A NATO official has told us they aren’t directly involved in the plans for security guarantees in Ukraine, but its members are collaborating. Meanwhile, Sergei Lavrov said Russia is well aware of “clumsy” European attempts to change Donald Trump’s position on the war. Follow the latest.
Wednesday 20 August 2025 23:49, UK
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That’s all for our live coverage of the war in Ukraine for now.
We’ll be back with any major updates, and here’s all you need to know from today:
Russia warns of ‘road to nowhere’
Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has warned discussing security issues without Russia is a “road to nowhere”.
Moscow’s top diplomat issued a sharp rebuke to “clumsy” EU.
Russia are now insisting they must be a part of any such guarantees – something Ukraine and its allies likely wouldn’t agree too.
Our US correspondent Mark Stone warns this is a “fundamental” problem between the West and Russia.
He explains that Western defence chiefs “do not see Russia having any role in it at all.”
Watch Lavrov’s words (and Stone’s analysis) below…
‘The mistake of Budapest’
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff has warned Ukraine won’t repeat the “mistake of ‘Budapest'”.
Andriy Yermak made the comments in reference to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, where Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal, inherited from the Soviet Union, in return for security assurances from Russia and other powers.
These assurances have not stopped Russia seizing Crimea in 2014 and invading in 2022.
Meetings, meetings and more meetings…
In the aftermath of Monday’s summit in Washington, Western and European leaders and officials have held a number of meetings.
Today, NATO defence chiefs met virtually.
Separate to that, in Washington, defence chiefs from the coalition of the willing nations met in person,
Meanwhile, the EU Commission cabinet also met today to brief members on the last few days of diplomacy over Ukraine.
Where to hold a bilateral?
Efforts are now underway to figure out where to hold a bilateral meeting between Russia and Ukraine.
The task is made more difficult by geopolitical tensions and an international arrest warrant out for Vladimir Putin.
Our Europe producer Simone Baglivo understands at least five venues are being touted – Geneva, Vienna, Rome, Budapest, and Doha.
“I thought this was going to be one of the easier ones, it’s actually one of the most difficult.”
That’s what Donald Trump said about ending the war in Ukraine, on 18 August.
The White House has claimed the US president has ended six wars.
As he tries to make it a seventh, let’s look at some of the conflicts Trump’s gotten involved with so far…
Armenia and Azerbaijan
Trump brought together the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on 8 August to sign a joint declaration pledging to seek peaceful relations between nations that have been at odds since the 1980s.
The two countries committed to a ceasefire in 2023 and in March claimed to have agreed to a draft peace agreement but it has not yet been signed.
The White House-brokered agreement falls short of a formal peace treaty that would place legally binding obligations on the countries.
One snag remains over whether the agreement requires Armenia to revise its constitution.
Cambodia and Thailand
Trump helped bring Thailand to the table for talks after long-held tensions spilled over in July into fighting.
The US president withheld deals on tariffs with both countries until the conflict ended.
Up until that point, Thailand had rejected third-party mediation and subsequent talks led to a fragile agreement.
Trump went on to impose a 19% tariff on both nations’ US-bound exports – lower than initially threatened.
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo signed a US-brokered peace agreement on 27 June.
This followed pressure from Trump, raising hopes for an end to fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands.
The fighting is the latest in a decades-long conflict with roots in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Trump warned of “very severe penalties, financial and otherwise” if the agreement is violated.
India and Pakistan
There were worries that when the two nuclear-powered nations clashed in May it could spiral out of control.
Delhi blamed an attack in India on Islamabad.
A ceasefire was announced on 10 May, after four days of fighting, but it addressed few of the issues that divide India and Pakistan, which have fought three major wars since independence from Britain in 1947.
Days after the ceasefire, Trump said he used the threat of cutting trade with the countries to secure the deal.
India disputed the idea that US pressure led to the ceasefire, and that trade was a factor.
Egypt and Ethiopia
Egypt and Ethiopia have long disputed the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Cairo regards as a national security issue.
In July, Trump said he was “working on that one problem,” and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt included Egypt and Ethiopia in a list of conflicts that “the president has now ended.”
It’s unclear what action Trump took.
Serbia and Kosovo
Trump brokered an agreement between the two during his first term.
Without providing evidence, Trump said in June he had “stopped” war between the countries during his first term and “I will fix it again”.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008, almost a decade after NATO bombed Serbian forces to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians from the region during a 1998-1999 counter-insurgency war. But Serbia still regards Kosovo as an integral part of its territory.
The countries have signed no peace deal.
Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani said in July that in “the last few weeks”, Trump had prevented further escalation in the region – without elaborating.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denied that any escalation had been forthcoming.
Donald Trump went into the summit in Alaska last Friday touting a trilateral summit between himself, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the next step.
However, since then, the US president has said a bilateral meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders is next.
Putin reportedly proposed Moscow as the host of such talks – a site that would almost certainly be refused by Ukraine.
There have been multiple reports about where the talks could be held.
Here are some of the possible host cities and who may be in favour – or not – for each:
‘Maybe I’m superstitious’
The White House has said they are considering Budapest as a potential venue for trilateral talks, having spoken to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk objects to this.
He pointed out it was the city in which Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal in 1994 in return for security arrangements meant to protect it.
“Maybe I’m superstitious, but this time I would try to find another place,” Tusk said.
Neutral Switzerland
Switzerland is often characterised as a neutral player, with Geneva tipped as a host.
The country has said it is ready for the warring leaders, despite being a signatory of the Rome Statute – meaning in theory it should arrest Putin upon landing.
The AP news agency reports Switzerland intends to ask the International Criminal Court to exempt it from sanctions to allow the Russian president to attend.
Emmanuel Macron is said to support hosting talks here, but will it be to Putin’s liking?
The site of previous talks
Russia and Ukraine previously held talks in Istanbul.
An end to fighting wasn’t achieved, but there’s a possibility a return to the city could be on the cards.
Putin and Turkish leader Recep Erdogan spoke earlier today.
The holy option
Pope Leo has previously offered to host talks regarding the war in Ukraine.
He has recently been vocal about his support for those affected by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and Vatican City could be an option.
Our Europe producer Simone Baglivo also understands the likes of Doha, in Qatar, is being considered too.
There have so far been “no results” from a meeting of coalition of the willing defence chiefs, Reuters news agency has said.
Citing a Western official, it reported that a small group of military leaders continued discussions in Washington following the separate NATO defence chief meeting that also took place today.
The source was reported as saying that US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was holding the talks that involved around half a dozen other NATO chiefs of defence.
It said no results had been achieved yet because the topic of security guarantees had not been discussed in detail at the wider NATO virtual meeting.
The source expected further meetings of the chiefs of defence in the broader format to be called, in order to discuss any options worked out in the smaller group.
Ukraine’s air force has warned of Russian drones across large parts of the country.
In a series of messages over the past few hours, the air force has warned of drones, including Iranian made Shahed drones, over the following regions:
Russia’s nightly attacks on Ukraine are a regular feature of the war.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff has warned that Kyiv remembers the “mistake of ‘Budapest'”.
Andriy Yermak made the comments in reference to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
In 1994, Ukraine signed the memorandum, agreeing to give up its nuclear arsenal, inherited from the Soviet Union, in return for security assurances from Russia and other powers.
These assurances have not stopped Russia seizing Crimea in 2014 and invading in 2022.
Yermak said he spoke with national security advisers from several nations including Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Finland after Monday’s meeting in Washington.
“Our teams, primarily the military, have already begun active work on the military component of guaranteeing security,” he added.
Yermak went on: “We are also developing the procedure for necessary actions if the Russian side continues to drag out the war and disrupts the agreement on the bilateral and trilateral formats of the leaders’ meeting.”
Our US correspondent Mark Stone warns there’s a “fundamental” problem standing in front of any security guarantees for Ukraine.
It stems from two developments today: words from Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, and a meeting of Western defence chiefs.
Moscow’s top diplomat says security guarantees must involve Russia.
However, Stone says that Western defence chiefs “do not see Russia having any role in it at all.”
“It’s very hard to understand how all this excitement on Monday can actually result in any sort of peace process for Ukraine,” he explains.
Watch Russia’s top diplomat speak below – and Stone’s analysis…
A 46-year-old woman was killed in a Russian artillery strike in the Zaporizhzhia region, a local official has said.
Ivan Fedorov, governor of the region, said the attack targeted the Polohivskyi district.
“The enemy fired artillery at the village of Novodanylivka. It hit a private building. A local resident was killed,” he said in a Telegram post.
Russia expects India to keep buying its oil, despite a tariff punishment from Donald Trump.
The US president previously announced an additional 25% levy on New Delhi for buying Russian oil.
This lifted the tariffs to 35% in total – compared to 0.2% before the war in Ukraine.
However, despite this, Russian embassy officials in Delhi said they expect to continue supplying oil to India.
“I want to highlight that despite the political situation, we can predict that the same level of oil import,” said Roman Babushkin, the charge d’affaires at the Russian embassy in India.
He predicted India and Russia would find ways to overcome Trump’s tariffs in their “national interests”.
“The White House is doing their own thing,” Carl Bildt, co-chair of think tank European Council on Foreign Relations, told our presenter Matt Barbet.
He explains that he thinks Donald Trump has given Vladimir Putin “the green light” to continue his war in Ukraine after the Alaska summit on Friday.
The former Swedish prime minister also touches on why he thinks sanctions against Russia aren’t very impactful – but important nonetheless.
And he outlines why he’s “deeply concerned” by the diplomatic efforts to bring about peace in Ukraine.
Watch Bildt’s full interview below…
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