Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live blog covering events across Europe.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Monday he would be ready to join Russia’s Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, at their summit in Hungary if he is invited. Trump and Putin are expected to meet in the Hungarian capital, possibly in a matter of weeks, as the US leader continues to try to broker a peace deal to end the three-and-a-half-year war.
Zelenskyy told reporters in remarks released on Monday:
If I am invited to Budapest – if it is an invitation in a format where we meet as three or, as it’s called, shuttle diplomacy, President Trump meets with Putin and President Trump meets with me – then in one format or another, we will agree.
The Ukrainian president also criticised the choice of Hungary, which has a terse relationship with Kyiv and is seen as the most Kremlin-sympathetic member of the European Union.
“I do not believe that a prime minister who blocks Ukraine everywhere can do anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution,” Zelenskyy said, referring to the Hungarian leader, Viktor Orbán.
In other developments:
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Donald Trump on Sunday suggested the best way to end the war in Ukraine would be to “cut up” the Donbas region, leaving most of it to Russia. The US president told reporters: “Let it be cut the way it is,” adding: “They can negotiate something later on down the line.” The comments came after a tense White House meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump reportedly put pressure on the Ukrainian president to give up swaths of territory.
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The European Union foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said on Monday that it was “not nice” that Putin might travel to EU member Hungary for talks on the war in Ukraine. Kallas told reporters ahead of a gathering of European foreign ministers in Luxembourg that Trump’s efforts to bring peace were welcome but that it was also important for Zelenskyy to meet the Russian leader.
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Ukraine is preparing a contract to buy 25 Patriot air defence systems. In comments to media at a meeting on Sunday and cleared for use on Monday, Zelenskyy said the systems would be supplied every year for a number of years, and that Ukraine would seek for some European nations to give Kyiv priority in the queue for the systems. Patriots are seen by Kyiv as the most effective systems to stop Russian ballistic missiles, which travel several times faster than the speed of sound.
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Zelenskyy said he had spoken to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Monday about applying pressure on Russia, and that he had agreed to meet him in the near future. “Pressuring the one who started the war is the key to a denouement,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “Emmanuel and I discussed all the current diplomatic aspects and our recent contacts with partners.”
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The Louvre will remain closed for a second day running on Monday, management told AFP, after thieves stole crown jewels from the museum in Paris a day earlier. French police are still hunting for four thieves who carried out a highly professional daylight raid on the Louvre, breaking into one of the museum’s most ornate rooms and escaping with eight pieces of “priceless” historic jewellery, including a necklace given by Napoleon to his wife.
Key events
UPDATE to earlier report: EU countries on Monday agreed to phase out remaining gas imports from Russia by January 2028, breaking a dependency the bloc has struggled to end despite Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
Energy ministers meeting in Luxembourg approved a plan by the European Commission to phase out both pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from Russia, subject to approval by the bloc’s parliament.
EU agrees to end all Russian gas imports by end 2027
The European Union has agreed on Monday to end all Russian gas imports by the end of 2027, according to AFP reports. More on this as we receive updates.
‘We have failed’ says French Justice Minister over Louvre robbery
France’s Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin admitted Monday to security flaws in protecting the Louvre that had led to robbers a day earlier stealing imperial jewels in broad daylight from the famed Paris museum.
“What is certain is that we have failed, since people were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up it in several minutes to grab priceless jewels and give France a terrible image,” he told France Inter radio.
The robbery, which several newspapers have called the “heist of the century” has cast France in a “deplorable” light, Darmanin said. “The French people all feel like they’ve been robbed.”
The Louvre will remain closed on Monday for a second day running.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live blog covering events across Europe.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Monday he would be ready to join Russia’s Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, at their summit in Hungary if he is invited. Trump and Putin are expected to meet in the Hungarian capital, possibly in a matter of weeks, as the US leader continues to try to broker a peace deal to end the three-and-a-half-year war.
Zelenskyy told reporters in remarks released on Monday:
If I am invited to Budapest – if it is an invitation in a format where we meet as three or, as it’s called, shuttle diplomacy, President Trump meets with Putin and President Trump meets with me – then in one format or another, we will agree.
The Ukrainian president also criticised the choice of Hungary, which has a terse relationship with Kyiv and is seen as the most Kremlin-sympathetic member of the European Union.
“I do not believe that a prime minister who blocks Ukraine everywhere can do anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution,” Zelenskyy said, referring to the Hungarian leader, Viktor Orbán.
In other developments:
-
Donald Trump on Sunday suggested the best way to end the war in Ukraine would be to “cut up” the Donbas region, leaving most of it to Russia. The US president told reporters: “Let it be cut the way it is,” adding: “They can negotiate something later on down the line.” The comments came after a tense White House meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump reportedly put pressure on the Ukrainian president to give up swaths of territory.
-
The European Union foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said on Monday that it was “not nice” that Putin might travel to EU member Hungary for talks on the war in Ukraine. Kallas told reporters ahead of a gathering of European foreign ministers in Luxembourg that Trump’s efforts to bring peace were welcome but that it was also important for Zelenskyy to meet the Russian leader.
-
Ukraine is preparing a contract to buy 25 Patriot air defence systems. In comments to media at a meeting on Sunday and cleared for use on Monday, Zelenskyy said the systems would be supplied every year for a number of years, and that Ukraine would seek for some European nations to give Kyiv priority in the queue for the systems. Patriots are seen by Kyiv as the most effective systems to stop Russian ballistic missiles, which travel several times faster than the speed of sound.
-
Zelenskyy said he had spoken to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Monday about applying pressure on Russia, and that he had agreed to meet him in the near future. “Pressuring the one who started the war is the key to a denouement,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “Emmanuel and I discussed all the current diplomatic aspects and our recent contacts with partners.”
-
The Louvre will remain closed for a second day running on Monday, management told AFP, after thieves stole crown jewels from the museum in Paris a day earlier. French police are still hunting for four thieves who carried out a highly professional daylight raid on the Louvre, breaking into one of the museum’s most ornate rooms and escaping with eight pieces of “priceless” historic jewellery, including a necklace given by Napoleon to his wife.
