High stakes for Ukraine as Zelenskyy meets with Trump at the White House

The World

PRX

News, Lethaldissent

4.6 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is visiting the White House for his third visit since US President Donald Trump returned to office. While Zelenskyy hopes for stepped-up US support in the form of Tomahawk missiles, Trump's newly announced second summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin could complicate matters. Also, Israelis are cheering the return of 20 living hostages, and the potential remains of another 28, but the deal will not bring relief to the relatives of those whose bodies cannot be found. And, a small population of desert lions in Namibia become the only maritime lions in the world. Plus, musicians battle for glory at the legendary International Chopin Piano Competition in Poland.

Listen to today’s Music Heard on Air.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	What the hell is going on right now? And why is it happening like this? At Wired, we're obsessed with getting to the bottom of those questions, and maybe you are too. I'm Katie Drummond, the global editorial director of Wired, and I'm hosting our new podcast series, The Big Interview. Each week, I'll sit down with some of the most interesting, provocative, and influential people who are shaping our right now.
0:24.4	Listen to the big interview right now in the same place you find Wyard's Uncanny Valley podcast.
0:34.9	In Namibia, lions have learned to live on the water's edge.
0:39.3	They don't have any choice.
0:40.3	This is the only way to survive.
0:42.3	I'm Carolyn Beeler.
0:43.3	Today, the lives of the only maritime lions on Earth, as witnessed by a photographer
0:49.3	who's tracked them for years.
0:51.3	Plus, in Washington, the Ukrainian president has one goal during his meeting at the White
0:56.2	House. To play the game constructively. We'll hear what Ukrainians hope to get out of that. And in
1:02.5	South Korea, most tattoo artists run their studios illegally. That is about to change. Plus, want to guess what this is?
1:14.2	We'll take you on a nighttime hike in France to find out.
1:18.3	Those stories and more are all ahead on the world.
1:45.2	This is The World. I'm Carolyn Beeler. Thank you for tuning in this Friday. This afternoon in Washington, President Trump played host to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Their third meeting at the White House since January was ushered in with the fanfare of a color guard.
1:50.0	You might remember that their first visit devolved into a shouting match with the Ukrainian head of state berated for not being more grateful or dressing better. The second meeting went
1:55.5	more smoothly. This time, Solensky came in wearing a suit and asking for Tomahawk missiles.
2:01.9	Trump was noncommittal.
2:03.5	We need tomahawks and we need a lot of other things that we've been sending over the last four years to Ukraine.
2:10.6	We've been – one of the reasons we want to get this war over is exactly that.
2:15.0	So that's one of the things we'll be talking about.
2:18.5	Hopefully they won't need it.
2:22.7	Hopefully we'll be able to get the war over without thinking about tomahawks.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from PRX, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of PRX and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.