Q&A: Security Guarantees, Ukrainian Elections and Putin's Trump Whispering

Ukrainecast

BBC

News Commentary, News

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After headline-grabbing meetings in Alaska and Washington, members of the world’s media are on high alert, as Donald Trump talks up the chances of a summit between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin. So, has a change in tone from the US on security guarantees moved the needle? Is a temporary ceasefire now less likely? And crucially, would a face-to-face encounter with a leader he’s long sought to delegitimise, mark a clear concession from President Putin?

This week, the Ukrainecast studio is hosting an unprecedented meeting of its own, as the BBC’s Russia editor Steve Rosenberg, and Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse unite in person for the first time. They join Jamie to answer all of your questions, and consider where we stand following this latest diplomatic frenzy.

Today’s episode is presented by Jamie Coomarasamy. The producers were Laurie Kalus and Polly Hope. The technical producer was James Piper. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

You can fill out our audience questionnaire here: bit.ly/ukrainecastfeedback 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	Hello, lovely listeners. We heard recently on the pod from some of the silent majority,
0:05.7	those of you who've never been in touch with us before. Well, we know there are more of you out there,
0:10.4	and we're now keen for all of you to have your say, even if you'd prefer to stay anonymous.
0:16.3	Our team is doing some research to find out what you really think about Ukrainecast. We want to know what
0:21.7	we're getting right. We also want to hear about the parts of the podcast you might not be the biggest
0:26.1	fan of. So to make sure our episodes are serving you all as fully as possible, we'd absolutely
0:32.2	love it if you could answer a couple of questions for us. It's super quick and easy. If you type in your
0:37.2	browser, bit.
0:38.4	dot, l.Y, forward slash Ukrainecast feedback. Bit.L.4.Ukraine cast feedback. And Ukraine cast feedback is all one
0:50.0	word. Or just follow the link to the questionnaire in our description and the whole thing will
0:54.8	take you less than five minutes. I promise we will read everything you send us.
1:01.8	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. It's 1,275 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And after a week of pretty frantic diplomacy,
1:15.2	we're going to be reflecting on whether we're getting any closer to some kind of agreement that might lead to the war being paused or stopped.
1:23.6	And who better to have that discussion with than our Kiev correspondent, James Waterhouse,
1:29.5	who is with us here in the Ukraine cast studio and our Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg, who is here as well.
1:35.6	And I am flabbergasted to find out that this is actually the first time you two guys have met each other in person.
1:43.1	Amazing.
1:43.7	Yeah, yeah.
1:44.5	It's incredible.
1:45.4	We've been separated by an awful war, but early on, Steve messaged me, and he periodically
1:50.9	sends me an email, just sort of sending his best wishes.
1:53.5	And I remember, for the invasion, you stood in front of a camera and said, look, we're
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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.