Ukraine not attending US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia, government source tells BBC – BBC.com
As European leaders meet in Paris for an emergency summit on Ukraine, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk says he will urge officials to “immediately” boost defence spendingRussia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says there’s no role for Europe in any peace talks, suggesting Europe wants the war to continueLavrov was speaking before heading to Saudi Arabia for talks on Ukraine with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – read Steve Rosenberg’s analysis hereUkraine’s President Zelensky is also in Saudi this week, but says he’s not involved in the US-Russia talksMeanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he’s ready to put UK peacekeeping troops in Ukraine if and when the war ends 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, while at least three civilians were killed on SundayEdited by Emily McGarvey and James Harness, with Liza Fokht reporting from Élysée Palace in ParisKristina VolkReporting from OberhausenMore 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 VolkReporting from OberhausenLydia, a Ukrainian refugee, says she has nothing to go back to after her home was destroyedAt 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 BatemanReporting from RiyadhMarco Rubio departed Israel for Saudi Arabia earlier on MondayTuesday’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.”We 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.The 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.” Prime 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. Earlier 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 BeakeEurope correspondent, in CopenhagenDenmark 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. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with MacronGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz with MacronDenmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen with MacronLiza FokhtBBC Russian service, reporting from ParisEuropean 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.European 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. We can bring you more from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk now. Speaking to reporters earlier, he said he would urge European leaders at today’s meeting in Paris to “immediately” boost Europe’s defences. This is because Europe “is not able to counter Russia’s military potential” and they need to “catch up”, Tusk explained.”We will not be able to effectively help Ukraine if we do not immediately take practical steps regarding our own defence capabilities,” Tusk told reporters, before flying to Paris. In a post online after his comments, Tusk wrote that if Europe fails to spend on defence now, they will “be forced to spend 10 times more if we don’t prevent a wider war”.We reported earlier that Tusk ruled out sending troops from his country to Ukraine, but said he will continue to support them. Before becoming Polish prime minister, Tusk was president of the European Council as the UK negotiated its exit from the European UnionLiza FokhtBBC Russian service, reporting from ParisAn emergency meeting of European leaders is set to begin in Paris.The sunlit space in front of the Élysée Palace is packed with journalists eager
to find out whether the heads of state and key institutions have a response to
the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement that Europe has no place at the
negotiating table.The leaders are due to begin arriving in the courtyard in front of us shortly.Whether they will share any detail of the discussions after the meeting remains
unclear.In any case, any decision eventually made could play a significant role in
shaping the future of Europe and Ukraine.BBC Visual Journalism TeamFighting has raged in Ukraine since Russia launched a full-scale invasion almost three years ago. Russian forces have slowly expanded the amount of territory they control over the past year, mostly in the east of Ukraine. But Ukrainian forces, having managed to make those advances as slow and difficult as possible, have also staged a counter-offensive into Russian territory.Now, Russia has been gaining ground more quickly than at any time since it launched its full-scale invasion. By zooming in on different regions in the south and the east, the maps below illustrate where things now stand after three years of fighting:Bernd Debusmann JrReporting from Palm Beach, FloridaGood morning from Florida – where for the last several days I’ve been travelling with President Trump as he spends time at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach.Since we flew down with him on Friday, we’ve only had brief glimpses of the president, including his splashy appearance in front of an adoring crowd of thousands at the Daytona 500 Nascar race. Trump did, however, come and speak to us after flying back to Palm Beach from Daytona. His remarks were light on details, but did offer a glimpse at his thinking on the conflict in Ukraine and, he hopes, a potential meeting with Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia he says will happen “very soon”. At one point, Trump was asked about his recent conversation with Putin and what he believes the Russian president’s motivations are going forward”I think he wants to stop fighting. I see that,” he said. “That was my question to him.” “Because if he’s going to go on, that would have been a big problem for us,” Trump added. “And that would have caused me a big problem, because you can’t just let that happen.” It remains unclear what he thinks Ukraine will look like once the conflict ends.In response to a BBC question last week, he said only that he believes Ukraine can get “some” of its territory back, although he referred to defence secretary Pete Hegseth’s assessment that a return to its pre-2014 borders are unrealistic.As European leaders are about to meet in Paris for a hastily convened summit on Ukraine, here’s what you need to know:Stay with us for the latest updates.Tom EdgingtonBBC VerifyConcerns are rising that the US may no longer come to
Europe’s defence, which could force countries – including the UK – to increase
their military spending amount. So where does the UK currently rank compared with other Nato
members?Last year, all European Nato members pledged to spend 2% of
GDP on defence. Provisional figures, external show the UK spent 2.33% (£64.6bn, external) in 2024, ranking it ninth out of all Nato
members on this measure.The Labour government has committed to increase this amount
to 2.5%, although it hasn’t set out when it expects to achieve this. Had the UK spent 2.5% of GDP on defence last year it would
have cost an additional £4.6bn according to the House of Commons Library, external (although
the Institute for Fiscal Studies puts the figure at £6bn).Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
