Q&A: The Trump-Putin Alaska Preview
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 14 August 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A potentially historic summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is due to take place in Alaska tomorrow. So, what is really on the agenda? Could Ukraine accept any proposal which sees its territory used as a bargaining chip? And would the US demand robust security guarantees as part of a hypothetical deal?
To answer your questions on all that and more, Jamie is joined by Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse, BBC Verify’s Olga Robinson, and Matthew Savill of the Royal United Services Institute. Plus, Vitaly sends us an update from the airport as he prepares to cover the talks on the ground.
Today’s episode is presented by Jamie Coomarasamy. The producers were Laurie Kalus and Polly Hope. The technical producer was Phil Bull. The social producer was Sophie Millward. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. 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
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.8 | It's 1,268 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:10.7 | And today, Vitaly is on his travels. |
| 0:13.6 | Hey, Jamie, and greetings from Heathrow. |
| 0:17.5 | Well, I've got my visa, and I'm about to board my flight to America. |
| 0:23.6 | There are no direct flights to Anchorage from London, so I've got a changeover in Atlanta and then another flight. |
| 0:31.6 | 17 hours of flying in total and I'm there. |
| 0:35.6 | Best case scenario ceasefire, some sort, followed by more talks. |
| 0:42.3 | Well, worst case, Trump offers Ukrainian territory to Putin. |
| 0:46.2 | Zelensky disagrees and the fighting continues. |
| 0:50.1 | The good news is this has been another relatively quiet night in Ukraine, |
| 0:55.6 | as if the Russians don't want to upset Trump ahead of the talks by bombing civilians. |
| 1:03.9 | Well, anyway, Alaska beckons and I'm off. Talk to you soon from the other side of the pond. |
| 1:10.7 | So Vitaly is on route for Alaska. and I'm off. Talk to you soon from the other side of the pond. Tadda! |
| 1:11.9 | So, Vitale is on route for Alaska and the eyes of the world |
| 1:16.5 | will be on that American state of fewer than 750,000 residents tomorrow, |
| 1:22.0 | where Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will be meeting to discuss the future of the Ukraine conflict. |
| 1:29.3 | So will their talks result in a bilateral deal between Washington and Moscow and his Kiev positioned to do anything about it? |
| 1:34.8 | That's all to come on Ukrainecast. Ukraine cast from BBC News. Life is not safe in Ukraine, |
| 1:41.7 | nowhere in Ukraine. We've had three years of bloody conflict now. |
| 1:44.6 | We need to get to that lasting peace. |
| 1:46.7 | We hope we can finish this war this year. |
... |
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