Trump and Ukraine, Kremlin's View, California Redistricting

Up First from NPR

NPR

Daily News, News

4.5 • 52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

President Trump plots his next steps to broker an end to Russia's war on Ukraine after White House meetings. We look at the Kremlin's view on the peace talks. And California lawmakers seek to overhaul the state's congressional map to counter a Trump-backed move in Texas to gain an edge in the 2026 midterms.

Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.

Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Roberta Rampton, Ryland Barton, Acacia Squires, Olivia Hampton and Adriana Gallardo. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.

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	I was convinced yesterday that yesterday was Tuesday, but today is Tuesday.
0:04.7	I can confirm today is Tuesday.
0:07.1	Thank you. That's why you do the news.
0:11.4	Fresh off two high-stakes summits, President Trump is planning more to try and end the war in Ukraine.
0:16.4	We're going to make sure that if there's peace, the peace is going to stay long term.
0:21.3	Can this series of meetings lead to viable peace?
0:24.0	I mean, Martinez, that's Leila Faddle, and this is up first from NPR News.
0:30.1	Moscow is keeping a close eye on the discussions, which crossed some Russian red lines,
0:35.0	such as having European troops in Ukraine to provide security
0:38.1	guarantees. So how might President Vladimir Putin react to the latest developments?
0:42.2	And Texans cheered Democrats who threw a wrench in efforts backed by Trump to redraw the congressional
0:47.9	map. Can the Democrats succeed in stalling sweeping changes that would favor Republicans in the midterms?
0:57.1	Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
1:05.4	President Trump has revealed his latest plans to end the war in Ukraine.
1:12.1	In a post on his truth social network, Trump said he was setting up a direct meeting between
1:16.7	Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky
1:20.6	that would then be followed by talks between the two leaders and Trump.
1:25.2	Now, the date and location are still unclear.
1:28.0	That message followed a meeting at the White House on Monday
1:30.7	where Trump hosted Zelensky and seven European leaders
1:34.0	to make progress on ending the war Russia launched in Ukraine.
1:37.6	Well, we're going to work with Ukraine.
	...

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.