Zelensky says Ukraine will not give up land
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 August 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out surrendering Ukrainian land to Russia, as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin prepare to meet next week. In a video address, President Zelensky said any decisions taken without Ukraine would be -- as he put it -- dead decisions. Mr Trump has talked of Russia and Ukraine swapping territory. Several Ukrainian civilians have been killed during another night of aerial attacks by Russia.
Also in the programme: Protecting Sudan's archaeological sites; Seoul 'convenience stores' fighting isolation; and we will hear from a survivor of the nuclear bomb attack on Nagasaki that ended World War Two.
(Photo: President Zelensky. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to News Hour from the BBC World Service coming live from London. |
| 0:09.0 | This is Owen Bennett-Jones. |
| 0:10.7 | There is some confusion today about who's agreed to what in Ukraine. |
| 0:15.4 | Following a visit of his envoy, Steve Whitkoff, to Moscow, |
| 0:19.3 | President Trump said in the White House that in a day or two, |
| 0:22.7 | he would be announcing a deal between Russia and Ukraine that would include territorial swaps. |
| 0:28.4 | Well, you're looking at territory that's been fought over for three and a half years with, |
| 0:33.6 | you know, a lot of Russians have died, a lot of Ukrainians have died. So we're looking at that, but we're actually looking to get some back and some swapping. |
| 0:43.7 | It's complicated. |
| 0:44.6 | It's actually nothing easy. |
| 0:46.5 | It's very complicated. |
| 0:47.7 | But we're going to get some back. |
| 0:49.7 | We're going to get some switched. |
| 0:53.4 | There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both. |
| 0:58.3 | Well, that made it sound as if there was a fairly advanced process achieving some shared agreements, |
| 1:03.4 | but then the Ukrainian said they hadn't agreed to anything. And President Zelensky said he had |
| 1:09.5 | no plans to cede any territory that Russia |
| 1:12.1 | currently occupies in Ukraine. |
| 1:16.5 | Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier. Ukraine is ready for real decisions that can |
| 1:22.7 | bring peace. Any decisions that are against us, any decisions that are without Ukraine are at the same |
| 1:29.9 | time decisions against peace. They will not achieve anything. They are unworkable decisions. |
| 1:37.6 | Well, President Trump is due to meet the Russian lead of Vladimir Putin next Friday in Alaska. |
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