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Al Jazeera
10 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,272
Here is how things stand on Tuesday, August 19: Politics and diplomacy United States President Donald Trump said he had a 'good meeting' with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House on Monday. Trump said the leaders discussed security guarantees that would be provided to Ukraine by European countries in 'coordination with' the US. Zelenskyy said US involvement in the security guarantees was 'a major step forward', and that details would be 'formalised on paper within the next week to 10 days'. Zelenskyy also told reporters that his country had offered to buy $90bn worth of US weapons. Finland's President Alexander Stubb said the security guarantees discussed were similar to the Article 5-type guarantees offered to NATO members, but that details still needed to be ironed out. A Kremlin aide said Trump spoke with Putin on the phone for 40 minutes after his meeting with Zelenskyy and the European leaders, and that the two leaders discussed the possibility of increasing the level of Russian and Ukrainian representatives during talks. Trump said he had begun making arrangements for a bilateral summit between the Russian leader and Zelenskyy, with trilateral talks involving the US president to follow. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy could take place within two weeks. French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump believes Putin 'also wants a peace accord' but that if the 'process is met by refusal, we are also ready to say that we need to increase sanctions [on Russia]'. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the BBC that the talks led to a 'significant breakthrough' because 'we are now going to be working with the US on those security guarantees.' Fighting Ukrainian authorities said Russian attacks before the talks killed 14 people across the country. This includes a drone attack on an apartment building in Kharkiv that killed at least seven people. Thirty others were wounded. The victims on Monday also included three people who were killed in a ballistic missile strike on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, the regional governor said, adding that another 23 were wounded. Ukraine's air force said Russia launched a total of four Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 140 Shahed and decoy drones across Ukraine overnight, of which 88 drones were shot down or jammed. In Russia, falling debris from a Ukrainian drone shot down by Russian forces set off fires in a hospital building and on the grounds of an oil refinery, south of the city of Volgograd, regional governor Andrei Bocharov said in a post on Telegram. Russian forces destroyed 141 Ukrainian drones and four guided aerial bombs in a 24-hour period, Russia's state-run news agency TASS reported on Monday, citing Russia's Defence Ministry.
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
What to know about Trump's talks with Zelenskyy and European leaders
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and top European leaders met with United States President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday to discuss plans to bring an end to Russia's war in Ukraine. Trump convened the meeting after last week's three-hour summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, where Putin rejected the idea of a ceasefire before reaching a comprehensive peace deal and urged Ukraine to surrender territory in the east in exchange for freezing the front line elsewhere. Trump and Zelenskyy's interactions were notably warmer than during their tense encounter at the White House in February, with the US president even praising his counterpart's suit. Here are the key takeaways: Trump said the US would back Europe in protecting Ukraine as part of a deal to end the war with Russia. 'When it comes to security, there's going to be a lot of help,' Trump said, describing European countries as the 'first line of defence'. 'We have people waiting in another room, right now, they're all here from Europe,' Trump added. 'Biggest people in Europe. And they want to give protection. They feel very strongly about it, and we'll help them out with that.' Trump also said that US support for Ukraine would continue regardless of the outcome of the talks. 'It's never the end of the road. People are being killed, and we want to stop that. So, I would not say it was the end of the road. I think we have a good chance of doing it,' he said. Zelenskyy hailed the pledge as 'a major step forward'. He later told reporters that Ukraine had offered to buy about $90bn worth of US weapons. Zelenskyy backed elections, provided they are held under safe circumstances. 'Yes, of course. We are open, yes… We need to work in the parliament because during the war, you can't have elections, but we can, we can do security,' Zelenskyy said. 'We need a truce… to make it possible for people to do democratic, open, legal, legal elections,' he added. When asked if he would carry out his promise from last week to impose 'severe consequences' on Russia if it does not end the war, Trump replied that a ceasefire may not be needed. 'I don't think you need a ceasefire,' Trump said. 'You know, if you look at the six deals that I settled this year, they were all at war. I didn't do any ceasefires. And I know that it might be good to have, but I can also understand strategically why one country or the other wouldn't want it,' he said. 'But we can work a deal where we're working on a peace deal while they're fighting,' Trump added. 'They have to fight. I wish they could stop.' Trump has claimed credit for helping to end six wars, including conflicts between India and Pakistan and Cambodia and Thailand. Asked what guarantees Zelenskyy would need from Trump to agree to a deal, the Ukrainian leader responded: 'everything'. 'It includes two parts. First, a strong Ukrainian army that I began to discuss with your colleagues, and it's a lot about weapons and people and training issues and intelligence,' Zelenskyy said. Today, important negotiations took place in Washington. We discussed many issues with President Trump. It was a long and detailed conversation, including discussions about the situation on the battlefield and our steps to bring peace closer. There were also several meetings in a… — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 19, 2025 Trump sits down with European leaders After his initial meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump held a multilateral meeting with the Ukrainian leader and European leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The US president described it as an 'honour' to convene with them at the White House, saying they were united in their goal of ending Russia's war in Ukraine. 'We've had a very successful day thus far, and important discussions as we work to end the killing and stop the war in Ukraine,' Trump said. President Trump and President Zelenskyy en route to meet with the European leaders — Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) August 18, 2025 'At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,' he wrote in a post on Truth Social after the talks. 'This is one of the key points that we need to consider, and we're going to be considering that at the table,' Trump said. He expressed optimism that, collectively, an agreement could be reached to deter further aggression against Ukraine. Trump also said discussions would need to address the possible exchange of territory. 'Ultimately, this is a decision that can only be made by President Zelenskyy and by the people of Ukraine, working also in agreement with President Putin,' Trump said. Russia controls about one-fifth of Ukraine, according to open-source estimates. Ukraine, which took control of a large swath of Russia's Kursk region during a surprise counter-offensive last year, is not believed to hold any Russian territory at present. Trump added that he expected Putin to release Ukrainian prisoners soon. European leaders lay out positions NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the priority must be to stop the killing, as well as the destruction of Ukraine's infrastructure, thanking Trump for having 'broken the deadlock'. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the focus must be on a 'just and lasting peace for Ukraine', and added: 'Every single child has to go back to its family,' referring to the forced removal of Ukrainian children to Russia and Belarus. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he 'can't imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire', urging allies to 'work on that and try to put pressure on Russia'. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stressed that one of the most important issues is security guarantees and 'how to be sure that it won't happen again, which is the precondition of every kind of peace'. French President Emmanuel Macron said the aim must be a 'robust and longstanding peace', and called the idea of a trilateral meeting 'very important because this is the only way to fix it'. He also suggested that 'we will need boots on the ground' to secure peace. Everybody around this table is in favor of peace. — Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 18, 2025 UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the talks were not just about Ukraine but 'the security of Europe and the United Kingdom as well, which is why this is such an important issue'. Finnish President Alexander Stubb said the gathering itself was 'symbolic, in the sense that it's Team Europe and Team United States helping Ukraine'. Noting Finland's long border with Russia, he added: 'We found a solution in 1944, and I'm sure that we'll be able to find a solution in 2025 to end Russia's war of aggression, find and get a lasting, just peace.' What's next? European Council leaders will hold a video call tomorrow to review Monday's talks, President Antonio Costa said. In a post on X, Costa said the call would take place at 1pm Brussels time (11:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Trump proposes Putin-Zelenskyy summit in push to end Ukraine war
United States President Donald Trump has announced plans to convene a face-to-face summit between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his latest bid to end Moscow's war in Ukraine. Trump's proposal on Monday came as he hosted Zelenskyy and top European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, at the White House for high-stakes talks on ending the conflict, which has raged since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Trump said he had 'begun arrangements' for the summit after speaking with Putin by phone, and that he would hold a trilateral meeting with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts following their two-way meeting. 'Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years,' Trump said on his Truth Social platform. 'Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, are coordinating with Russia and Ukraine.' German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte separately confirmed that Putin had agreed to the bilateral meeting, but did not specify a date or location. Moscow did not immediately confirm that it had agreed to a summit with Zelenskyy, but Russia's state-run TASS news agency cited presidential aide Yuri Ushakov as saying that Putin and Trump 'spoke in favour of continuing direct talks' between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations. The proposals for a summit, which would be the first meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy since Moscow's invasion, came as the fraught issue of security guarantees for Ukraine took centre stage during the talks at the White House. The specifics of what those guarantees would look like remained unclear on Monday. Asked if the US could send peacekeepers to Ukraine, Trump said that European countries would be the 'first line of defence', but that Washington would provide 'a lot of help'. 'We're going to help them out also, we're going to be involved,' Trump said. Trump said on Truth Social later that discussions had focused on which security guarantees would be provided by European countries with 'coordination' by the US. Zelenskyy, who described his meeting with Trump as a 'very good conversation,' told a news conference that the guarantees would be 'unpacked' by Kyiv's partners and formalised within the next week to 10 days. While Trump has ruled out NATO membership for Ukraine, his special envoy, Witkoff, said on Sunday that Putin was open to a security guarantee resembling the 32-member alliance's collective defence mandate. Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, an armed attack against any one NATO member nation is considered an attack on all members of the alliance. Speaking on Fox News after Monday's talks, Rutte called Washington's commitment to be involved in guaranteeing Ukraine's security a 'breakthrough', but said the exact nature of that involvement would be discussed over the coming days. Rutte said the discussions had not touched on the possibility of deploying US or European troops. 'What we all agree on is that if this war does come to end… it has to be definitive – that Russia will never, ever, ever again try to get a catch a square mile of territory of Ukraine post a peace deal,' Rutte said. Konstantin Sonin, a Russian exile and Putin critic who is a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, said that meaningful security guarantees for Kyiv would need to include European troops on the ground. 'This is all 'unacceptable' to Putin, so for European leaders, it is the question how to persuade President Trump that without such guarantees, the war, even if it stops now, will start again in the near future,' Sonin told Al Jazeera. Sonin said that Ukraine had been failed by 'written' guarantees for decades, including during Moscow's 2014 invasion and occupation of Crimea. 'Russia has signed many international treaties recognising Ukraine's sovereignty and borders – including Putin himself signing one such treaty in 2004 – and still violated all of these treaties, both in 2014 and 2022,' Sonin said. 'This is all to say that the sticking point is not the language in some documents,' he added. The issue of what territory Kyiv might be asked to give up in a peace deal also remained unclear after the talks at the White House. Ahead of the meeting, Trump warned that the return to Ukraine of Russian-occupied Crimea would be off the table in any negotiated settlement. Trump has indicated that a deal to end the war would involve 'some swapping, changes in land' between Russia and Ukraine. Russia controls about one-fifth Ukraine, according to open source estimates. Ukraine, which took control of a large swath of Russia's Kursk region during a surprise counter-offensive last year, is not believed to hold any Russian territory at present. Speaking on Fox News, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said both Moscow and Kyiv would have to make concessions for a deal. 'Obviously, land or where you draw those lines – where the war stops – is going to be part of that conversation,' Rubio said. 'And it's not easy, and maybe it's not even fair, but it's what it takes in order to bring about an end to a war. And that's been true in every war.' Zelenskyy, who has repeatedly ruled out handing over Ukrainian territory to Moscow, said on Monday that land would be an issue for him and Putin to work out between them. 'We will leave the issue of territories between me and Putin,' Zelenskyy told reporters.
