EA on BBC: Trump’s 100-Minute Speech of Destruction

Wednesday’s Coverage: Zelensky — “I Reiterate Our Commitment to Peace”

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1918 GMT:

Ukraine’s officials will meet Trump Administration representatives in Saudi Arabia next Tuesday.

The Ukrainian delegation will be led by Presidential Chief of Staff Andrii Yermak. Defense Minister Rustem Umerov may also participate.

Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said, “We’re now in discussions to coordinate a meeting with the Ukrainians in Riyadh, or even potentially Jeddah. The idea is to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well.”

Witkoff claimed that, following Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s social media post on Tuesday calling for a resolution under Trump’s “strong leadership” of Russia’s invasion, Trump received a letter which was a “very positive first step”.

He declared that Zelensky has sent an “apology” with a “sense of gratitude” for all that the US has done.

He said the President has “demonstrated that he’s intent on that good faith path back”: “Zelensky said that he wants to work towards peace. That’s ultimately the goal.”

UPDATE 1856 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has posted after the European Council meeting in Brussels.

Ukrainians truly want peace, but not at the cost of giving up Ukraine. The real question for any negotiations is whether Russia is capable of giving up the war. Be sure that Ukraine will share all the details of peace plans and the talks process with all of Europe. Every European nation that helps must be on board on the path to peace.

I urge you to continue supporting the position that any issues related to Ukraine’s security should be resolved with Ukraine’s participation, just as any issues related to the security of your nations or Europe as a whole should be resolved with your participation.

Zelensky welcomed the €800 billion ReArm Europe plan, with increased defense spending and investment by European nations. He expressed gratitude for the European Union’s 16th sanctions package, and called for a 17th.

UPDATE 1852 GMT:

Norway is increasing its budgeted aid for Ukraine in 2025 by more than 150%.

Oslo will dedicate 85 billion Norwegian kroner ($7.81 billion) this year, up from 35 billion ($3.22 billion).

“We are increasing support because there is a need for it, and it is a solid contribution to peace and stability in Europe,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told reporters.

UPDATE 1848 GMT:

Donald Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has defended the cut-off of US intelligence to Kyiv.

I believe the push is to get them to engage in diplomatic activities…to get this to the table and say, this is an approach to going forward….

It’s a forcing function to get to the realization that we wanted to go to a peace discussion, a peace deal….

The best way I can describe it is sort of like hitting a mule with a two by four across the nose. You get their attention.

He blamed Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky for the attempt by Trump and J.D. Vance to humiliate him in the White House last Friday: “You don’t negotiate peace discussions in public. You don’t try to challenge the President of the United States in the Oval Office.”

Saying that Trump acts like a businessman rather than a conventional President, he said Kyiv will not get any US assistance until it confirms a minerals deal.

My personal belief be, you don’t move forward until you get a signed document, period….

There is a difference between offering to do it and doing it.

Sign the document.

UPDATE 1844 GMT:

Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, has said at a conference in London:

The failure to qualify actions of Russia as an aggression is a huge challenge for the entire world, and Europe in particular, because we see that it’s not just the axis of evil and Russia trying to revise the world order, but the US is finally destroying this order.

Zalushnyi, a former military commander-in-chief, said he is concerned by “a number of talks between the US and Russia – Russia being headed by a war criminal – we see that the White House makes steps towards the Kremlin, trying to meet them halfway,”.

It’s obvious that the White House has questioned the unity of the whole western world, and now Washington is trying to delegate the security issues to Europe without participation of the US. So we can say that in the near future, Nato … can stop existing.

“In the backdrop of the Nato’s inability or unpreparedness to stand up to this axis of evil, the position of Ukraine becomes very important. Ukraine does not have its own nuclear weapons, it pays for its freedom with its blood.

“The existence of independent Ukraine today is indeed one of the critical factors for you, for the European security and safety,” he emphasized. “Ukraine should get very realistic security guarantees, and it can and should hope for the full recovery of Ukraine at the expense of the aggressor state that attacked Ukraine.”

UPDATE 1500 GMT:

The Trump Administration is preparing to revoke the temporary legal status of 240,000 Ukrainians in the US who fled from Russia’s invasion, say “a senior Trump official and three sources familiar with the matter”.

The revocation is expected as soon as April.

There are around 5.2 million Ukrainian refugees, with the vast majority protected in EU countries.

UPDATE 1445 GMT:

After reports of secret meetings with Trump Administration officials (see 0718 GMT), Ukraine’s opposition leaders rejected Donald Trump’s demand for an election under martial law.

Former President Petro Poroshenko said elections should only happen after peace had been established, with a vote no later than 180 days after the end of the war.

Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko agreed while saying her team “is talking with all our allies who can help in securing a just peace as soon as possible”.

UPDATE 1437 GMT:

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said it was “about damn time” for Europe to “say that we are ready to put finally our money where our mouth is on Ukraine”.

This is something that we have been asking for a long time: that the European Union, that Europe is capable of standing up on its own two feet.

That’s why we’ve been saying we need to scale up. We need to be prepared. We need to produce and we need to protect.

That is essentially what our citizens are asking from us.

UPDATE 1427 GMT:

Arriving at the European Council meeting in Brussels, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked European leaders for their “strong support”:

From the very beginning of the war and…during all this period and last week, you stay with us.

We are very thankful that we are not alone. And these are not just words. We feel it.

It’s very important you [sent] a strong signal to Ukrainian people, to Ukrainian warriors, to civilians, to all our families.

European Council president António Costa said leaders need to “make decisions and deliver” on their promises in the serious situation: “We are here to support Ukraine to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.”

Turning to Zelensky, he said, We are with you, we will continue with you now and in the future,” envisaging Ukraine as a “future member state”.

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen cited “a watershed” moment for Europe and Ukraine as the continent “faces a clear and present danger”.

UPDATE 0945 GMT:

At a joint press conference with Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov, Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz has announced Warsaw’s 46th aid package, worth up to €200 million ($216 million).

“We continue to support Ukraine as we have from the first day of the war, it is incredibly important for us,” he said.

Kosiniak-Kamysz said a return to talks between Ukraine and US “gives hope for just peace”, as Poland is a strong supporter of both “transatlantic relations and increasing European capabilities”.

UPDATE 0939 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has commented on Russia’s latest mass killing in his hometown of Kryvyi Rih, a missile strike on a hotel which slew at least four civilians and wounded 32, including a child:

There must be no pause in the pressure on Russia to stop this war and terror against life.

At least eight civilians were killed and 39 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

In addition to the casualties in Kryvyi Rih, there was one fatality in the Sumy region in northern Ukraine, in Donetsk in the east, in Kharkiv in the northeast, and in Kherson in the south.

Air defenses downed 68 of 112 drones, and 43 were lost to electronic counter-measures. Two ballistic missiles launched by Russia overnight were also intercepted.

UPDATE 0932 GMT:

France is offering intelligence to Ukraine, covering the gap left by the Trump Administration’s suspension of intelligence-sharing with Kyiv.

French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said President Emmanuel Macron has asked him to accelerate Paris’s assistance “to compensate” for US aid halted by Donald Trump.

A “well-informed source” says US officials have stopped warning Kyiv about Russian missile and drone launches on Ukrainian territory. The former head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, Valeriy Kondratyuk, confirmed, “Everything that came from the [US] Defense Department has stopped”

Kondratyuk said European countries can provide data, but not all European satellites focus on military deployments and movements.

The US has also reportedly stopped transmission of targeting data for HIMARS rocket systems.

UPDATE 0754 GMT:

Adopting the Kremlin’s language, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is actually a “proxy war” between Moscow and Washington.

Amid its direct talks with Russia, the Trump Administration has tried to block resolutions at the UN, G7, and G20 which cite “Russian aggression”.

Talking to Fox TV, Rubio said Donald Trump views the invasion as “a protracted, stalemated conflict”: “And frankly, it’s a proxy war between nuclear powers — the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia – and it needs to come to an end.”

The Secretary of State belittled supporting Ukraine resistance with weapons “as much as they need for as long as it takes”, claiming it is “not a strategy”.

And he blamed Ukraine for the attempted humiliation of President Volodymyr Zelensky by Trump and J.D. Vance in the White House last week. Rubio declared that the Administration wants to engage both Russia and Ukraine in resolving the war and “we asked the Ukrainians not to sabotage it”. Zelensky was “undermining” Trump’s plan.

The Kremlin hailed Rubio’s comments. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov
said Vladimir Putin agreed that his invasion of Ukraine was “a proxy war”: “We have said that this is actually a conflict between Russia and the collective West. And the main country of the collective West is the United States of America.”

UPDATE 0718 GMT:

In another sign that some Trump Administration officials are trying to force Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky out of power, “four senior members” have held secret discussions with Zelensky’s top political opponents.

The quartet spoke with former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and senior members of the party of former President Petro Poroshenko, according to three Ukrainian legislators and a US Republican foreign policy expert.

The discussions centered on whether Ukraine could soon hold Presidential elections, even though they are prohibited under the martial law declared because of Russia’s invasion.

Donald Trump has labelled Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections” and lied that the President has only “4%” support. Latest polls show Zelensky with an approval rating of 58%, and leads his nearest challenger — Valery Zaluzhny, a former military commander-in-cheif who is now Ukraine’s ambassador to Britain — by more than 20% in any potential vote. Only 10% back Poroshenko, and Tymoshenko has just 5.7%.

Still, the pro-Kremlin Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has falsely accused Kyiv of canceling the election.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick maintained this week denied Trump is “weighing into Ukrainian politics”.

UPDATE 0708 GMT:

At least four civilians have been killed and 32 injured by a Russian missile strike on a five-story hotel in Kryvyi Rih in south-central Ukraine on Wednesday night.

Fourteen people are in serious condition in hospital. Another 14 were rescued from rubble, and there may be others still buried.

The strike also damaged 14 apartment buildings, a post office, almost two dozen cars, a cultural center, and 12 shops.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Amid the Trump Administration’s threat to abandon Ukraine, European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gather in Brussels on Thursday to discuss measures to ensure Kyiv’s security against Russia’s three-year invasion.

During this week, the European Commission has set out a five-point plan to raise up to €800 billion ($862.9 billion) for the defense of Europe and Ukraine. Germany’s incoming government has released the “debt brake” to authorize billions of euros in aid for Kyiv. The UK has ordered £2 billion ($2.58 billion) in air defense missiles.

French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, consulting with Zelensky have led efforts for an alternative to direct US-Russia talks, with the possibility of a visit by the three men to Washington in an attempt to pull back the Trump Administration from support of the Kremlin’s line.

The Europeans have also encouraged the Zelensky Government’s contacts with the Americans to repair the damage of last Friday’s attempted humiliation of the Ukrainian President by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.

Discussions with the Trump Administration officials who still back support of Kyiv — such as the envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg — led to Zelensky’s social media message looking forward to advances under the “leadership” of Trump. On Tuesday evening, during his rambling speech to the US Congress, Trump exulted in the “letter” from Zelensky.

Ukraine Presidential Chief of Staff Andrii Yermak said he and US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz “discussed the next steps towards a just and lasting peace” during a call on Wednesday.

In his nightly video address to the nation, Zelensky said:

We are preparing for the EU summit, which will take place tomorrow in Brussels. Everyone can see how quickly diplomatic events are unfolding.

Today, the Ukrainian and American teams began working on an upcoming meeting. Andrii Yermak and Mike Waltz have spoken, and there’s positive movement. We hope to see some results next week.