Trump goes nuclear, Putin goes quiet
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 August 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Donald Trump has been accused of nuclear posturing, after claiming that he’d ordered two US submarines to move closer to Russia. The announcement followed an escalating social media spat with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, as Washington’s deadline for Vladimir Putin to agree a ceasefire in Ukraine approaches. The Kremlin has broadly played down Trump’s rhetoric, so with US envoy Steve Witkoff due to visit Moscow on Wednesday, how delicate is the diplomatic relationship between the two countries?
This week, we’re joined by nuclear physicist and arms control expert, Patricia Lewis, for her assessment of the situation. And, Jamie and Vitaly discuss the Russia TikTokers targeted by authorities for publishing a video in front of a burning fuel depot in Sochi.
Today’s episode is presented by Jamie Coomarasamy and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Laurie Kalus and Polly Hope. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. 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. |
| 0:04.9 | It's 1,259 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:10.5 | And in the last episode, we discussed the former Russian president, Dmitri Midev's comments on social media |
| 0:16.3 | when he accused Donald Trump of playing the ultimatum game with Russia, |
| 0:20.6 | suggesting each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. |
| 0:25.9 | Well, on Friday, we got the US President's response. |
| 0:29.4 | Things escalated further with Donald Trump writing on truth social. |
| 0:34.7 | Based on the highly provocative statements of the former president of Russia, |
| 0:39.0 | Dmitry Medvedev, I have ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions. |
| 0:46.9 | And speaking to reporters later on the same day, Donald Trump explained why. |
| 0:51.2 | We just have to be careful. |
| 0:53.4 | And a threat was made, and we didn't think it was appropriate, so I have to be careful. And a threat was made and we didn't think it was appropriate. |
| 0:56.8 | So I have to be very careful. |
| 0:58.3 | So I do that on the basis of safety for our people. |
| 1:02.0 | A threat was made by a former president of Russia and we're going to protect our people. |
| 1:09.0 | Well, Donald Trump's move was a week away from his new deadline for the current Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to bring the war to an end by the 8th of August. |
| 1:18.4 | And to mark that deadline, we're going to move our Q&A episode to Friday, so there won't be an episode on Thursday. |
| 1:25.9 | Please, please send us your questions for that Q&A, particularly video messages, |
| 1:31.7 | because it's going to be televised as well. |
| 1:34.4 | You can use WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal. |
| 1:37.8 | The number is the same. |
| 1:39.3 | Plus 4-4-330-123-9480. |
... |
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