Trump says Zelensky can end Russia war 'if he wants to'
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.2K Ratings
🗓️ 18 August 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Three days after President Trump's meeting in Alaska with President Putin, he's due to see President Zelensky in Washington. But this time, the Ukrainian leader will be getting back-up from his heavyweight European allies, who'll also be seeing Mr Trump. We gauge the mood in Russia and Ukraine ahead of these potentially vital talks. Also in this podcast: top Arab ministers meet at the Rafah crossing point into Gaza, as shortages continue; we report on the settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank; why Bolivia won't be getting a left-wing president for the first time in two decades; the watch advert that's caused outrage in China; the man who designed the famous James Bond logo dies; and are you delulu? You won't believe the latest words to make it into the dictionary...
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:05.6 | I'm Julia McFarlane and at 13 hours GMT on Monday the 18th of August. |
| 0:10.9 | These are our main stories. |
| 0:13.0 | Donald Trump says Ukraine's President Zelensky could end the war with Russia almost immediately if he wanted. |
| 0:19.4 | The two men will hold talks at the White House later today. |
| 0:22.7 | The Palestinian Prime Minister visits the Rafa border crossing alongside Egypt's foreign minister |
| 0:27.6 | to highlight the difficulties of getting aid into Gaza. |
| 0:33.2 | Also in this podcast, we hear from the West Bank, where Palestinian villages and farmers are coming under attack from Israeli settlers. |
| 0:42.7 | Fear is natural, but there is something stronger than fear that drives me to stay here, |
| 0:48.4 | the scent of my ancestors and an attachment dating back hundreds of years. |
| 0:57.4 | In a few hours, European leaders will join the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, |
| 1:02.6 | who's in Washington for a high-stakes meeting at the White House over the future of the war in Ukraine. |
| 1:08.6 | It comes just three days after President Trump warmly greeted |
| 1:12.5 | Russia's Vladimir Putin on the red carpet in Alaska. In remarks on social media, Mr. Trump |
| 1:18.7 | insisted that Mr Zelensky could end the war with Russia almost immediately if he wanted to. |
| 1:25.2 | He also appeared to rule out NATO membership, but his special envoy, |
| 1:29.2 | Steve Whitkoff, says Russia has made concessions over Western security guarantees. |
| 1:34.5 | Putin has said that a red flag is NATO admission. And so what we were discussing was |
| 1:39.6 | assuming the Ukrainians could agree to that and could live with that. We were able to win the following concession, that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection. |
| 1:51.9 | Well, in a moment, we'll be getting the view from Russia, Ukraine and Ukraine's European allies. |
| 1:57.1 | But first, here's Tom Bateman in Washington. |
| 1:59.6 | President Trump will talk first with Mr. Zelensky, before leaders from at least five European |
... |
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