Will Ukraine accept the American peace plan?
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2025
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
US and Ukrainian talks set to take place in Switzerland, but will Ukrainian public opinion accept the proposals?
Also in the programme: Key MAGA figure Marjorie Taylor Green to quit Congress after falling out with President Trump; and Rosalia, the multilingual Spanish singer on her new album. (Photo: Zelensky and his wife place wheat sheaves at statue. Credit: EPA/Shutterstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.6 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service coming live from London. This is Owen Bennett-Jones. |
| 0:16.2 | Well, after the August Trump-Putin summit, it looked like President Putin was the one who was being intransigent. |
| 0:22.9 | Now with the US backing many long-standing Russian demands as the basis of a ceasefire, it's the |
| 0:28.9 | other way around. President Zelenskyy of Ukraine is the one who might end up being seen to resist |
| 0:35.3 | a deal. The Russian-U.S. plan to end the war in Ukraine includes |
| 0:39.3 | Ukraine giving away land it currently holds and reducing its military capacity. It's got a |
| 0:45.4 | deadline to accept of six days. Although there are now reports that the US and Ukraine will meet |
| 0:51.0 | in Switzerland for talks, President Trump was questioned by reporters |
| 0:55.4 | about the deal at the White House last night. President Zelensky said today that his country |
| 1:00.9 | would risk either giving up a partner or giving up its dignity. There's been criticism that this deal |
| 1:06.5 | You mean he doesn't like it? It's unclear. He was sort of tenuous. Well, he'll have to like it. |
| 1:11.6 | And if he doesn't like it, then, you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess, you know? The suggestion that you made, though, was that if he doesn't accept it, that the U.S. would pull back its support for Ukraine. Well, at some point he's going to have to accept something. You know, he hasn't accepted. except did you remember right in the Oval Office not so long ago? |
| 1:28.9 | I said, |
| 1:29.4 | you don't have the cards. And I thought he should have made a deal a year ago, two years ago. |
| 1:36.4 | Well, for some Republicans, it's too much to ask Ukraine to do what it's being asked of it now, |
| 1:41.8 | such as Republican Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska. |
| 1:45.6 | I think it's a terrible deal. I'm embarrassed as an American that our president would try to |
| 1:51.1 | force this agreement on Ukraine, giving up territory, cutting its army by more than half, |
| 1:56.6 | by never allowing them in NATO and not allowing foreign troops in their soil. |
| 2:01.2 | It's a surrender to a Russian invasion. |
| 2:03.7 | I hope every freedom-loving Republican and American says no to the president on this. |
... |
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