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Europe would play its role in offering security guarantees for Ukraine even if NATO membership is not immediate.

He noted that there will be no just peace for Ukraine without Europeans being associated with negotiations, and that it is up to Ukrainians to decide the parameters of a peace deal.

In contrast, Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz focused on US Defense Secretary Hegseth’s rejection of NATO membership in NATO.

There was no invitation until now, and it is clear after this statement that there won’t be any. If the most important country does not agree with it, there is not point getting our hopes up that this invite will somehow come anyway.

I think it’s actually good this was said….There had been no from other countries anyway…and now we have a clear answer.

The Defense Minister also said that Poland was not planning to send any troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force.

A “senior European diplomat” said of a multi-national deployment to protect Ukraine, “Europe cannot field a force like this right now. Bu we cannot force the US [to commit troops]. So we must accept this and figure out what we can do.”

Another senior European diplomat called the US position outlined by Hegseth a premature surrender. He asked what there would be left to negotiate over Ukraine, with Russia demanding more and more in the upcoming negotiations.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt cast shade on the European effort. Asked if any of the countries would be involved in peace talks, she said: “I don’t have any European nations who are involved currently to read out for you.”