Donald Trump has welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. Keir Starmer and other European leaders are also there for talks about ending the war in Ukraine. Watch and follow live below.
Monday 18 August 2025 22:02, UK
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Throughout today, we’ve repeatedly heard one message from Ukraine’s European allies – the possibility of Article Five-style security guarantees for Ukraine.
Such guarantees are vital for Europe and once seemed completely off the table.
Our foreign news reporter Michael Drummond explains what the NATO article is here, and what it entails….
What is Article Five?
Article Five is the core principle of the 32-member North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
It says that an armed attack against one or more of the members shall be considered an attack against all members.
It further states that if such an armed attack happens, each other member would take “such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area”.
Article Five covers the territory of member states in Europe and North America as well as Turkey.
It doesn’t cover bases in foreign countries or territories outside the alliance area – for instance, it didn’t apply to the Vietnam War, the Falklands or to the Iranian attack on a US base in Qatar this year.
How does Article Five work?
This is where it gets a bit more complicated.
When Article Five is invoked by a NATO member, allies can provide any form of assistance they deem necessary to respond to a situation.
It doesn’t automatically mean military assistance and it’s up to each individual ally to decide what action they think is necessary.
That assistance is then taken forward in conjunction with the rest of the alliance.
This was a tension between Europe and the US at the founding of NATO – the US did not want to sign itself up to automatically provide assistance – and it’s very similar to what we are seeing with President Trump now.
Has Article Five ever been invoked?
Yes, once. After the September 11 attacks, NATO allies triggered Article Five and came to America’s assistance.
This culminated in the NATO-led invasion of Afghanistan due to accusations that the ruling Taliban had provided safe haven to al Qaeda.
NATO allies fought side-by-side with the US and in some of the fiercest parts of the campaign.
They shared the burden of those who did not come home too.
So what’s an Article Five-style guarantee?
We brought you the news earlier that Russia opposed “the participation of NATO countries” in Ukraine – see our 19.30 post.
An Article Five-style guarantee might bypass this, but neither Europe nor Ukraine has offered much in the way of detail to what these may look like.
We brought you the details from the European leaders sitting down with Donald Trump this evening.
Catch up on how it unfolded and what the leaders said here…
Donald Trump has interrupted the meeting with European leaders to call Vladimir Putin, Sky News understands.
It comes after German paper Bild reported on the development and said the meeting would continue afterwards.
Trump initially said he would call the Russian leader after meeting with the leaders in Washington.
Donald Trump and the European and NATO leaders in the White House are continuing their talks, but behind closed doors now.
We got a hint earlier on what they might be talking about.
Ukraine’s allies, in their remarks earlier, focused on the possibility of NATO Article Five-style security guarantees.
While security guarantees were once seemingly off the table, Trump has seemingly changed his position, and welcomed them recently.
The US leader also claimed Putin had agreed to some guarantees – but no details were forthcoming.
Nevertheless, this was a key focus of the leaders.
Meanwhile, Trump warned that territory exchanges could still be possible – something Kyiv has long said it is adamantly against.
Trump hinted the “exchanges” – even though Ukraine occupies no Russian territory – could be based around the existing frontlines.
The third key aspect seems to be the next upcoming meeting.
Trump has said it could be a trilateral meeting between himself, Zelenskyy and Putin.
But Emmanuel Macron suggested a “quadrilateral” meeting could take place too.
Earlier, we heard from Shashank Joshi, the defence editor of The Economist – he spoke about Vladimir Putin’s demands for all of the Donbas (see more on this in our previous post).
Speaking to Sky News presenter Jonathan Samuels, Joshi explains it’s not just the land that is important, nor is it the principle, but a stretch of Ukrainian fortifications.
“The really important point is there is a defensive belt in the west of Donetsk in these territories.
“There are some cities there, there are fortifications, there are trenches – these are fortifications that have been built up by Ukraine over the last year or so, at considerable expense.
“And I think for those to be handed over to the Russians wouldn’t just be a kind of, a symbolic and political and diplomatic loss – it would also change the military geography of Ukraine, putting it in a more vulnerable position.”
Joshi says that a trilateral meeting of Trump, Zelenskyy and Putin could happen – but the sort of peace agreement Trump is after might be “much more difficult”.
This, he says, is because “it is ultimately better to fight on and take his chances, than hand over unoccupied land to Putin at the point of a gun”.
Joshi adds: “That is simply politically impossible for Zelenskyy to stomach unless he is getting something fabulous in exchange.”
By Michael Clarke, military analyst
Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly demands that he be given control of the whole of the Donbas as part – and only part – of his price for any peace deal with Ukraine.
The area referred to as “the Donbas” consists of two regions.
Russian forces currently occupy almost all of one of them – Luhansk – and about 70% of the other – Donetsk.
The Donbas is historically an important industrial area of Ukraine, where its coal mines and heavy industries are located, as well as many of its old arms manufacturing plants from the days when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.
The 30% of Donetsk that Ukrainian forces still hold, and would be required to give up under Putin’s demands, are very important to it for a number of reasons.
Politically, it is not lost on all Ukrainians that Russia’s 2014 takeover of parts of the Donbas (about 30% of the territory by the end of that year) began in the city of Sloviansk in the northern part of the unconquered Donbas.
The Ukrainians liberated that city from Russian-backed forces and have held on to it since, and paid a high price in lives and money to keep it free.
Watch Clarke’s analysis below…
…or tap to read his full piece
Aides to Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy both shared a picture of the leaders speaking alone, before they met with their European counterparts.
The tone of tonight’s White House meeting has been a far cry from February’s.
The new image reflects that.
Dan Scavino, White House deputy chief of staff, shared the image, saying: “Before heading over to the Mutilateral Meeting with European Leaders in the East Room of the White House,”.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak also shared the photo.
He captioned it with emojis of the Ukrainian and US flags and a handshake.
Donald Trump and leaders from Europe and NATO spoke in front of the world’s media earlier in the White House’s State Dining Room.
The US leader kicked off the remarks, and then every leader spoke briefly.
Watch Trump welcome European leaders…
We brought you the latest as it happened, so scroll down to catch up, but let’s recap it here at a glance:
Watch Trump and the European leaders speak here…
A former British ambassador to Russia says it is “absurd” to talk about a peace deal with Vladimir Putin, despite the hopeful tone of meetings at the White House this evening
“There isn’t going to be a peace deal with Mr Putin about Ukraine. That’s not possible,” says Sir Laurie Bristow, speaking to presenter Jonathan Samuels earlier.
“A ceasefire, I think, is actually possible. But the main thing for a ceasefire to actually happen is for Mr Putin to believe that it’s his best option and that all other options, including fighting on, are worse
“For there to be a proper ceasefire, Mr Putin needs to be under real pressure.”
He must believe the West will do what it takes to enable Ukraine to defend itself, says Bristow.
When Samuels pushes back that Europe and America haven’t given Ukraine all the means they needed to defend themselves for the entire war, Bristow says “the Ukrainians have had a lot”.
“What really, really matters now is what Mr Putin believes we will do next to support Ukraine.”
He adds: “Any assurance that Mr Putin gives to anybody is completely worthless.
“And the heart of this, any security assurances, are about deterring Russia from attacking Ukraine again. It’s simply not plausible that the Russians would ever agree to an arrangement set up to deter them.”
Speaking after the so-called “family photo” of Trump and European leaders, Sky News deputy political editor Sam Coates points out the president “entered the room standing alongside President Zelenskyy, he left the room alongside President Zelenskyy”.
He adds: “In many ways, the other European leaders that you saw in that family photo are the wingmen, the back-up, for President Zelenskyy.”
This includes the likes of Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, Giorgia Meloni and NATO secretary general Mark Rutte.
Coates says the group will have been “relieved” by the meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump earlier in the day, as it “reversed” the tension seen earlier this year.
He says there will also be happiness among leaders that Trump took a “step forward” when it comes to a US security guarantee for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.
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