Zelensky rules out giving up Donbas

Global News Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Daily News, News, Documentary

4.2 • 7.8K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

President Zelensky has vowed to reject any proposal from Russia that would mean Ukraine ceding territory or withdrawing troops from the eastern Donbas region. He was speaking ahead of a meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin in Alaska on Friday. Donald Trump has said any peace deal would involve "some swapping of territories" and it is believed one of Vladimir Putin's demands is that Kyiv surrenders the parts of the Donbas it still controls. Also: A surgeon operating in Gaza tells us he has to recycle surgical parts from dead bodies to save the living, and the owners of the video game Fortnite take on Apple and Google over access in an Australian court. Plus: the UN tells torturers in Myanmar: "We know who you are", the heatwaves blasting much of Europe, the US puts a $5 million reward on the head of a gang leader in Haiti, a former first lady of South Korea is arrested, the American woman convicted of conspiracy to murder in Britain -- disguised in an Islamic headscarf, and how AI is helping to keep elephants in India safe.

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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 Valerie Sanderson, and in the early hours of Wednesday, the 13th of August, these are our main stories.
0:11.5	President Zelensky vows to reject any proposal from Russia that would mean Ukraine giving up territory or withdrawing troops from the eastern Donbass region.
0:21.0	The U.S. has issued charges against a gang boss who controls most of the capital of Haiti
0:25.5	and offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.
0:30.4	The wife of South Korea's jailed former president has been arrested on charges of stock
0:35.8	manipulation, election meddling and bribery.
0:41.3	Also in this podcast, we've downloaded these videos of executions. I hope that every perpetrator
0:47.9	of those crimes is concerned that their name is in our files and in our evidence.
0:57.3	A new UN report details torture of civilians by the authorities in Myanmar. Days before a summit between Donald Trump and
1:07.5	Vladimir Putin, President Zelensky says his forces will not lead the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine.
1:14.0	The Ukrainian army has been defending the area against Russian aggression since 2014, long before Mr. Putin's full-scale invasion.
1:22.5	The Donbass is prized by the Russian president and may be a key demand when he meets President Trump in Alaska.
1:28.9	But on Tuesday, the White House tried to lower expectations of what could be achieved on Friday.
1:34.6	Mr. Trump's press secretary, Caroline Levitt, told reporters that the summit in Alaska is one step
1:40.2	towards peace. The goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better
1:45.2	understanding of how we can end this war. And the president said at this podium yesterday,
1:50.2	when he joined all of you in the room, that he hopes in the future there can be a trilateral
1:54.9	meeting with these three leaders to finally bring this conflict to an end. But this is a listening
1:59.7	exercise for the president. Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to an end. But this is a listening exercise for the president.
2:01.0	Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present.
2:04.6	And so this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding
	...

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