Key events
In response to a question on what concessions Ukraine is willing to make in order to achieve peace with Russia, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: “First of all, I think we need to sit and speak. The second point, we need ceasefire… As I said previously said, we are ready to speak in any kind of format, bilateral, trilateral, doesn’t matter.”
“NATO, for Ukrainians, is very important. Of course, it’s our decision, decisions of allies, to decide where we are, yes, but the most important thing…for people in Ukraine, which are under each day’s attacks, to have really strong security guarantees,” he added.
“Weapons is very important. Allies on our side is very important. And between us, for us, bilateral security guarantees between me and president Trump is very important,” Zelenskyy continued.
Trump talks of a lot of ‘bad blood’ between Putin and Zelenskyy
Donald Trump said that there is a lot of “bad blood” between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyyy and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
‘These two leaders do not like each other, and we want to make it comfortable for everybody. So one way or the other we’ll be involved in threes, but it may be separated,” Trump said.
“Well, let’s see what happens. I mean, you know what? I think he will. I think that president Putin wants to end the war, or I wouldn’t be talking this way,” he added.
In response to a question from a pool reporter on whether he thinks he will be able to convince Russian president Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, Donald Trump nodded in agreement.
Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy then proceeded to head indoors to the White House.
President Donald Trump, left, gestures as he greets Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in Washington. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has just arrived at the White House.
He was greeted by Donald Trump who patted Zelenskyy on the back as they posed for cameras.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet with US president Donald Trump shortly after 1pm EST.
In a less formal arrangement than the previous two meetings in the Oval Office, the pair are set to spend a working lunch in the Cabinet Room.
Zelenskyy will ask Donald Trump for Tomahawk missiles and aim to persuade Trump to shift from diplomacy and instead towards greater military pressure on Putin’s Russia.
The day so far
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy will ask Donald Trump for Tomahawk missiles on Friday but the surprise announcement that the US president will meet with Vladimir Putin in Budapest appeared to dim the Ukrainian president’s chance of securing the long-range weapons. Trump announced the summit after a more than two-hour phone conversation with Putin about Russia’s war in Ukraine on Thursday, which he said was productive.
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Hungary’s government has made clear it will not arrest Vladimir Putin, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, if he arrives in Budapest for peace talks. Speaking to state radio on Friday, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán hailed the fact his country would host the meeting.
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The US is supportive of a new IMF lending programme for Ukraine and the European Union initiative to extend a loan to Kyiv based on Russian central bank assets immobilised in the west, European economic commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said on Friday. Dombrovskis, who is in charge of the 27-nation EU’s economic policy, met with US treasury secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday to discuss support for Ukraine.
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Russia and the United States should build a ‘Putin-Trump’ rail tunnel under the Bering Strait to link their countries, unlock joint exploration of natural resources and “symbolise unity”, a Kremlin envoy has suggested. The proposal by Kirill Dmitriev, President Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy and head of Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund, envisages a construction project costing $8 billion, funded by Moscow and “international partners”, to build a 70 mile (112 km) rail and cargo link in under eight years.
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Fifteen members of a Ukrainian militia group were convicted by a Russian military court on Friday of taking part in “a terrorist organisation” and sentenced to between 15 and 21 years in a maximum security penal colony, Russia’s prosecutor general said. The men were members of Ukraine’s Aidar Battalion who were captured in 2022.
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Russia said on Friday it had captured three villages in Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions, including areas Kyiv had retaken three years ago in a surprise counteroffensive. The Russian army said its forces had captured the villages of Pishchane and Tykhe in Kharkiv and Pryvillia in Dnipropetrovsk.
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German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said on Friday the planned Budapest talks between US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin are a second attempt to get Putin to negotiate seriously, but stressed that Ukraine must be involved in any decision. Wadephul made the remarks during his visit to Ankara, where he met his Turkish counterpart.
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Two Ukrainian men pleaded not guilty on Friday to plotting fires earlier this year at properties linked to UK prime minister Keir Starmer. Roman Lavrynovych and Petro Pochynok are accused of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life between April and May. They are charged along with Stanislav Carpiuc, a Ukraine-born Romanian national, who did not enter a plea.
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Portugal’s parliament approved on Friday a bill to ban face veils used for “gender or religious motives” in most public spaces that was proposed by the far-right Chega party and effectively targets burqas and niqabs worn by Muslim women. Under the bill, proposed fines for wearing face veils in public would range between 200 euros and 4,000 euros.
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Giorgia Meloni has condemned the boss of Italy’s biggest trade union after he referred to the prime minister as the “courtesan” of Donald Trump. Maurizio Landini, the leader of CGIL, which organised several pro-Palestinian protests before the Gaza ceasefire deal, made the remarks on TV on Tuesday, the day after world leaders, including Meloni, met in Egypt for a Middle East peace summit.
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France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor has opened a formal probe into four men arrested by police on suspicion of plotting to attack an exiled Russian opposition figure, his office said on Friday. A prosecutor’s spokesperson declined to identify the Russian opponent allegedly targeted, though Biarritz-based Vladimir Osechkin, who is Russian, said on his Telegram account the plot was directed against him, Reuters reported.
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France imposed a ban on cattle exports and events such as bullfighting, the agriculture ministry said on Friday as it tries to contain the highly contagious lumpy skin disease sweeping through farms in the country for the first time. Lumpy skin disease is a virus spread by insects that affects cattle and buffalo, causing blisters and reducing milk production.
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German finance minister Lars Klingbeil and Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel have both backed chancellor Friedrich Merz’s call for a European stock exchange to support European companies and growth. Nagel, speaking on a panel with Klingbeil on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington on Friday, said it would send a strong signal in support of Europe as a business location.
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A Polish court on Friday blocked the extradition to Germany of a Ukrainian man suspected of involvement in the 2022 attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, a handover that Poland’s prime minister has said isn’t in his country’s interest. The 46-year-old suspect, who has been identified only as Volodymyr Z in line with local privacy rules, was arrested near Warsaw on 30 September on a German warrant.
Russia and the United States should build a ‘Putin-Trump’ rail tunnel under the Bering Strait to link their countries, unlock joint exploration of natural resources and “symbolise unity”, a Kremlin envoy has suggested.
The proposal by Kirill Dmitriev, president Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy and head of Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund, envisages a construction project costing $8 billion, funded by Moscow and “international partners”, to build a 70 mile (112 km) rail and cargo link in under eight years.
Dmitriev, who has helped spearhead a Russian charm offensive designed to revive US-Russia ties, floated the idea late on Thursday after Putin spoke to US president Donald Trump by phone and agreed to meet in Budapest to seek a way to stop the war in Ukraine.
The US is supportive of a new IMF lending programme for Ukraine and the European Union initiative to extend a loan to Kyiv based on Russian central bank assets immobilised in the west, European economic commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said on Friday.
Dombrovskis, who is in charge of the 27-nation EU’s economic policy, met with US treasury secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday to discuss support for Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, Dombrovskis said the US had for now no clear position at this stage on whether to join the EU Reparations Loan project.
“There is now constructive engagement from the US side as regards questions related to Ukraine support,” Dombrovskis said.
“The US is broadly supportive and welcoming our initiative as regards reparation loan,” he added.
France imposed a ban on cattle exports and events such as bullfighting, the agriculture ministry said on Friday as it tries to contain the highly contagious lumpy skin disease sweeping through farms in the country for the first time.
Lumpy skin disease is a virus spread by insects that affects cattle and buffalo, causing blisters and reducing milk production. It does not pose a risk to humans but often leads to trade restrictions and severe economic losses.
The measures will take effect on 18 October and be valid until 4 November. They will be lifted on 5 November, if the health situation allows, the ministry said.
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said on Friday the planned Budapest talks between US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin are a second attempt to get Putin to negotiate seriously, but stressed that Ukraine must be involved in any decision.
Wadephul made the remarks during his visit to Ankara, where he met his Turkish counterpart.
Ukraine has not been invited to the Trump-Putin talks. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is due to meet Trump later on Friday.
Portugal’s parliament approved on Friday a bill to ban face veils used for “gender or religious motives” in most public spaces that was proposed by the far-right Chega party and effectively targets burqas and niqabs worn by Muslim women.
Under the bill, proposed fines for wearing face veils in public would range between 200 euros and 4,000 euros. Forcing someone to wear one would be punishable with prison terms of up to three years.
Face veils would still be allowed in aeroplanes, diplomatic premises and places of worship, Reuters reported.
If signed into law it would put Portugal alongside European countries including France, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, which already have full or partial bans. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa could still veto the bill or send it to the Constitutional Court for checks.
The White House trip is Zelenskyy’s third visit during Donald Trump’s second term as US president.
For the Ukrainian president, the visit is a chance to secure additional American military support, including long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles and expanded air-defense systems.
Zelenskyy will also aim to persuade Trump to shift from diplomacy and instead towards greater military pressure on Putin’s Russia.
Trump, who has campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize, is eager to add to the list of conflicts he says he has been instrumental in ending.
Zelenskyy to seek weapons from Trump in the shadow of a new Putin summit
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will ask Donald Trump for Tomahawk missiles on Friday but the surprise announcement that the US president will meet with Vladimir Putin in Budapest appeared to dim the Ukrainian president’s chance of securing the long-range weapons.
Trump announced the summit after a more than two-hour phone conversation with Putin about Russia’s war in Ukraine on Thursday, which he said was productive.
Friday’s meeting with Zelenskyy is scheduled for 1pm EST and is set to be a relatively low-key lunch in a cabinet meeting room as opposed to a public gathering in the Oval Office.
This marks a departure from their two previous meetings earlier this year, both held in the Oval Office.
German finance minister Lars Klingbeil and Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel have both backed chancellor Friedrich Merz’s call for a European stock exchange to support European companies and growth.
Nagel, speaking on a panel with Klingbeil on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington on Friday, said it would send a strong signal in support of Europe as a business location.
Ukrainian men deny plotting fires at properties related to British prime minister
Two Ukrainian men pleaded not guilty on Friday to plotting fires earlier this year at properties linked to U.K. Prime minister Keir Starmer.
Roman Lavrynovych and Petro Pochynok are accused of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life between April and May. They are charged along with Stanislav Carpiuc, a Ukraine-born Romanian national, who did not enter a plea.
Prosecutors said the case is not being treated as terrorism.
The fires occurred in north London on three nights in May, but no injuries were reported.
A Toyota RAV4 that Starmer once owned was set ablaze on 8 May, just down the street from the house where he lived before he became prime minister. The door of an apartment building where he once lived was set on fire on 11 May, and on 12 May the doorway of his home was charred after being set ablaze.
Starmer called the fires “an attack on all of us, on democracy and the values that we stand for.”
A tentative trial date was set for 27 April 2026.
Dan Sabbagh
What are Tomahawk missiles and why does Ukraine want them? – Explainer
Donald Trump will discuss the possible supply of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a meeting at the White House on Friday. It will be the fourth face-to-face meeting for the US and Ukrainian presidents since Trump returned to office in January, and their second in less than a month.
What are Tomahawk missiles?
Tomahawk land attack missiles, first used in combat in 1991, are long-range, guided cruise missiles typically launched from sea to attack targets in deep-strike missions. The longest range variant, the nuclear-capable Block II, entered service in 1983 and had a range of up to 1,550 miles (2,500km). Modern conventional variants have a range of 995 miles (1,600km). They fly low to the ground at a speed of 550 miles an hour.
The missiles are 6.1 metres long, with a 2.5-metre wingspan, and weigh about 1,510kg. They cost an estimated $1.3m (£1m) each.
Why does Ukraine want them?
Supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine would significantly expand its strike capabilities, enabling it to hit targets deep inside Russian territory, including military bases, logistics hubs, airfields and command centres that are currently beyond reach, with accurate, destructive munitions. The Institute for the Study of War estimates that there are hundreds of Russian military targets within range of Tomahawks.
Ukraine has argued that such capabilities would help compel Vladimir Putin to take Trump’s calls for direct negotiations to end the war more seriously.
On Tuesday, Radosław Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, argued Tomahawks could be particularly effective because Russia’s size makes air defence coverage difficult.
What has Trump said about selling Tomahawks to Ukraine?
Trump has repeatedly hinted in recent weeks that he could deliver Tomahawks. Simultaneously the Trump administration has authorised the sharing of US intelligence to help Ukraine carry out precision strikes on Russia’s oil refineries using domestically produced drones and Atacms. These attacks have led to fuel shortages and a sharp rise in gasoline prices across Russia.
However, the US president’s conciliatory tone after a phone call with Vladimir Putin on Thursday left in question the likelihood of immediate assistance to Ukraine and reignited European fears of US capitulation to Moscow.
Trump said Putin “didn’t like it” when he raised the possibility of supplying Tomahawks during the call, while also saying the US could not “deplete” its own supply. “We need them too, so I don’t know what we can do about that,” Trump said.
The key question is whether Trump is dangling the prospect of supplying Tomahawks to pressure Putin, while remaining unwilling to take a step that could bring the US closer to direct confrontation with a leader he still calls a “close friend”.
Angela Giuffrida
Giorgia Meloni has condemned the boss of Italy’s biggest trade union after he referred to the prime minister as the “courtesan” of Donald Trump.
Maurizio Landini, the leader of CGIL, which organised several pro-Palestinian protests before the Gaza ceasefire deal, made the remarks on TV on Tuesday, the day after world leaders, including Meloni, met in Egypt for a Middle East peace summit.
Landini accused Meloni of “not having lifted a finger” to bring peace in Gaza, limiting her role to “playing Trump’s courtesan”. “Fortunately, the Italian citizens took to the street to defend the dignity and honour of this country,” he said.
In a post on social media on Thursday, Meloni said Landini was “evidently clouded by a mounting resentment (which I can understand)”, before sharing a definition of “courtesan”.
“I think everyone knows the most common meaning attributed to this word, but, for the benefit of those who might not, I’m publishing the first definition found through a quick internet search,” Meloni said, posting a screenshot that read: “Woman of easy virtue, heterosexual; euphemism, prostitute.”
Meloni also criticised her leftwing opponents, saying that for decades they had “lectured us on respect for women” only to then criticise a woman by “calling her a prostitute”.
In response to the post, Landini argued there were “no sexist insults” towards Meloni and that he had used the term to imply “Trump’s lackey”.
France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor has opened a formal probe into four men arrested by police on suspicion of plotting to attack an exiled Russian opposition figure, his office said on Friday.
A prosecutor’s spokesperson declined to identify the Russian opponent allegedly targeted, though Biarritz-based Vladimir Osechkin, who is Russian, said on his Telegram account the plot was directed against him, Reuters reported.
“Once again, a huge thank you to the French police special unit that is responsible for my physical protection and security. A huge thank you to the French counterintelligence and counterespionage services,” Osechkin wrote on the social media platform.
Osechkin runs a human rights group called Gulagu.net (‘no to the GULAG’ in Russian) that monitors and reveals abuses in Russia’s prison system.
The four men, aged 26 to 38, were arrested on Monday as part of an investigation by the domestic intelligence police DGSI, who suspect them of belonging to a terrorism organisation and planning “crimes against persons”, the prosecutor’s spokesperson said in a statement.
“They were placed under formal investigation and were set in custody in prison,” the spokesperson said.
The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s spokesman declined to detail the men’s nationalities and where they were arrested.
Polish court blocks the extradition of Ukrainian Nord Stream suspect to Germany
A Polish court on Friday blocked the extradition to Germany of a Ukrainian man suspected of involvement in the 2022 attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, a handover that Poland’s prime minister has said isn’t in his country’s interest.
The 46-year-old suspect, who has been identified only as Volodymyr Z. in line with local privacy rules, was arrested near Warsaw Sept. 30 on a German warrant. German prosecutors have described him as a trained diver and allege that he was part of a group that placed explosives on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm three years ago.
The Warsaw District Court rejected his extradition on Friday and ordered his immediate release.
Volodymyr Z’s lawyer, Tymoteusz Paprocki, said ahead of the hearing that “my client doesn’t admit guilt, he didn’t commit any crime against Germany and he doesn’t understand why these charges were made by the German side.” He said he also would argue that no Ukrainian should be charged with any action directed against Russia.
Poland, whose successive governments have been staunchly anti-Russian, has a history of opposition to the pipelines. Prime minister Donald Tusk has said it would not be in Poland’s interest to hand over the suspect.
Tusk said earlier this month that “the problem of Europe, the problem of Ukraine, the problem of Lithuania and Poland is not that Nord Stream 2 was blown up, but that it was built.” He said that “the only people who should be ashamed of and quiet about Nord Stream 2 are those who decided to build it.”
