European leaders and Zelensky in London searching for 'new phase' to peace talks
Ukraine: The Latest
Louisa Wells / Francis Dearnley
4.8 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Day 1,383.
Today, after a weekend marked by continued talks in Florida between the Ukrainian and American delegations and President Donald Trump’s comments blaming Zelensky for stalling negotiations, the Ukrainian president meets British PM Keir Starmer, French President Macron and German Chancellor Merz in London today. The talks, which finished as we were recording this episode, opened with Germany’s ‘scepticism’ of US peace proposals and France’s assurance that ‘Europe had a lot of cards in its hands.’ Meanwhile, Russia targets a dam near Kharkiv which supplies water to Ukraine's second biggest city. Finally, we discuss the US’s National Security Strategy and the current state of Ukraine’s air defence.
Contributors
Adélie Pojzman-Pontay (Journalist and Producer). @adeliepjz on X.
Dominic Nicholls (Associate Editor of Defence). @DomNicholls on X.
With thanks to Michael Bohnert (RAND). @mbohnert on X.
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CONTENT REFERENCED:
Zelenskiy Says No Accord Yet on Ukraine’s East in US Talks, Bloomberg News
Trump: Zelensky hasn’t even read my peace plan, The Telegraph
Kremlin: Trump’s new defence strategy ‘consistent’ with Russian vision, The Telegraph
France shielding €18bn Russian asset pot from EU ‘reparations loan’ push, Financial times
https://www.ft.com/content/fe304bb8-d928-4b9b-8162-2000301be937
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:09.5 | I'm Adelae Purchman-Ponthe, and this is Ukraine, the latest. |
| 0:14.0 | Today, after a weekend marked by continued talks in Florida between the Ukrainian and American delegations, |
| 0:20.0 | as well as by comments by President |
| 0:21.8 | Donald Trump, blaming Zelensky for stalling negotiations. |
| 0:25.6 | The Ukrainian president meets British PM, Kirstama, French President Macron, and German |
| 0:31.5 | Chancellor Merz in London today. |
| 0:34.1 | The talks, which finished as we were recording this episode, opened with Germany's |
| 0:38.6 | skepticism of US peace proposals and France's assurance that Europe had a lot of cards in its |
| 0:43.8 | hands. Meanwhile, Russia targets a dam near Harcive, which supplies water to Ukraine's second |
| 0:50.1 | biggest city. And finally, we discussed the US.S. national security strategy and the current state |
| 0:55.8 | of Ukraine's air defense. |
| 0:58.2 | bravery takes you through the most unimaginable hardships to finally reward you with victory. |
| 1:07.8 | The Russian is not one face. |
| 1:09.6 | First, we're fighting our help with our help |
| 1:12.0 | for the Ukraine |
| 1:12.8 | also our |
| 1:14.2 | freedom and |
| 1:15.5 | our European |
| 1:17.3 | Weren't I'm president |
| 1:19.1 | I will have that war |
| 1:20.1 | settled in one day |
... |
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