Trump says he expects to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia – live updates – BBC.com

The Trump administration has made a lot of news regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine. Here’s a brief timeline of how the day played out:

• The first big moment came when Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told an audience in Brussels that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is “unrealistic”
• Hegseth also said Ukraine’s desire to join Nato was not a “realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement” and that Europe would need to ensure the country’s security

• We then found out Trump spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which the US president called “lengthy and highly productive”
• Trump said they agreed that negotiations to end the war in Ukraine should begin “immediately”
• In Kyiv, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky met to discuss Ukraine trading rare earth minerals for US military support

• Zelensky and Trump also spoke on the phone for an hour, the Ukrainian president’s office said
• Late in the afternoon, Trump re-iterated Hegseth’s comments regarding Nato and what Ukraine’s borders could look like if the war ended. Trump also said he would probably meet with Putin in Saudi Arabia

You can read more about Trump’s conversation with Putin and what it means for the war in Ukraine here.

We’re now pausing our live coverage. Thank you for joining us.

Saudi Arabia ‘a natural choice’ for a Trump-Putin summitpublished at 00:11 Greenwich Mean Time

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

President Trump’s mention of Saudi Arabia as a likely venue for his first meeting with President Putin since returning to the White House is, in many ways, a natural choice.

Back in 2017 Trump chose the Saudi capital Riyadh as his first overseas presidential destination.

The venue was proposed, I am told, by Rupert Murdoch and the trip was a big success.

Deals were signed and just one month later the King’s favourite son, Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), cemented his power by becoming Crown Prince, later remaining on close terms with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

But the Saudi royals, and especially MBS, have also enjoyed a good relationship with Putin.

They refused to join the chorus of Western-led outrage when Russia’s army made its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The two nations have cooperated on oil policy through the OPEC+ group and Saudi Arabia has brokered prisoner releases in the Ukraine war.

Most importantly, the Saudis had a strained relationship with the Biden administration – they never forgave Biden for calling them “a pariah state” after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 – whereas Trump was reluctant to condemn MBS over his alleged role in that murder, which he denied.

Trump issued an executive order on Wednesday that calls for all foreign service officers and civil servants to “faithfully implement the President’s policies” regarding foreign affairs.

This appears to be an effort to limit the independence of foreign service officers and civil service employees, as they face “professional discipline, including separation”, if they do not follow the order.

Titled “One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations”, the order says the Secretary of State “must maintain an exceptional workforce of patriots to implement this policy effectively”. This has raised concerns that the president desires the State Department workforce value political loyalty over their expertise.

The order also says that Trump’s approach to international affairs, which has typically adopted an “America First” approach, should be considered when recruiting, evaluating employees and reforming retention standards.

Agencies are expected to “remove, amend, or replace any handbooks, procedures, or guidance” that would challenge this approach.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

During US President Donald Trump’s briefing to reporters in the White House earlier, I asked him what Ukraine’s borders might look like if the war ended – would maps look like they did pre-2014?

In response, Trump says “it certainly would seem to be unlikely”.

“They took a lot of land and they fought for that land, and they lost a lot of soldiers,” the president says.

But he adds that “some of that land would come back” to Ukraine.

As a reminder, large parts of eastern Ukraine are currently occupied by Russia after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of the eastern European country.

We’ve brought you updates throughout the day from the Trump administration about the Russia-Ukraine conflict – but how did it start?

Three years ago, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and attempted to seize Kyiv.

Through that invasion Russia gained over 4,000 square kilometres of territory and both sides have lost thousands of people – most of them military personnel.

But the full-scale invasion in 2022 wasn’t the start of the conflict. Eight years earlier, in 2014, Russia began its reach for more territory and seized Crimea from Ukraine.

Russian forces also advanced along a portion of Ukraine’s eastern border, in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Earlier today, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said it was “unrealistic” for Ukraine to return to its pre-2014 borders.

• You can learn a little more through these maps tracking the conflict

Ukraine war becoming increasingly unaffordablepublished at 22:17 Greenwich Mean Time 12 February

Jonathan Josephs
BBC business reporter

Apart from stopping the death and suffering, another benefit to ending the fighting in Ukraine is that it is increasingly unaffordable.

Despite international help, the Ukrainian government has increased a range of taxes to help fund the fight against Russia.

Last month brought an increase in the military levy that individuals pay on their wages; other tax increases have been imposed on alcohol, tobacco and banks.

Despite the government estimating that the economy grew about 3.6% last year, it’s still smaller than it was before the war started in 2022.

And this year’s budget allocates more money than ever for defence & security, almost $54bn – which is about 26% of the entire economy. By comparison, Russia is forecast to spend about 6.7% of its GDP on defence.

Russia’s attacks on energy infrastructure have led to rolling blackouts and made it hard for businesses to be productive and pay taxes.

With inflation running at an annualised 12.9%, the economy is another major battle front for President Zelensky’s government to fight on.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy and US Vice President JD Vance will meet this weekend at the Munich Security Conference.

Around 60 heads of state and government are expected to meet in Germany for one of the world’s most important forums for security policy.

It had long been expected the US would present its peace plans for Ukraine at the conference, but the latest news out of Washington and Moscow adds significance and urgency to the forum.

Vance will be flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg, who will head to Kyiv after the conference. The Ukrainian delegation, headed by Zelensky, will aim to secure commitments from allies to prevent future Russian aggression.

Top European Union leaders – who this evening have called for Ukraine and Europe to be fully involved in negotiations – will also be present, having put security at the centre of European politics in recent months.

A tale of two White Housespublished at 21:52 Greenwich Mean Time 12 February

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

News of Donald Trump’s lengthy phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin came not from a White House readout, but in a post by the president on his Truth Social platform.

Given how the US president operates, it’s not surprising – but it’s another indication of how this White House operates much differently than its predecessor, which conducted diplomacy in a cautious, deliberate manner.

Trump’s freewheeling style, which produced his controversial Gaza reconstruction proposal last week, is now at work on the war in Ukraine – and it also represents a marked change of direction from the Biden administration.

Trump’s reopening of communications with Putin, his apparent willingness to sideline Ukraine in these talks and his decision to effectively close the door on Ukrainian membership in Nato will probably all sit just fine with his conservative base.

Rank-and-file Republican support for continued aid to Ukraine has declined steadily since the war began, and many have become sceptical of the continued usefulness of Nato and America’s European allies.

Trump was open about his views on all of this – of the war and of Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – throughout last year’s presidential campaign, and he paid no political price for it. Now that he is president, he may believe that he has significant domestic latitude to negotiate a peace as he sees fit.

We can bring you a bit more on Trump’s comments to reporters in the White House a little earlier.

“We want to end that war, that war is a disaster,” Trump says.

He says that he will likely meet Putin in Saudi Arabia, but it is unclear on when that meeting will take place – but he says it will be in the not-too-distant future.

The US president says he has no plan yet to visit Ukraine, but he didn’t rule out the possibility of a future visit.

We have a little more to bring you now from President Donald Trump, who is making remarks to reporters at the White House.

He says it would not be “practical” for Ukraine to have Nato membership and he is “ok” with it.

Trump says he believes Putin “wants peace”, adding that he is confident that the Russian president wants to see the war end.

The president adds that he knows the defence secretary made a statement about Nato membership being unlikely or impractical, and he believes “probably that’s true”.

He says Washington will still send aid to Ukraine, “but we want it secured”.

We’re now hearing more from US President Donald Trump, who says he and Russian President Vladimir Putin expect to meet, probably in Saudi Arabia.

He made the comments to reporters at the White House.

Trump describes his call with Putin as a good conversation and says it lasted over an hour, adding that he did not think it was practical for Ukraine to have Nato membership.

As a reminder, on 24 February 2022 Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Tulsi Gabbard has just been sworn in as Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence.

The former Democrat and military veteran will now oversee 18 US intelligence agencies, including the CIA and FBI, as well as serving as a close adviser to the president.

Gabbard overcame criticism over her previous remarks about Russia’s war in Ukraine to be voted into the role – she had been accused of repeating Russian propaganda justifying Putin’s invasion, which she denied.

Concerns had also been raised by US security officials that Gabbard – who opposes America’s involvement in foreign wars – could negatively affect international intelligence co-operation.

You can read more on the background of America’s new intelligence director in our profile piece.

Earlier in the day, we heard from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt who addressed media following Trump’s calls with Putin and Zelensky.

Leavitt said she was told by Trump to tell reporters that they were “very good calls”, and that his administration is “wholeheartedly committed to peace deal” to end the war in Ukraine.

You can watch her comments back in full below:

As we’ve been reporting, Donald Trump’s phone calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin could spark the beginning of the end for the war in Ukraine.

All three parties agreed that they want the grinding fighting to come to an end, but as the BBC’s Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse reports, the road to peace for Ukraine will not be smooth.

We’ll continue to cover developments here, but for an idea of what it all means, the BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner joins Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko on today’s Ukrainecast – available now on BBC Sounds.

The road to a ‘just peace’ for Ukraine will not be smoothpublished at 19:52 Greenwich Mean Time 12 February

James Waterhouse
Ukraine correspondent

Pete Hegseth’s speech at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels was a body blow for Kyiv.

While it has long been known this was a US administration less sympathetic than its predecessor, every utterance from America’s new defence secretary will have only pleased Moscow.

The denial of Nato membership, a view that Ukraine can’t win, ambiguity over how a frozen front line would be policed in the future – all of these add up to a tangible Russian return for 11 years of aggression towards Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has always argued that there “can be no talks on Ukraine, without Ukraine,” and yet an apparent phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has proved otherwise.

Western help – and the Ukrainian forces who benefitted from it – are why Kyiv didn’t fall within days, as was expected by some.

But the road to a “just peace” as President Zelensky puts it, is neither going to be straight or smooth for Ukraine.

The BBC’s defence correspondent, Jonathan Beale, reports from Nato’s headquarters, following a call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, during which the pair agreed to start negotiations to end the war in Ukraine “immediately”.

“It’s a bitter blow” for Kyiv, he says. You can watch his dispatch in full below:

Russia scores a diplomatic victorypublished at 19:12 Greenwich Mean Time 12 February

Steve Rosenberg
Russia editor

A single phone call will not magically end the war in Ukraine.

Talks will start. When and how they’ll conclude isn’t clear.

But Moscow has already scored a diplomatic victory just by the fact of this telephone conversation.

Think back three years. Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine turned him into a pariah. Russia was hit by thousands of international sanctions. Later the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Kremlin leader. President Biden condemned his Russian counterpart as a “murderous dictator” and a “pure thug”.

Fast forward to today. The language from the White House has changed. So has the approach to Russia. President Trump says he wants to “work together, very closely” with President Putin to end the war in Ukraine. He hopes they’ll be “visiting each other’s nations”.

In many ways, Vladimir Putin has got what he wants: the chance to negotiate directly with the United States on Ukraine and the opportunity put himself on the top table of international politics, despite the last three years of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

• For more on how Trump is offering Putin a way back in from the cold, read Steve Rosenberg’s latest analysis in full

We’ve just been bringing you comments from US President Donald Trump, but let’s turn back to what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has to say.

As a reminder, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, Kyiv has been defending its territory with the support of Western allies. Under former president Joe Biden’s administration, Washington was clear on its support for Ukraine and its fight against Moscow.

In remarks after the phone call with Trump, Zelensky says that “together with the US we are charting our next steps to stop Russian aggression and ensure a lasting, reliable peace”.

“As President Trump said, let’s get it done,” he adds.

Zelensky says the pair agreed to maintain further contact and plan upcoming meetings.

Positives in this fast-moving situation come at Ukraine’s expensepublished at 18:40 Greenwich Mean Time 12 February

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

Things are moving very fast when it comes to efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Unfortunately for Kyiv, it is not in the driving seat.

The news that the two leaders of the two most heavily armed nuclear nations – Russia and the US – have held a seemingly constructive and cordial 90-minute phone call is, at face value, a welcome step towards a more peaceful world.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin clearly have a good working relationship, in marked contrast to the previous occupant of the White House, Joe Biden.

So for now, the temperature has been lowered.

But this positive move may well come at Ukraine’s expense.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid it out in crystal clear terms where the US stands on peace for Ukraine, in words that will no doubt be welcomed by Moscow.

No US troops for Ukraine in any future security arrangement, no realistic possibility of returning to its pre-2014 borders (when Russia occupied and annexed Crimea and backed insurgents in the Donbas), and no likelihood of Ukraine joining Nato.

These were all clearly stated goals made by President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government – and they come on top of a dire situation on the battlefield where Russia’s superior numbers are enabling it to slowly push deeper into Ukrainian territory.

• Read on here