Putin: European leaders are ‘pigs’ who will be replaced & the race against time to plug Ukraine’s financial black hole
Ukraine: The Latest
Louisa Wells / Francis Dearnley
4.8 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 18 December 2025
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Day 1,393.
Today, as EU leaders meet to decide what – if anything – to do with frozen Russian assets, we examine just how consequential this moment could be for the bloc and for European security more broadly. We also analyse how Vladimir Putin has deliberately shifted his language to appeal to Donald Trump, and track another attack on a Russian oil tanker as Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet appears to have blockaded itself inside Novorossiysk rather than risk further Ukrainian drone strikes.
Contributors
Dominic Nicholls (Associate Editor of Defence). @DomNicholls on X.
Francis Dearnley (Executive Editor for Audio). @FrancisDearnley on X.
Joe Barnes (Brussels Correspondent). @Barnes_Joe on X.
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CONTENT REFERENCED:
Putin: European leaders are ‘pigs’ who will be replaced (The Telegraph):
Zelensky’s race against time to plug £48bn war black hole (The Telegraph):
How Putin’s favourite pop star became ‘most hated woman in Russia’ (The Telegraph):
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/12/16/putins-favourite-pop-star-most-hated-woman-russia/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Domnichols and this is Ukraine the latest. |
| 0:12.0 | Today, as EU leaders meet to decide what, if anything, to do with the frozen Russian assets, |
| 0:18.0 | we examine how consequential a day this could be for the bloc and |
| 0:21.9 | for European security more broadly. We look at how Putin has deliberately changed his language |
| 0:26.7 | to appeal to Donald Trump and track another attack on a Russian oil tanker, just as Moscow's |
| 0:31.9 | Black Sea fleet seems to have blockaded itself inside Novoross port, rather than risk any more Ukrainian drones getting in. |
| 0:39.3 | Bravery takes you through the most unimaginable hardships |
| 0:46.3 | to finally reward you with victory. |
| 0:49.3 | The Russia does not want peace. |
| 0:51.3 | First, we're, |
| 0:53.3 | with our help for the Ukraine, |
| 0:55.0 | also our freedom and our European |
| 1:00.0 | Writers. |
| 1:01.0 | If I'm president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours. |
| 1:05.0 | We are with you, not just today or tomorrow, but for a hundred years. |
| 1:10.0 | We can not, as European, let us gain the Russia in Ukraine. |
| 1:14.3 | Nobody's going to break us. |
| 1:16.3 | We're strong. |
| 1:17.6 | We're Ukraine is. |
| 1:20.3 | It's Thursday, the 18th of December, three years and 299 days since the full-scale invasion began. |
| 1:27.5 | And today I'm joined by the Telegraph's executive editor for audio, Frances Dernley, |
... |
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