NBC reported that “some US allies” were concerned about protecting foreign agents because of Trump’s overtures to President Putin.

The report said that the Five Eyes countries — the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — as well as Saudi Arabia and Israel were looking at revising their protocols on intelligence sharing.

However, Britain, Canada and Israel all said they were continuing to cooperate on intelligence with the US in response to the report.

British officials held talks on Wednesday with about 20 countries, mostly from Europe and the Commonwealth, which have expressed interest in contributing to a so-called “coalition of the willing” to support Ukraine, a UK official said.

Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister, announced on Sunday that Britain, France and several other nations would form a coalition to draw up plans to offer Ukraine support in the event of a peace deal to end the war.

The official would not be drawn on which countries had shown an interest in offering support, but said: “It shows the willingness of the coalition of the willing to convene and the desire of a number of different countries to play their part.

“This is still early stages and the situation is very fluid.”

British and French efforts to end hostilities in Ukraine are an attempt to earn the latter’s forces a “breather” and a chance to rearm for further fighting, Russia has alleged.

Asked about diplomatic efforts by London and Paris, Maria Zakharova, the chief spokeswoman of the Russian foreign ministry, said: “Before, there were Zelensky peace plans, now there has been a Franco-British initiative to deploy European forces in Ukraine. All this is founded on nothing and has no legal basis.

“In reality what we have here is an open ambition to, at any price, achieve a pause for a Kyiv regime in its death throes and prevent a breakdown of the front. What is needed is firm agreements about a final settlement. Without those, some kind of pauses [in fighting] and regroupings are absolutely unacceptable as they will lead to precisely the opposite effect.”

During a meeting with EU leaders on Sunday, President Macron of France proposed a partial, four-week truce “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure” that would not affect ground troops.

Sir Keir Starmer has said Britain and France are working on a peace proposal involving a “coalition of the willing” which they plan to discuss with the US.

Britain has signed a £30 million deal with a US tech company to buy loitering drones for Ukraine.

John Healey, the defence secretary, visited the headquarters of Anduril in Washington before his meeting with Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, later today.

The International Fund for Ukraine, administered by the UK, will buy Altius-600m and Altius-700m drones made by Anduril. “We are determined to achieve a secure, lasting peace in Ukraine, which means putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position to prevent any return to Russian aggression,” Healey said.

A former CIA director has said Washington’s “unprecedented” decision to pause intelligence to Ukraine will have “devastating consequences”.

John Brennan said that the move was unprecedented. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my nearly 35 years of experience … whereby US intelligence was stopped for a political purpose and to try to coerce a partner like Ukraine to accede to the wishes of an administration,” he told Times Radio. “I think it could be calamitous on the battlefield if this remains in place over time.”

He added that having worked for six administrations “never, never in my experience did we ever cut off the flow of intelligence for a political reason”.

Russia’s foreign minister has said that any deployment of European peacekeepers to Ukraine would be interpreted by Moscow as an open military attack.

Sergey Lavrov told a press conference in Moscow that Russia was categorically opposed to any such plan. “We see no place for compromise,” he said. “This discussion [about sending peacekeepers] is being held with openly hostile aims; they are not hiding what they need this for.”

Deployment of European troops would be seen by Moscow as “the direct, official, unconcealed involvement of Nato countries in a war against the Russian Federation”, Lavrov said, adding that that was “impossible to allow”.

Sir Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, has said he is “ready and willing” to send British troops to Ukraine to help enforce a peace deal.

President Zelensky said last month that “at least 200,000 European peacekeepers” would need to be on the ground to defend Ukraine against further Russian attack.

President Macron suggested that France could extend its nuclear deterrent to cover other EU nations as he warned that the continent must prepare to face the threat of Russia without the US.

The French president made the suggestion in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, delivered as “we are entering a new era” after President Trump’s election.

France has an independent nuclear deterrent of fewer than 300 warheads designed to protect the country’s vital interests.

Although the doctrine is deliberately vague, it is thought to include protection of the French population, territory and sovereignty. Macron is understood to be considering the extension of the notion of “vital interests” to Germany and other EU countries.

• Read in full: Europe must prepare to face the threat of Russia without the US, says Macron

President Trump could deport almost a quarter of a million Ukrainians who fled to the United States, according to reports.

The US president is planning to revoke the temporary legal status given to 240,000 Ukrainians after the Russian invasion, according to Reuters.

ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The move could come as soon as April and is part of the White House’s push to reverse the temporary humanitarian parole programmes introduced by President Biden. The programmes have allowed 1.8 million migrants, including hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and Afghans, to come to the US.

Migrants who have had their parole status revoked could be fast-tracked for deportation, according to internal emails seen by Reuters.

President Putin’s spokesman has expressed agreement with Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, that the West and Russia are engaged in a proxy war in Ukraine.

Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had declared many times that it was a proxy conflict between Russia and what it calls “the collective West”, led by Washington.

“We can and want to agree with it, and we agree with it,” Peskov said of Rubio’s remarks. “That’s the way it is. We have said this repeatedly. We have said that this is actually a conflict between Russia and the collective West. And the main country of the collective West is the United States of America.”

Rubio told Fox News in an interview on Wednesday: “It’s been very clear from the beginning that [President Trump] views this as a protracted, stalemated conflict. And frankly, it’s a proxy war between nuclear powers — the United States, helping Ukraine and Russia — and it needs to come to an end.”

Europe and Ukraine are at a “watershed moment”, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said as the bloc’s leaders kicked off crisis talks in Brussels with President Zelensky.

“Europe faces a clear and present danger, and therefore Europe has to be able to protect itself, to defend itself, we have to put Ukraine in a position to protect itself and to push for lasting and just peace,” she told reporters, and added that the crisis was the beginning of the European Union and Ukraine “rearming” themselves

Antonio Costa, the European Council president, told President Zelensky that Europe is “with you, we will continue with you now and in the future” as they met ahead of the summit.

Costa also said he saw Ukraine as a “future member state”. His reassurance came after last week’s shouting match between the Ukrainian leader and President Trump in the White House. Overnight it was reported that the US administration has also been in touch with opposition figures in Kyiv, amid calls for an election in Ukraine.

Europe is stronger than Russia and is able to defeat it in any kind of conflict, the Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday, as he attended the European summit in Brussels.

“Europe as a whole is truly capable of winning any military, financial, economic confrontation with Russia — we are simply stronger,” Tusk said. “We just had to start believing in it. And today it seems to be happening.”

President Zelensky has thanked European Union leaders for their continued support as he arrived at the EU summit in Brussels.

“I want to thank all European leaders for such strong support during all this period and the last week,” he said, dressed in his trademark casual combat attire and flanked by a smiling European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Antonio Costa, the European Union president.

He added: “We are not alone.”

Petro Poroshenko, an opposition leader in Ukraine, has confirmed he held talks with representatives of President Trump.

Poroshenko accused President Zelensky of diverting military funds “to buy votes” and said the breakdown in the relationship between Kyiv and the White House “poses a risk” to Ukraine.

The former Ukrainian president, who lost the 2019 election to Zelensky, was recently charged by Ukrainian prosecutors with high treason and conspiring with Russian-backed separatists.

In a Facebook post responding to reports of a secret meeting with Trump allies, Poroshenko accused the Ukrainian government of using “unconstitutional and extrajudicial sanctions to eliminate political opponents that amounts to a politically motivated persecution”.

He said he “has always been and remains categorically against holding elections during the war” but was in favour of elections “no later” than 180 days after a ceasefire begins.

Yulia Tymoshenko has also confirmed contact with the Americans, claiming she was “conducting negotiations with all our allies”.

President Zelensky with Bart De Wever, the prime minister of Belgium

NICOLAS MAETERLINCK/BELGA/AFP

A fleet of 120 European fighter jets could be used to shoot down cruise missiles and drones over western Ukraine, according to a ceasefire proposal drawn up by military experts.

The Sky Shield would be independent of Nato and “achieve greater military, political, and socioeconomic impact than 10,000 European ground troops”, according to a draft shared with The Guardian.

A Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet

AVPICS/ALAMY

The European planes would protect Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv and the western half of Ukraine, but would not defend the eastern front lines.

The plan recalls efforts early in the war to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine. This was vetoed because of fears it would draw western planes into direct conflict with Russian jets.

A leading Russian state television presenter has boasted that President Trump has not set the Kremlin any conditions for peace in Ukraine and that his only demands have been towards Kyiv.

Olga Skabeyeva, a television host who has been called “Putin’s Iron Doll”, made the comments after Andrii Yermak, President Zelensky’s chief of staff, said Russia could stop the war at any time by ceasing its attacks on Ukraine.

“[Yermak] forgot that Trump does not set any conditions for Russia and [President] Putin. Only for Zelensky and Ukraine,” Skabeyeva wrote on Telegram.

• Read in full: Presenters have gloated about Putin’s new alignment with the US on Ukraine

Russia’s government has ridiculed President Macron of France as a “storyteller” who makes “completely out-of-touch statements” after he said he would open a debate about extending the French nuclear umbrella to allies in Europe.

Macron said in an address to the French nation on Wednesday that Russia was “a threat for France and Europe” and that the Ukraine war was already a “global conflict”.

Moscow reacted angrily to the comments. “The speech was indeed extremely confrontational,” said Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, on Thursday. “The feeling is that France wants the war to continue.”

Konstantin Kosachev, a senior Russian senator, said: “Macron maniacally imposes on his citizens, allies and the entire world a completely false concept of what is happening — ‘the Russians are coming!’ Such false conclusions and false suggestions lead to the abyss.”

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, said of Macron: “Every day he makes some kind of completely out-of-touch statements that contradict previous ones. He’s a storyteller.”

Ukraine’s key weapon systems were dramatically weakened on Wednesday after the US severed its intelligence sharing with Kyiv, leading to warnings that the move will result in more civilians dying.

Four people died in a missile strike in Kryviy Rih in southern Ukraine overnight

PRESS SERVICE OF THE STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE IN DNIPROPETROVSK REGION/REUTERS

Weapons systems stopped receiving data they rely upon to hit Russian ­targets, hampering Ukraine’s ability to effectively defend itself against ­incoming attacks. There were also fears that those personnel operating UK-supplied equipment, such as Storm Shadow cruise missiles, could struggle to identify military positions without intelligence from the US.

Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian MP, told Times Radio that the “brutal” decision to pull American intelligence sharing after ­denying the country military aid meant “so many people will be doomed”. While insisting that the move would not change Ukraine’s resolve to fight on, she said: “It is obviously brutal and I cannot imagine how many people will pay the ultimate price for the ­decision.”

• Read in full: Warning as Trump severs intelligence link

Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, has accused the US of “destroying the world order”.

In a speech at Chatham House, he also warned that Nato could cease to exist and Russia will come for Europe next.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi

ZUMA PRESS/ALAMY

“It is not just the axis of evil trying to revise the world order … The US is destroying the world order,” he said. “It is obvious the White House has questioned the unity of the whole western world. And now Washington is trying to delegate the security issues to Europe without the participation of the US.”

Zaluzhnyi, a former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, has been tipped as a future replacement for President Zelensky.

Norway, among the wealthiest countries in the world, should significantly increase its financial aid to Ukraine, Jonas Gahr Stoere, the prime minister, has told parliament.

“I want to propose to the other parties in parliament that we meet this afternoon to discuss and agree on a significant increase in the Nansen programme for Ukraine this year,” Stoere said.

It marks the latest example of a European country scrambling to boost defence spending and maintain support for Ukraine after President Trump froze US military aid to Kyiv, and fuelled doubts about America’s commitment to European Nato allies.

Canada is “ready and willing” to deploy troops to Ukraine, the country’s defence minister has said.

However, Bill Blair said that his country’s participation in a peacekeeping force led by Britain and France was contingent on security guarantees.

“Canada is ready and able to make a contribution to that force,” he said during a defence conference on Wednesday in Ottawa. But we also believe that there’s important discussions that need to take place with respect to security guarantees for Ukraine and for the forces that would serve in Ukraine.”

France has said it is providing military intelligence to Ukraine, after Washington suspended sharing its own with Kyiv.

“Our intelligence is sovereign … with our own capacities,” Sébastien Lecornu, the French defence minister, told France Inter radio. “We are passing this on to the Ukrainians.”

He added: “There is not a single agent of the DGSE [secret intelligence service], not a single officer of the armed forces command, who believes that Russia is not a threat.”

John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, said on Wednesday that the United States had “paused” intelligence sharing with Ukraine after a dramatic breakdown in relations between Kyiv and the White House.

President Trump and President Zelensky had a public falling out in the Oval Office last week after which Ukraine’s top ally suspended crucial US military aid.

John Healey, the defence secretary, will hold talks on a potential security guarantee with Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of state for defence, at the Pentagon on Thursday.

“The unique relationship between the UK and US is as strong as ever,” Healey wrote on X. “At a crucial moment, we have a responsibility to deepen our defence relations and to work together to ensure any peace in Ukraine is lasting. That’s my message in Washington today.”

Healey is being accompanied by Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, so he can liaise with his military counterparts in the US.

His trip to Washington was agreed upon last week after Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister, announced a rise in the UK’s defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP.

Senior allies of President Trump have held secret discussions with Ukrainian opposition politicians, according to reports.

Four members of the US president’s team held talks with Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister, and Petro Poroshenko, a former president, who both remain considerable political forces within Ukraine, Politico reported. The talks centred on the possibility of holding quick elections.

Yulia Tymoshenko

RODRIGO REYES MARIN/ZUMA/ALAMY

A change of leadership in Kyiv has been a stated aim of the war for Moscow since 2022 and a strategic goal for the Kremlin since 2014.

President Trump’s team, who deny they are interfering in domestic Ukrainian politics, have signalled that they would want elections in Ukraine in order to have a leader more amenable to the administration’s approach to seeking peace.

Zelensky’s presidential term was meant to end last year. However, elections in Ukraine are constitutionally impossible during a time of martial law.

President Zelensky will gather with European leaders in Brussels on Thursday for a special summit to discuss a path forward in the conflict.

The heads of the 27 European Union nations will attend, as well as Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary-general.

President Macron of France warned that the continent was at a “turning point of history” as its leaders were expected to discuss rearmament and further support for Kyiv in the face of President Trump’s announcements suspending aid and intelligence to Ukraine.

Zelensky said on Telegram on Wednesday that Kyiv and Europe were “preparing a plan for the first steps to bring about a just and sustainable peace. We are working on it quickly. It will be ready soon.”

US-supplied Patriot air defence systems are some of the only systems that can stop ballistic missiles such as the one Russians used to hit the hotel last night; they prevent similar attacks almost every evening.

There are fears in Ukraine that the US withholding access to new ammunition for these defences will lead to fewer strikes being stopped, and ultimately more civilian deaths.

• Read in full: Zelensky pushes for arms production as Ukraine reacts to Trump’s speech

Four people were killed overnight in a strike in the southern Ukrainian city of Kryviy Rih, which hit a hotel hosting British and American humanitarian workers.

President Zelensky said on his Telegram channel: “Ballistic missiles hit an ordinary hotel. Just before the strike volunteers from a humanitarian organisation — citizens of Ukraine, the United States and Britain — checked into the hotel.

“The foreign nationals survived because they were able to get down from their rooms. But, unfortunately, four people were killed in the attack.”

Zelensky, who hails from Kryviy Rih, said that more than 30 people were wounded in the strike. “There can be no pause in the pressure on Russia to stop this war and terror against life.”