Volodymyr Zelenskyy is meeting Emmanuel Macron before a European leaders’ summit on Ukraine tomorrow. Meanwhile, Russia attacked his hometown and a Ukrainian port city, hours after the Black Sea ceasefire deal was agreed. Follow the latest here.
Wednesday 26 March 2025 17:26, UK
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Further to reports we brought you earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has now arrived at Elysee Palace in Paris and is being greeted by Emmanuel Macron.
The Ukrainian president is in France ahead of a summit of European leaders on Ukraine.
The so-called “coalition of the willing” nations that are allies of Ukraine are gathering in Paris to mull multiple options for a possible force that could be deployed in the country after any ceasefire with Russia
Officials said earlier discussions at the meeting in Paris would focus on a range of issues, such as on how to strengthen Ukraine militarily to deter future attacks, and how to monitor limited ceasefires over sea targets and energy infrastructure.
Images are emerging of rubble-strewn streets and battered buildings in Pokrovsk, which sits in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Russian forces have for months focused on advancing on Pokrovsk.
But Ukraine’s military has reported success in recent weeks in holding back Russian forces in the area.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Paris ahead of a summit of European leaders on Ukraine and security tomorrow as part of Sir Keir Starmer’s “coalition of the willing”.
Emmanuel Macron is hosting the follow-up to his February and March gatherings of European and NATO leaders to discuss defence guarantees for Ukraine, with leaders and delegations from around 30 countries attending.
The Ukrainian leader is expected to have a meeting with the French president later today.
We’ll bring you any updates or images from Zelenskyy’s visit as we get them.
Further to Ukrainian reports we brought you earlier of a diesel spillage at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the Russian-installed management at the facility has dismissed the claims as “fake”.
Earlier, Ukraine accused Moscow of being incapable of managing safety at plant after what it called reports of a huge spillage of diesel (see post at 3.05pm).
“The spilled fuel was enough to power the station’s emergency generators for 25 days,” the country’s foreign ministry spokesman, Heorhii Tykhyi, said.
He did not give the origin of the reports or say when or how the damage had come about, saying only that it was “a direct result of Russia’s reckless replacement” of licensed Ukrainian experts with Russian staff.
Last week, Donald Trump suggested the US could help run and possibly own Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.
But Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the ownership has not been discussed and ruled out such a possibility.<\/p>\n
A search is under way after four US army soldiers went missing in Lithuania, the US embassy in Vilnius reports.
The embassy said on their website that the soldiers went missing in a training area near Pabrade in eastern Lithuania, near the border with Belarus.
A search is being conducted by the US army, Lithuanian armed forces, Lithuanian law enforcement and others, the embassy added.
The embassy has not said when the soldiers went missing.
Ukraine has accused Russia of being incapable of managing safety at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after what it called reports of diesel spillage.
The country’s foreign ministry spokesman, Heorhii Tykhyi, said Russia had not only stole the plant, but they were “unable to manage its basic safety”.
Here is what he has said on X…
The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia facility is Europe’s largest nuclear plant and located in southern Ukraine.
The plant has been controlled by Russian forces since March 2022.
Since then, both Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of attacking it – leading to UN body, the International Atomic Energy Agency, frequently expressing concern about the plant amid fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe.
Donald Trump’s special envoy has come under fire for his comments around a 1994 deal transferring nuclear weapons from Ukraine to Russia, known as the Budapest Memorandum.
Here’s what Richard Grenell said:
“Lets be clear about the Budapest Memorandum: the nukes were Russia’s and were leftovers.
“Ukraine gave the nukes back to Russia. They weren’t Ukraine’s.
“This is an uncomfortable fact.”
The Budapest Memorandum was signed after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Those nuclear weapons were inherited from the Soviet Union, but Ukraine agreed to give them up in return for security guarantees.
Former US ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer, who was involved in those talks in 1994, was among those to respond to Grenell – pointing out Russia is not the same thing as the Soviet Union.
“Grenell is flat wrong. Nuclear warheads in #Ukraine<\/a> were ex-Soviet, not Russian,” he said.
Political commentator and former Republican Representative Adam Kizinger was more direct in his response, writing: “They were Soviet you ignorant ass helmet.
“So they were as equally Ukraine’s as Russia’s. This is day one knowledge.”
We reported earlier that Russia had accused Ukraine of targeting energy infrastructure in three of its regions, despite an agreement not to carry out such attacks (see our 11.17am post).
The Ukrainian military has now rejected that accusation.
The general staff said on messaging app Telegram that Kyiv’s troops did not conduct any such strikes on 25-26 March.
The United Nations Security Council is convening to discuss Ukraine.
Only a brief summary of the agenda is available on the UN website, describing it as regarding the “maintenance of peace and security in Ukraine”.
The UNSC has 15 members, including China, France, Russia, the UK and US.
We’ll be bringing you all the key updates here in the blog – or you can watch live at the top of the page.
Any Russian attack on NATO members would be met by “the full force of this fierce alliance”.
Mark Rutte, the group’s chief, was speaking in Poland, where Prime Minister Donald Tusk said NATO’s commitment to defend the country would be “very important”.
And Rutte backed him, adding: “Our reaction will be devastating.”
He said this “has to be very clear to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin”, and “anyone else who wants to attack us”.
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