Donald Trump is hosting Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, at the White House. He says the pair are “unhappy” about the bloodshed in Ukraine and will work together to end the war. It comes after NATO’s chief said the alliance had agreed on new “capability targets”. Follow the latest.
Thursday 5 June 2025 18:05, UK
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Russia’s UK ambassador has told Sky News that Ukraine’s recent attacks risk escalating the conflict to “World War III” as he partly blamed the UK.
Andrei Kelin warned that Ukraine’s actions “are bringing the conflict to a different level of escalation”, in an interview with Sky News’ Yalda Hakim, and said Kyiv should “not try to engulf World War III”.
“That’s the very worst case scenario that we can imagine,” he said.
But Kelin pointed the finger at the UK when he suggested Ukraine must have had assistance in the attacks.
Watch: Russia’s ambassador says ‘we know how much London is involved’
“[This] kind of attack involves, of course, provision of very high technology, so-called geospaced data, which only can be done by those who have it in possession. And this is London and Washington,” he added.
“I don’t believe that America [is involved], that has been denied by president Trump, definitely, but it has not been denied by London.
“We perfectly know how much London is involved, how deeply British forces are involved in working together with Ukraine.”
Watch the full interview on The World with Yalda Hakim from 9pm tonight.
The German chancellor clearly saw an opportunity to credit Donald Trump over the war in Ukraine during their meeting in the Oval Office, our US correspondent Mark Stone has said.
He says Merz credited Trump “for being the only man who can actually bring this war to an end”.
Stone stated that Merz was “sort of flattering him [Trump]” with those comments, a policy many foreign leaders have opted for during their Oval Office meetings with the US president.
But Stone notes that Merz also took the chance to “delicately” remind Trump that the aggressor in the war is Russia after the US president spoke about the killing on the battlefield.
“It’s delicate because, as he knows from previous leaders who have rode the Oval Office rodeo, it’s tricky,” Stone added.
“You can fall off very quickly, but he did not fall off. He survived.”
Watch Stone’s full analysis in the video below.
As the Oval Office sitdown draws to a close, the German chancellor is asked whether he agreed with an analogy Donald Trump made on the war between Russia and Ukraine as being a fight between two kids.
“I think we both agree on this war and how terrible this war is and we are both looking for ways to stop it very soon,” he says.
“I told the president before we came in that he is the key person in the world who can really do that now by putting pressure on Russia.”
Friedrich Merz says “we all have the duty” to do something to stop the war, and adds that his personal view “is clear”.
“We are on the side of Ukraine and we are trying to get them stronger and stronger just to make Putin stop this war.”
Continuing to take questions in the White House with Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, Donald Trump tells reporters what Vladimir Putin told him in their phone call yesterday about Moscow’s response to Ukraine’s attack on airfields deep inside Russia.
“They went deep into Russia and he [Putin] actually told me we have no choice but to attack based on that, and it’s probably not going to be pretty,” he says.
“I don’t like it, I said don’t do it, you shouldn’t do it, you should stop it.”
Trump goes on to say “there’s a lot of hatred” between the two sides but he remains optimistic about the possibility of a ceasefire deal.
He references the ceasefire between India and Pakistan and says “I wish we could do the same thing with Ukraine and Russia”.
“At some point it’ll happen, I believe that,” he adds.
Donald Trump is asked whether Germany is doing enough by spending 3.5% of its GDP on defence.
It comes after US defence secretary Pete Hegseth doubled down on the 5% spending demand for NATO members at a meeting of defence ministers in Brussels today (see 6.49 post).
“I haven’t discussed it very much,” Trump starts by telling reporters.
Turning to Friedrich Merz, the US president says: “I know that you’re spending more money on defence now and quite a bit more money and it’s a positive thing.”
He jokes: “I’m not sure General MacArthur would have said it’s positive, he wouldn’t like it, but I sort of think it’s good.”
“I think it’s a good thing,” he repeats.
Friedrich Merz took a leaf out of Sir Keir Starmer’s book, and started his Oval Office meeting with Donald Trump with a gift.
He presented the US president with his grandfather’s birth certificate, who as our US correspondent Mark Stone explained, was German (see 16.46 post).
You can watch that moment below.
Opening the floor to questions, Donald Trump is asked whether he is willing to put more pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
“I ended Nord Stream 2, nobody else did, and then Biden came in and immediately approved it,” he says.
“That’s the largest, essentially the largest pipeline in the world going to Germany and other countries.”
Asked about what he’s expecting from the German chancellor during their meeting, Trump describes him as a “very good man to deal with”.
“He’s difficult, I would say. Can I say that?” he says jokingly before turning to Friedrich Merz.
“He’s a very great representative of Germany, I think all we want is to have a good relationship, the rest would just sort of follow very easily,” he adds.
We’re now hearing from Donald Trump and Friedrich Merz, who have taken their seats in the Oval Office.
The German chancellor thanks the US president for the welcome to the White House, and says the two countries have a good basis for cooperation.
Trump continues the flattery by saying he will have a great relationship with Germany.
Turning to the war in Ukraine, Trump says it is sad what’s happening in the Ukraine war.
Referring to Merz, Trump says: “It’s not good. He’s unhappy about it. I’m unhappy about it, but I think eventually we’re going to be successful in stopping the bloodshed.”
Yesterday, Trump said he had a “good conversation” with Vladimir Putin was a “good conversation” but the call was not one that will lead to “immediate peace”.
As Friedrich Merz visits Washington, our US correspondent Mark Stone takes a look at Donald Trump’s German roots…
Reference is often made to Donald Trump’s connections to Scotland – through his mother Mary Anne MacLeod Trump who was born in Tong, a small village on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.
But his German links are deeper. Both his paternal grandparents were German.
Fredrich and Elizabeth Trump were born in Kallstadt, a small village in the Palatinate region of Germany, southwest of Frankfurt.
Their life reflects a classic American rags to riches story. Fredrich emigrated to New York and then to Seattle in 1885 where he dabbled in real estate and the restaurant business.
Research suggests he leased and ran a restaurant with a bar and even a brothel attached. The ‘Poodle Dog’ advertised “private rooms for ladies”.
He returned to Germany in 1901 where he married Elizabeth Christ. The couple later returned to New York where they settled. They had two children, John, and Fred who was Donald Trump’s father.
President Trump never met his grandfather. Fredrich died in Queens in 1918, aged just 49. But he did know his German grandmother before her death in 1966. She took on the family estate and grew the business helping to launch what would become Trump’s real estate empire.
Trump has never visited the ancestral home in Germany.
Over to Washington now, where the German chancellor has just been greeted by Donald Trump after arriving at the White House.
It is the first time the two leaders have met, and the war in Ukraine will likely be high on the agenda.
We expect to hear from them as they take their seats in the Oval Office shortly.
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