Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap!
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said there were no plans for Vladimir Putin to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the agenda for the meeting was “not ready at all.” “There is no meeting planned,” he said (13:40).
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said there were active discussions “at many levels” to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, as he insisted that they would offer greater protection than in previous, failed agreements in Minsk and Budapest (14:20, 14:23).
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that guarantees should be structured in a similar way to Nato’s core principle in Article 5 that an attack on one member is an attack on all (14:09).
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that “Russia does not want peace,” accusing Putin of ignoring demands to end the war and “just laughing – not stopping the killing, but increase the killing, … the bombings on Ukraine” (9:48).
Hungary and Slovakia urged the European Commission to guarantee security of supplies after they said that oil deliveries through the Druzbha pipeline could be suspended for at least five days following a Ukrainian attack on a linked facility in Russia (10:26).
In other news,
This hot and dry year has already emerged as the EU’s worst on record for wildfires – and there’s still one month of the fire season left to go (16:05).
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com.
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
EU wildfires worst on record as burning season continues
Europe environment correspondent
In other news, this hot and dry year has already emerged as the EU’s worst on record for wildfires – and there’s still one month of the fire season left to go.
New data from the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis) shows 1,015,024 hectares have burned so far this year, breaking the previous full-year record of 988,544 hectares that was set in 2017.
Across the continent, and particularly in Spain and Portugal, deadly infernos have run riot this month – emptying out villages and forcing farmers to become firefighters.
The blazes have engulfed four times as much land this year as the average for the same period over the past two decades, according to official data, and spewed out extreme levels of toxic smoke.
Overwhelmed and underprepared, several governments have triggered the EU’s civil protection mechanism to help fight the flames. The Commission has sent help in the form of water-bombing planes and extra firefighters from neighbouring countries.
Russia orders state-backed Max messenger app to be pre-installed on new phones
Meanwhile, a Russian state-backed messenger application called Max, a rival to WhatsApp that critics say could be used to track users, must be pre-installed on all mobile phones and tablets bought in the country starting next month, the Russian government said on Thursday.
The decision to promote Max comes as Moscow, locked in a standoff with the west over Ukraine, is seeking greater control over the internet.
The Kremlin said in a statement that Max, which will be integrated with government services, would be on a list of mandatory pre-installed apps on all “gadgets”, including mobile phones and tablets, sold in Russia from 1 September. The firm behind Max said this week that 18 million users had downloaded its app, parts of which are still in a testing phase.
State media says accusations from Kremlin critics that Max is a spying app are false and that it has fewer permissions to access user data than rivals WhatsApp and Telegram.
Air raid alert in Kyiv during Nato's Rutte visit - AFP
AFP is reporting that an air raid alert sounded in Kyiv during Rutte’s visit to Kyiv.
The agency added that:
“Russia has stepped up drone and missile attacks on Ukraine in recent days as a US-led mediation effort to end the three-and-a-half-year war has appeared to falter.”
Rutte was also asked about whether these new security guarantees would include any troops on the ground in Ukraine.
He said:
“These discussions are now ongoing at many levels. So the security advisers are working together. The foreign ministers are working together on this. …
And it is too early to exactly say what will be the outcome, but clearly the US will be involved. Clearly we want, do not want, to repeat of the Budapest Memorandum or the Minsk agreement, these security guarantees should be holding.”
Nato working on 'robust security guarantees' for Ukraine to strengthen Ukraine in talks with Russia
Speaking alongside Zelenskyy, Nato’s Rutte said the alliance’s support for Ukraine remained “unwavering” and “continues to grow,” with more plans to provide Nato funding to ensure “a crucial flow of lethal US weapons to Ukraine.”
He lauded the outcome of Monday’s talks at the White House, saying that Trump made it clear “the United States will indeed be involved in providing security guarantees for Ukraine.”
He continued:
“Robust security guarantees will be essential, and this is what we are now working to define, so that when the time comes you for you to enter that bilateral meeting, you have the unmistakable force of Ukraine’s friends behind you, ensuring that Russia will uphold any deal, and will never ever again, attempt to take one square kilometre of Ukraine.”
He then got challenged by a Ukrainian reporter on how the new guarantees would be different from the ones made to Ukraine in the past, including in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, that ended up being ignored by Russia.
Rutte insisted that Europe’s and the US’s active role will make them different this time.
“The Budapest Memorandum and Minsk did not provide those security guarantees. So we clearly know what it should not be, and we are now working together – Ukraine, the Europeans, the United States – to make sure that the security guarantees are of such a level that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, sitting in Moscow, will never, ever try to attack Ukraine again.”
Zelenskyy discusses security guarantees with Nato's Rutte during his unannounced visit to Ukraine
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte turns out to be in Kyiv today, making a previously unannounced visit to Ukraine.
We are just getting some lines from his joint appearance at a press briefing with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy said the pair discussed possible security guarantees for Ukraine, insisting they should be structured in a similar way to Nato’s core principle in Article 5 that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
The Ukrainian president also repeatedly alleged that Russia was trying to make it impossible to end the way and to avoid a leaders’ meeting between himself and Putin.
No Putin-Zelenskyy meeting planned until agenda is agreed, Russia's foreign minister Lavrov says
We are getting some news lines from Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, via Reuters, quoting a report from the Russian news agency Ria.
He is quoted as saying that no meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy is planned, but insisting that the Russian president remains ready to meet when there’s a ready agenda for their meeting.
Speaking to NBC TV’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker” programme, Lavrov also said Russia had agreed to be flexible on a number of points raised by US president Donald Trump, Reuters reported.
Updated
Europe’s show of unity at the White House is a plus for Ukraine, but peace is still a distant dream - comment
A bilateral meeting between President Zelenskyy and Putin is viewed as unlikely and Ukrainians are sure that Putin will do everything possible to avoid one.
Putin has repeatedly questioned Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as president and meeting the Ukrainian leader would fly in the face of that stance. But, if we try to imagine how a bilateral meeting might go, logically an easy issue should be dealt with first – a minor question on which agreement could be achieved, paving the way for more difficult topics.
But today, between Ukraine and Russia there are no easy issues.
The exchange of prisoners of war and the return of Ukrainian children and civilians from Russia to Ukraine have long been addressed with a degree of success by a separate team of employees. All other points for discussion are extremely difficult; for example, a mutual ceasefire or a mutual cessation of shelling with missiles and drones, or the status of captured territories and territories that Russia is still planning to capture.
The format of such a tete-a-tete meeting is therefore much more likely to be two short monologues, but certainly not a dialogue. A three-person meeting with President Trump as a moderator could be more productive, but surely Trump will only agree to this if he is confident that at least something will be achieved.
Otherwise, again, as after the Alaska meeting, his reputation will take a beating.
Kim Jong-un hails North Korean troops fighting against Ukraine at ceremony for returned soldiers
Kim Jong-un has hailed North Korean troops fighting alongside Russia in the war in Ukraine as “heroes”, at a ceremony to honour soldiers who recently returned from the conflict, state media said on Friday.
The North Korean leader said in a speech this week that his troops had displayed “fighting spirit of the heroes” during their operation to retake Russia’s Kursk region from Ukrainian forces – which had established a foothold there last year – the state news agency KCNA said.
“The combat activities of overseas operational forces … proved without regret the power of the heroic [North Korean] army,” Kim said.
Kim laid a flower at a memorial for North Korean soldiers who had died overseas, while soldiers who had returned from Russia were honoured with a concert, KCNA said, adding that relatives of troops killed in action had been among those attending a banquet.
The events were the latest public show of gratitude by the regime in Pyongyang, in stark contrast to the secrecy that surrounded North Korea’s role in the war when its troops were first sent to Russia last autumn.
Kim met officers of the army’s overseas operation and paid tribute to North Korean soldiers killed in Ukraine. He said they had been assigned to carry out the “most important duty” and voiced “warm militant encouragement” to the commanders and troops, KCNA said.
The ceremony comes days after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, used similar language to pay tribute to North Korean troops sent to fight alongside Russian forces.
Pyongyang sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia’s Kursk region in 2024, according to South Korean and western intelligence agencies, along with artillery shells, missiles and long-range rocket systems.
About 600 North Korean troops have been killed out of a total deployment of 15,000, South Korean lawmakers said in April, citing the South’s intelligence agency.
'We find Ukraine's actions ... completely unacceptable,' Slovak and Hungarian FMs write to EU
In the last few minutes, Hungary’s foreign minister Szijjártó posted the full letter he sent with his Slovak counterpart to the European Commission on gas supplies (10:26).
In the letter, the pair said:
“We regret to inform you that during the last days Ukraine has carried out three attacks against the Druzhba oil pipeline which plays a crucial role in the energy security of Hungary and Slovakia.
These attacks resulted in the suspension of oil deliveries to both of our countries. As a consequence of the latest missile attack, deliveries seem to be suspended for at least five days.
The physical and geographical reality is that without this pipeline, the safe supply of our countries is simply not possible.
Given that in the past years, the EU and its Member States have provided hundreds of billions of Euros worth of support to Ukraine, we find Ukraine’s actions, which severely threaten the energy security of Hungary and Slovakia, completely unacceptable.
To this end, we strongly call on the Commission to immediately uphold the commitments outlined in the above mentioned statement and guarantee the safety of energy supply of its Member States.”
Let’s see if we get a response from Ukraine this morning.
Macron, Merz, Tusk to visit Moldova in pro-EU signal ahead of elections
French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk will visit Moldova next week to celebrate Moldova’s independence day, the French president’s office said on Friday.
“The leaders will reaffirm their full support for Moldova’s security, sovereignty and European path,” the Élysée Palace said in a statement, reported by Reuters.
Moldova, a small former Soviet republic located between Ukraine and EU and Nato member Romania, will hold parliamentary elections on 28 September. The country’s ruling party is seeking to maintain its majority and keep its pro-European trajectory intact.
Moldovan officials have repeatedly accused Russia of meddling in its domestic politics by stoking pro-Moscow sentiment in an effort to topple the government as it aims to strengthen ties with the West, claims Russia denies, Reuters said.
Hungary, Slovakia urged EU to guarantee oil supplies affected by Ukraine war
Elsewhere, Hungary and Slovakia urged the European Commission to guarantee security of supplies after they said that oil deliveries through the Druzbha pipeline could be suspended for at least five days following a Ukrainian attack on a linked facility in Russia, Reuters reported.
“The physical and geographical reality is that without this pipeline, the safe supply of our countries is simply not possible,” foreign ministers Péter Szijjártó and Juraj Blanár said in a joint letter.
Slovak pipeline operator Transpetrol said on Friday that the flow of oil was interrupted last night, outside the territory of the Slovakia.
Earlier this week, Szijjártó publicly clashed on this issue with Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha, who told him to “send your complaints – and threats – to your friends in Moscow” (Europe live on Tuesday).
Updated
Russia doesn't want peace and Putin is 'just laughing' at Trump's demands to stop killing, EU's Kallas says
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme earlier today.
She asserted that “Russia does not want peace,” as she accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of not keeping any promises and “just laughing – not stopping the killing, but increase the killing, … the bombings on Ukraine.”
“You see Europeans, Ukrainians, Americans wanting peace, and doing all the diplomatic efforts to achieve that, whereas Russia is just dragging feet, it’s clear that Russia does not want peace.”
She also called for more EU and US sanctions and tariffs against Russia, saying:
“It is very clear that any promises that Putin has been given so far, he hasn’t kept, and we have to treat it as such, but [we] also [have to] make all the efforts in really pressuring him to come to the negotiation table.
And there we have different tools. The Americans have leverage with the sanctions or tariffs to pressure Russia into negotiations. We are working on our 19th package of sanctions on the European side to really put the pressure on Russia, the one who is, who is doing the aggression here.”
Kallas also argued that Putin got “what he wanted” from the Alaska summit with Trump, getting not just the picture with the US president, but “so much more, such a welcome in America, and … then he also wanted the sanctions not to be put in place, which he also achieved.”
“So, I think right now his interest is down, because he has achieved what he wanted from this meeting,” she said.
She also rejected speculations about Ukraine giving up parts of its territory, saying “this is exactly the trap that Russia wants us to walk into.”
“[They want] the discussion [to be] all about what Ukraine should give up, what is the concessions that Ukraine is willing to do, whereas we are forgetting that Russia hasn’t made one single concession. And they are the ones who are the aggressor here.
They are the ones who are brutally attacking another country and killing people there … So let’s keep the focus there, where we have to keep it, to put the pressure on Russia so that they would come to the negotiation table. And also, what kind of negotiation concessions are the Russians making right now? They have just increased their goals and wishes.”
Updated
Morning opening: Russia wants to 'wriggle out' of meeting, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia’s Vladimir Putin of “trying to wriggle out of holding a meeting” to discuss peace arrangements, saying: “They don’t want to end this war.”
Zelenskyy pointed to continuing Russian strikes on Ukraine, including on an American company’s facilities in Mukachevo, and a growing number of alleged provocations against Nato countries, including Lithuania and Poland. “[These are] not accidents – Russian impudence,” he said.
“We expect our partners to respond in a principled manner. This war must be brought to an end. Pressure must be exerted on Russia to end the war. Putin understands nothing but force and pressure.”
He was also quick to pick up on US president Donald Trump’s suggestion of more offensive actions.
Trump on Thursday appeared to vent his frustration at Russia’s obstruction. In a post on Truth Social, the US president blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for not allowing Ukraine to “fight back” against Russia.
He said:
“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia. Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND. How did that work out? … Interesting times ahead!!!”
Zelenskyy responded:
Of course, we will continue doing everything to protect our country and people. President Trump is absolutely right—this must be done not only in defense. Meanwhile, we do not slow down in diplomacy, so that negotiations to bring peace closer can finally take place.
Let’s see what today brings.
Elsewhere, I will be also keeping an eye on the EU’s reactions to the EU-US joint statement on trade, and on wildfires affecting Spain and Portugal.
I will bring you all the key updates here.
It’s Friday, 22 August 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
