Can Trump persuade Putin to meet Zelensky?
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 August 2025
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
White House talks between Donald Trump and European leaders continued into the night yesterday, with plenty on the agenda including the shape of future security guarantees for Ukraine, and the prospect of a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian president made a noticeable effort to charm his US counterpart, but with disagreements over the need for a ceasefire and the issue of territory seemingly absent from discussions, are we any closer to the end of the war?
We’re joined this week by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Nato Secretary General and ex-prime minister of Denmark, who led a key international working group on security guarantees for Ukraine. Plus Vitaly gives Jamie his assessment of proceedings from DC, and we get the thoughts of Ukrainians experiencing the conflict close up.
Today’s episode is presented by Jamie Coomarasamy and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Laurie Kalus and Polly Hope. The technical producer was James Piper. The social producer was Grace Braddock. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480
You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.8 | It's 1,273 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and yesterday evening was an eventful one for a number of world leaders at the White House, including a rather grateful-sounding President Zelensky. |
| 0:19.8 | Thank you so much, Mr. President. |
| 0:21.8 | If I can, just so thank you for invitation. |
| 0:24.6 | And thank you very much for your efforts, |
| 0:27.3 | personal efforts to stop killings and stop this war. |
| 0:30.4 | Thank you. |
| 0:31.0 | And thanks to our partners, all partners around Ukraine, |
| 0:35.8 | supporting us. |
| 0:36.7 | Thanks to them. Thank you very much for invitation. |
| 0:40.8 | President Zelensky, brimming with thanks there after he was accused on his last visit to the Oval |
| 0:45.3 | Office of a lack of gratitude. Well, Vitaly, the last time we communicated, I say it in |
| 0:51.2 | inverted commas, you were a disembodied voice note, sending me greetings from |
| 0:57.1 | I think Heathrow Airport on your way to Alaska since then. You have been to two rather interesting |
| 1:04.5 | summit meetings and you were there in the White House last night. Just tell us about your |
| 1:10.3 | reflections on what you saw. |
| 1:12.6 | Overall, I think the Ukrainian leader and everybody else at the White House, |
| 1:18.6 | they were really keen not to sound confrontational. |
| 1:22.8 | The bottom line is, I think, catastrophe for Ukraine has been averted. |
| 1:29.0 | There were some topics that the world leaders were there, |
| 1:32.3 | they were keen to mention and topics they were keen to avoid. |
| 1:36.4 | I think we can deduce that conversations in the warehouse |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.