Donald Trump speaks to the media at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, February 18, 2025 (Kevin Lamarque/AP)

EA on BBC: Trump Chooses Putin Over Ukraine

EA on France 24 English and RTE: Ukraine — The US-Russia Talks Over Moscow’s Invasion

Wednesday’s Coverage: Trump — Zelensky is Illegitimate Leader of “Massive Demolition Site”

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1806 GMT:

Hundreds of injured Russian troops are going to North Korean facilities for medical rehabilitation and rest.

Aleksei tells Pjotr Sauer of The Guardian that he was in Wonsan on the east coast with about two dozen other Russian soldiers, with access to a pool and a sauna. He spent his days playing table tennis and cards with fellow servicemen.

“The facilities were clean and good overall, and the sun was shining,” he said. Still, he complained that he did not receive the medical treatment typically expected at a sanatorium, while the meals were “tasteless and lacked meat”.

He and the other soldiers were forbidden from wandering outside in the evenings or making contact with locals. Alcohol was also hard to obtain.

UPDATE 1517 GMT:

Donald Trump’s envoy Keith Kellogg has cancelled his press conference after meeting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials said Kellogg will not be taking questions from the press, and will only appear for a photocall and protocol handshake.

UPDATE 1444 GMT:

The Trump Administration has suspended the processing of immigration applications submitted by migrants from Ukraine, as well as several other countries, under programs approved during the Biden Presidency.

In late January, Trump officials stopped accepting new applications under the Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) program. The “administrative pause” was confirmed in a memo from Andrew Davidson of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on February 14.

As of March 2023, more than 118,000 Ukrainians came to the US under U4U program. Another 103,700 Ukrainian citizens are in the US under the Temporary Protected Status program.

The Department of Homeland Security declared that the suspension was “pending the completion of additional review to identify any fraud, risks to public safety, or threats to national security”.

UPDATE 1430 GMT:

The Trump Administration is blocking the G7 — the US, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, and the UK — from citing “Russian aggression” in a joint statement on the third anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to “five western officials familiar with the matter”.

“We are adamant that there must be a distinction made between Russia and Ukraine. They are not the same,” an official briefed on the matter said. “The Americans are blocking that language, but we are still working on it and hopeful of an agreement.”

Russia’s aggression was mentioned five times in the G7 statement last year, including the injunction, “We call on Russia to immediately cease its war of aggression and completely and unconditionally withdraw its military forces from the internationally recognised territory of Ukraine.”

UPDATE 1053 GMT:

The Trump Administration may pursue a “simplified” deal for Ukraine’s rare earth minerals and later negotiate detailed terms, such as the extent of US ownership, say “two people with knowledge of the matter”.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the initial proposal, presented by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Kyiv last Tuesday, because it was “not ready,” drafted under US law, and offered inadequate compensation.

He told reporters, “I am protecting Ukraine. I can’t sell it away, I can’t sell our state.

Asked if the Administration would try again, a Trump official said, “Absolutely. We need to get this guy back to reality.”

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told Fox TV that Ukraine should “tone it down, take a hard look and sign that deal”.

He said Ukrainian comments on the agreement and how Trump is carrying out talks over Russia’s invasion are unacceptable, Waltz said, given everything the US has done for Ukraine.

But this could be overcome as Trump “also said how much he loves the Ukrainian people”.

Misusing the term shuttle diplomacy, Waltz denied that Ukraine and its European partners were not being consulted.

There’s a term for this in diplomacy. It’s called shuttle diplomacy, because bringing everybody to the table at once just hasn’t worked in the past.

Treasury Secretary Bessent put a different spin on the denunciation of the Zelensky Government for not giving up the rare earth minerals.

Like Trump, he lied, “President Zelenskyy, when I met with him, assured me he would be signing the minerals deal in Munich [last weekend]. He has not”.

He said the handover of the minerals, in return for past US aid, was Trump’s “very elegant plan” to “bring the Ukrainians closer to the US”, but has now turned into “a media circus”.

The sequencing of what was going to happen was: bring the Ukrainians closer to the US through economic ties, convince the American people, the American public, get them onside.

And then tell the Russians, go to the negotiating table with a very fulsome message that if we need to, we will take sanctions up.

He maintained that “the US with greater economic interests in Ukraine provides a security shield”.

Bessent joined other Administration in chiding Zelensky for calling out Trump’s tactics and disinformation. He said the remarks were “inappropriate”, as Zelensky “unfortunately escalated” and “put some daylight” between Ukraine and the US.

UPDATE 0849 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet Donald Trump’s envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv on Thursday.

In his nightly video address to the nation, Zelensky said it was “crucial that this discussion and our overall cooperation with the US remains constructive.” He added:

Together with America and Europe, peace can be more secure, and that is our goal. But most importantly, this goal must be shared by our partners, not just by us.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. has retweeted a post mocking Zelensky, with an AI-created image from the President’s days as a comedic actor “before he became a CIA plant for regime change in Ukraine”.

Trump Jr. added, “Zelenskyy should really just go win the war without our $$$. Let’s see how that works out.”

UPDATE 0821 GMT:

At least seven civilians were killed and at least 30 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Air defenses downed 80 of 161 drones launched by Russia on 11 regions. Another 78 were lost to electronic counter-measures.

Russia also fired 14 missiles.

“The purpose of these criminal attacks is to stop the production of gas needed to meet the household needs of citizens and centralized heating,” said Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.

Three people were killed and 10 injured in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

Two were slain and 13 wounded, including two children, in the Kherson region in the south, as three apartment buildings and 13 houses were damaged. In one building, 15 apartments were destroyed.

In the Kharkiv region in the northeast, two men were killed and five other civilians injured.

Odesa city in southern Ukraine was attacked for the second consecutive night, leaving almost 90,000 people without electricity or heating.

Four people, including a child, were injured in the first attacks early Wednesday, which damaged a children’s clinic, a kindergarten, high-rise buildings, and cars. The assault cut power to 14 schools, 13 kindergartens, and more than 500 houses.

UPDATE 0807 GMT:

French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer are travelling to Washington next week for discussions with Trump Administration officials.

The announcement comes amid statements by “Western officials” that the France and the UK are leading efforts to create a European “reassurance force” to prevent future Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities, ports, and critical infrastructure.

Sources have told EA that members of NATO have been discussing for 18 months the deployment of specialist units to western Ukraine, supporting air defenses and guarding infrastructure such as energy facilities and drone manufacturing plants.

The proposal has been galvanized by recent statements of Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Vice President J.D. Vance pointing to the withdrawal of US support for Ukraine and European security.

The Western officials reinforced EA’s sources, saying the plan involves less than 30,000 troops and will concentrate on air and maritime defence. Ground forces would be minimal and will not deployed in the east of Ukraine.

The force will ensure the safe reopening of Ukraine’s airspace to commercial flights and maintain the security of trade through the Black Sea.

One official emphasized that a precondition of the plan would be a US commitment to a “backstop”, likely to be “biased towards air power and the extraordinary strength we have”. Those operations could be based in Poland and Romania.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with both Macron and Starmer on Wednesday.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has called out Donald Trump’s support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, challenging Trump for “living in a disinformation bubble”.

After damaging speeches by Trump Administration officials at last weekend’s Munich Security Conference and the start of direct US-Russia talks over the invasion, Zelensky and European allies have given up on flattering Trump.

On Tuesday, triggered by Zelensky’s reference to Ukraine’s exclusion from the talks, Trump railed against the President and his country. He called Ukraine a “demolition site”, without referring to Russian attacks and mass killings, and falsely said Zelensky has only 4% support.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Zelensky pointed to the latest poll showing 58% of Ukrainians still backing the measures to resist Russia: “So if anyone wants to replace me right now, that will not work.”

He then highlighted “a lot of disinformation coming from Russia”: “Unfortunately, President Trump, with all due respect for him as the leader of a nation that we respect greatly…is living in this disinformation bubble.”

Unwittingly proving Zelensky’s point, Trump posted another lie-filled rant on his Truth Social platform in the afternoon, snapping
that Zelensky had “done a terrible job” and was a dictator “without elections”.

Again ignoring Russia’s attacks, he warned that Zelensky “better move fast” or he will not have a country left. He lied Zelensky had said half of US aid to Ukraine is “MISSING”, repeated his falsehood about the President’s approval rating, and sneered, “Zelensky has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died.”

Addressing an investment forum in Miami, Trump lied about his attempt to get $500 billion in rare earth minerals from Ukraine: “We had a deal on rare earths and stuff, and they broke that deal two days ago.”

In fact, Zelensky considered the draft, presented to him last week by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week in Kyiv, and rejected it. He said on Tuesday that the plan was “not ready,” drafted under US law, and offered inadequate compensation.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin celebrated his victory, and that of Russian disinformation, with the US-Russia talks on Monday in Saudi Arabia. He proclaimed that Trump had begun receiving “objective information” about the war in Ukraine that led him to “change his position”.

“Russia and the US are cooperating on economic issues, energy markets, space, and other areas,” Putin proclaimed. He said he was happy to meet Trump, but “preparation was necessary”.