Donald Trump believes Vladimir Putin is avoiding meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy due to personal animosity. Elsewhere, Marco Rubio has spoken with his European counterparts about bringing an end to the war in Ukraine. Follow the latest.
Tuesday 26 August 2025 07:19, UK
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Michael Clarke, our military analyst, will be back this week to answer more of your questions about the war in Ukraine.
You can submit yours using the box at the top of this page.
A fire at Russia’s Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in its southern Rostov region was finally extinguished this morning, the acting governor of the region said on Telegram.
The fire was sparked by a Ukrainian drone attack on 21 August.
The refinery sells fuel mainly for export, and has annual capacity of 5 million metric tons of oil, or around 100,000 barrels per day.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with his European counterparts yesterday to discuss how to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
Donald Trump has entrusted his top diplomat to lead talks on providing Ukraine with security guarantees.
Rubo spoke to UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Ukraine’s Andrii Sybiha and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas among others, a spokesperson for the State Department said.
Sybiha said that Ukraine was grateful to Rubio for his efforts and to Trump for his “peacemaking leadership”.
“I reiterated Ukraine’s position that security guarantees must be concrete, legally binding, and effective. They should be multidimensional, including military, diplomatic, legal, and other levels,” Sybiha said on X.
“We all share the conviction that the Ukrainian army is the fundamental level of any such guarantees, therefore its maximum strengthening is our top priority.”
Donald Trump believes personal animosity is the reason Vladimir Putin is avoiding meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The US president has been pushing to arrange a summit between the two leaders, though Moscow has poured cold water on the chances of such a meeting in the last week.
Asked yesterday why Putin was refusing to meet Zelenskyy, Trump said: “Because he doesn’t like him, he doesn’t like him… they don’t like each other really.”
He added: “I have people I don’t like, I don’t like to meet with them.”
Asked whether there would be ramifications for Russia if the two leaders do not meet, Trump said: “There would be very big consequences, but we’ll see what happens.
“There might be very big consequences, because this is something that has to end.”
‘I get very angry about it’
Trump also confirmed he had spoken with Putin since their call on the sidelines of a high-level White House gathering with Zelenskyy and European leaders last week.
He suggested he was frustrated with Putin’s contradictory words and actions over Ukraine.
“Every conversation I have with him is a good conversation, and then, unfortunately, a bomb is loaded up into Kyiv or someplace and then I get very angry about it,” he said.
By Adam McGroarty, live news reporter
Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
As usual, we’re starting this week with an overview of the key movements in the war over the last seven days.
Trump, Zelenskyy and European leaders meet
At the start of the week, Donald Trump welcomed European and NATO leaders to the White House, just days after his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Things went far better this time for Volodymyr Zelenskyy when compared to February’s disastrous Oval Office meeting with Trump.
European leaders came away from the White House feeling optimistic, despite very little being agreed.
At one point, Trump even interrupted his meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders to call Putin.
Following the talks last Monday, Zelenskyy said details of security guarantees would be worked on in the next 10 days, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Trump agreed that a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy should happen within two weeks.
Trump also said American troops will not be sent to Ukraine, but the US may provide air support as part of a peace deal with Russia.
Watch our US correspondent Mark Stone‘s analysis of the talks…
But Russia warns of ‘road to nowhere’
Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned that discussing security issues without Russia is a “road to nowhere”.
Lavrov issued a sharp rebuke to the European Union, which he described as “clumsy”.
Russia is now insisting that it must be part of any such guarantees – something Ukraine and its allies likely wouldn’t agree to.
Speaking to our US partner network NBC News, Lavrov added that security guarantees “must be subject to consensus”.
He also claimed that Russia has presented such guarantees “several times”.
Ukraine celebrates Independence Day
Ukraine celebrated its 34th Independence Day on Sunday, with Zelenskyy saying it’s “only a matter of time” before the country can reunite its occupied lands with the rest of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s president shared letters sent to him from world leaders, including Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Pope Leo.
He also revealed an “inspirational” letter sent from King Charles, in which the monarch said he feels the “greatest and deepest admiration for the unbreakable courage and spirit of the Ukrainian people”.
Leo said he hopes the “clamour of arms may fall silent and give way to dialogue, opening the path to peace”.
Trump said that “now is the moment to bring an end to the senseless killing,” calling for a “negotiated settlement that leads to a durable, lasting peace that ends the bloodshed and safeguards Ukraine’s sovereignty and dignity”.
In the letter from Xi, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, there was no mention of the war in Ukraine, which China has remained publicly neutral over since it began.
Your questions answered
Our security and defence analyst Michael Clarke answered more of your questions on the war in Ukraine last week.
Here’s an overview of what he touched on:
Watch the full Q&A below.
Thanks for following our coverage of the war in Ukraine. We’re pausing our updates for now but we’ll be back with more soon.
Ukraine celebrates Independence Day
Ukraine celebrated its 34th Independence Day today, with Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying it’s “only a matter of time” before the country can reunite its occupied lands with the rest of Ukraine.
He said the Independence Monument in Kyiv – where the distances to occupied Ukrainian cities like Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea are inscribed – acts as a symbol of the country’s resilience.
“Today, these markers have a completely different meaning. They are no longer just about kilometres,” he said.
“They remind us that all of this is Ukraine. And there are our people, and no distance between us can change that, and no temporary occupation can change that.
“One day, the distance between Ukrainians will disappear, and we will be together again as one family, as one country. It is only a matter of time.”
Letters from King Charles, Trump and Pope Leo
Ukraine’s president also shared a letter sent to him from King Charles, in which the Monarch said he feels the “greatest and deepest admiration for the unbreakable courage and spirit of the Ukrainian people”.
In similar letters, Pope Leo said he hopes the “clamour of arms may fall silent and give way to dialogue, opening the path to peace”.
Trump said that “now is the moment to bring an end to the senseless killing,” calling for a “negotiated settlement that leads to a durable, lasting peace that ends the bloodshed and safeguards Ukraine’s sovereignty and dignity”.
In the letter from Xi, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, there was no mention of the war in Ukraine, which China has remained publicly neutral over since it began.
Russia and Ukraine carry out prisoner swap
Elsewhere, Russia and Ukraine carried out another round of prisoner swaps with both countries exchanging 146 prisoners each.
Zelenskyy said most of the Ukrainian soldiers returned have been in captivity since 2022, including journalist Dmytro Khilyuk, who Ukraine’s president said was kidnapped in the Kyiv region a month after the war began.
Fire at Russian nuclear plant
Russian officials said a fire was sparked and capacity was reduced by 50% at the Kursk nuclear power plant overnight after a Ukrainian drone was shot down over the site.
The acting governor of the region said strikes on nuclear power plants “cross all boundaries of international conventions”.
Meanwhile, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said it was aware of reports of a fire at the plant “due to military activity”, but added that it had not received independent confirmation.
In our latest weekly Q&A, our security and defence analyst Michael Clarke talked through the options on the table for Western security guarantees.
Full US and European backing
“The largest guarantee would be a series of multilateral guarantees that look a bit like NATO’s Article 5, which saw Ukraine’s allies – including the US – fighting the Russians if they breach the peace deal,” said Clarke.
“I think the Ukrainians would give away the rest of the Donbas if they thought they would get that in return – but they’re not.”
Full European backing with US assistance
The next level down is a European force operating in Ukraine with American backup – like airpower, intelligence sharing and logistics.
“Those forces would have to be prepared to fight – they’d have to be prepared to take on Russian forces – and that’s a big, big issue.”
European training and backfilling with US assistance
But what is probably being talked about is Western forces training Ukrainian forces in western Ukrainian, while backfilling other jobs like screening the frontier with Belarus, Clarke said.
US air power would provide intelligence and logistics, but “Trump won’t specify what he means”.
European air police
Weaker than that is an agreement without the US, meaning Europe provides “air policing” over Ukraine and “be prepared to take on Russian aircraft” carrying out bombing runs.
“That’s plausible. Difficult, dangerous, plausible.”
Black Sea free trade
The “most practical” thing Western forces can do is assist in the Black Sea to ensure Ukrainian trade can flow freely, Clarke said.
“That could be enforced by both air and sea.”
Longer war
The alternative is there is no peace deal and Europe gets “more involved in helping Ukraine continue to fight the war”.
Watch military analyst Sean Bell give his take on possible security guarantees below…
We have been bringing you pictures from Kyiv throughout the day as Ukrainians celebrated Independence Day.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops training at a British Army camp in eastern England also joined in the celebrations…
Our Europe correspondent Siobhan Robbins says the mood was “defiant and proud” in Kyiv today as Ukraine celebrated its Independence Day.
Watch her report below to see how the day unfolded.
Ukraine’s foreign minister has hit back at his Russian counterpart after he said Volodymyr Zelenskyy “is not” legitimate.
Moscow has questioned the legitimacy of Ukraine’s president after elections in the country were postponed last year due to martial law.
“When we come to a stage when you have to sign documents, we would need a very clear understanding by everybody that the person who is signing is legitimate,” Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said (see 16.40 post).
“According to the Ukrainian constitution, Zelenskyy is not at the moment.”
Andrii Sybiha has responded to Lavrov’s comments, and said: “Nothing is more absurd than a lecture on legitimacy from someone who has sat in his chair for 21 years, serving someone who has been ruling for more than 25 years.”
“He has no legitimacy to talk about legitimacy,” he added.
“Such delusional statements show that Russia rejects peace efforts.”
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free