Ukraine and Russia still at loggerheads over Donbas
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 February 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As talks between Kyiv and Moscow end in Geneva, the two sides remain at loggerheads over the status of territory in Eastern Ukraine. We hear from Brigadier General Oleksandr Pivnenko, Commander of Ukraine's National Guard.
Also in the programme: a trial in Austria raises questions about the circumstances in which mountain climbers may be held responsible for their companions; and the widow of the American actor and playwright Chadwick Boseman, most famous as the star of Black Panther, tells us how she feels about her late husband's play being staged in London.
(IMAGE: Ukrainian chief of the general staff Andrii Hnatov walks outside the InterContinental hotel on the day of U.S.-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, in Geneva, Switzerland, February 18, 2026 / CREDIT: Reuters/Pierre Albouy)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.3 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:13.0 | We are coming to you live from London. |
| 0:15.2 | I'm Leila Nathu. |
| 0:17.0 | Difficult was the verdict of Ukraine's President Zelensky |
| 0:20.7 | on talks between his officials and their Russian counterparts in Switzerland, which wrapped up after just two hours today, Russian negotiators appear to agree. |
| 0:30.9 | This was the second day of discussions mediated by the US in Geneva. |
| 0:35.0 | President Zelensky has accused Russia of deliberately delaying progress |
| 0:38.8 | towards a deal to end the war, which will shortly enter its fifth year. The BBC's James |
| 0:44.4 | Waterhouse is following the talks in Geneva and joins us now. James, should we read anything |
| 0:51.3 | into the fact that there were just two hours of talks today? |
| 0:54.6 | Is that a bad sign? Was it an abrupt end? |
| 0:57.9 | It's really difficult, Leila. I think, you know, clearly, I think what we've seen today in Geneva |
| 1:04.1 | is continued dialogue. |
| 1:07.1 | And perhaps that dialogue has been more meaningful than it has been over the past year |
| 1:13.0 | that Donald Trump has tried to end this war. Of course, the list of agreements is dwarfed |
| 1:20.7 | by the list of disagreements, but what we gather there are two discussion groups. One on the |
| 1:27.1 | military side, the practical steps |
| 1:28.9 | needed to install a ceasefire and maintain it. We're told there's a lot of common ground there |
| 1:35.4 | and that the Americans will play a part in monitoring the situation once the fighting does stop. |
| 1:41.5 | But we're no clearer on what military assurances America will provide |
| 1:46.2 | to make sure the war doesn't start again. But in the second discussion group, it is a political |
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