President Zelensky on the path to peace in Ukraine; Finland’s President on being a bridge between the US and Europe; Russia’s kidnapping of Ukrainian children; A female soldier in a Ukraine tells her story

Fareed Zakaria GPS

CNN

News

4.3 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 September 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today on the program, Fareed reports from Kyiv, where he is joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss Ukraine’s path to peace. Fareed asks if he would sit down with President Putin.Then, Fareed speaks with Finnish President Alexander Stubb about his unique role as a bridge between President Trump and key European leaders—and what it will take to end the war in Ukraine.Later, Fareed talks to Vlad Rudenko, a Ukrainian teen with an important story. He was kidnapped from his home in Kherson at 16 and then spent eight months in re-education camps in Russian-occupied territory until his heroic mother rescued him.Finally, Fareed introduces you to Katya, a female medic in Ukraine's special forces, who will share her experience fighting in the war.Guests: President Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa); President Alexander Stubb (@alexstubb); Vlad Rudenko; Katya Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is GPS, the Global Public Square.
0:05.0	Welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world.
0:08.0	I'm Farid Zakaria, coming to you from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
0:13.0	Behind me is St. Michael's, an iconic symbol of this city.
0:17.0	Today on the program.
0:20.0	Last weekend, Russia launched the largest air attack on Kiev since the war began three and a half years ago.
0:29.6	It's our land.
0:31.2	I'll talk to President Zelensky about the current state of war and the prospects for peace.
0:37.3	We know that we can't trust Putin. He will not stop.
0:42.3	I've also talked to Alexander Strupp, the president of Finland, a nation that just joined NATO two years ago.
0:51.3	I'll ask him about Ukraine's hope to be part of that alliance.
0:57.0	Also, Ukraine says Russia has taken at least 20,000 of its children,
1:05.0	stripped them of their Ukrainian identity and re-educated them.
1:11.6	I will tell you the amazing story of Vlad, who was kidnapped by Russians at gunpoint at just 16 years of age,
1:21.6	and then managed to escape.
1:25.6	But first, here's my take.
1:30.3	Traveling to Ukraine this year has felt different, more tense, even than the months after the
1:36.3	2022 full-scale invasion.
1:39.5	The new sense of anxiety was palpable before I entered the country.
1:50.0	My flight landed in Lublin, Poland, the closest major Polish airport to the Ukrainian border. But I couldn't get off the plane.
1:52.0	The airport had been temporarily shut down.
1:55.0	Overnight, NATO jets shot down a swarm of Russian drones that had entered Polish airspace and the country was on high alert.
	...

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