What happens if the US pulls out of peace talks?
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 April 2025
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After Vladimir Putin’s limited ‘Easter truce’ ended, we’re joined by the BBC’s Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg, to discuss whether the Kremlin is serious about bilateral negotiations with Ukraine.
And we talk to Alexander Vindman - the former US National Security Council official, who was a star witness in Donald Trump’s first impeachment inquiry. He has a lot to say about US policy on Ukraine and what the future could look like if Washington pulls out of peace talks.
Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Laurie Kalus and Ben Carter. The technical producer was Jonny Hall. The editor is Max Deveson. 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 our Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:04.7 | Hello, it's 1,154 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:10.5 | And yet again, Vitale, tons has happened in the last few days. |
| 0:14.4 | Let's start with this announcement from Vladimir Putin on Saturday. |
| 0:18.3 | Humanitarian and sojourgings, today, from 18.00 hours to 0.0. on Saturday. |
| 0:38.9 | He's saying that for humanitarian reasons, he is declaring a ceasefire in Ukraine to mark the occasion of Easter, and the ceasefire would expire on Sunday evening. |
| 0:41.9 | And was there actually any ceasefire? |
| 0:47.8 | No. The generous way of putting it is to say that the level of fighting decreased slightly, |
| 0:58.0 | but to genuinely expect such announcements by Vladimir Putin to have a massive impact would be to ignore what happened in the 11 years of this war. More than 20 ceasefire attempts and declared ceasefires. |
| 1:06.2 | All of them failed. I believe in the past there were at least three east as |
| 1:11.6 | well. Some of these ceasefires failed within minutes of going into effect. |
| 1:16.6 | And my opinion and the opinion of the people I've spoken to |
| 1:21.6 | is that Russia bears the brunt of blame for these ceasefires fleeing. |
| 1:25.6 | Not all of it, but most of it. And if this one worked, |
| 1:29.8 | it would have been unprecedented in the context of this world. This is Ukraine cast. |
| 1:37.6 | Ukraine cast from BBC News. Life is not safe in Ukraine, nowhere in Ukraine. We've had three years |
| 1:44.0 | of bloody conflict now. |
| 1:45.2 | We need to get that lasting peace. |
| 1:47.3 | We hope we can finish this war this year. |
| 1:50.4 | President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker. |
| 1:54.5 | Biden will just enemy. |
| 1:56.0 | Trump is a rival. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.