The Path Ahead For Ukraine, Three Years Into Russia's Full-Scale Invasion

1A

NPR

News

4.4 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It's the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And the world looks very different now than it did then.

In the three years since Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces began their assault on their neighbor, tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers have perished. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been able to hold his enemies off with the help of support from the U.S.

But now that Donald Trump is in charge, that's likely to change. The president has made it no secret that he believes Zelenskyy should try and make peace with Putin, no matter what it might cost his country. In his first month in office, Trump has taken steps to isolate the U.S. from its allies in Western Europe and NATO, putting those countries on even shakier ground as they try and contend with the possibility of continued Russian aggression.

We discuss what the future of this conflict looks like for Ukraine.

Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Connect with us. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This message comes from Wondery.
0:02.2	At 24 years old, Monica Lewinsky was in a scandal that defined who she was for the entire world.
0:08.9	And now, she's ready to draw from her own experience on what it means to redefine yourself on her new podcast, reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky.
0:18.4	Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
0:33.1	Three years ago this week, Russia initiated a lightning campaign against Ukraine,
0:36.3	aiming to take the country by force in a matter of days.
0:39.8	It so far failed to do so. But Russia now controls about 20 percent of Ukraine's territory, mostly in the east. It has slowly gained ground
0:45.3	there in recent months, and it still controls Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014.
0:51.1	Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met for the first high-level diplomatic meeting between the U.S. and Russia in three years since the start of the war.
1:02.7	Saudi Arabia hosted that meeting in Riyadh, not present, Ukraine or leaders of the European Union.
1:09.2	And on Monday, President Donald Trump met with French president, Emmanuel Macron.
1:13.9	On display was their public disagreement on how to negotiate peace,
1:17.5	including down to the basic facts of the war and the support from Western allies.
1:22.6	Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine.
1:25.4	They get their money back.
1:26.7	No, in fact, to be frank, we paid. We paid 60% of the total effort.
1:32.3	It was through, like the U.S., loans, guarantee, grants, and we provided real money, to be clear.
1:39.3	We have to...
1:40.5	That was President Trump and French President Macron in the Oval Office on Monday.
1:45.3	What is the Trump administration trying to do with this diplomatic outreach to Russia?
1:49.7	What do the events of the past week mean for Russia's war in Ukraine and for Ukraine's future?
1:54.5	I'm Jen White. You're listening to the 1A podcast where we get to the heart of the story.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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