Sarah Rainsford
Appearances
Global News Podcast
First deaths as wildfires wreak havoc in LA
This is clearly a devastating attack. It's one of the biggest attacks of its kind, or one of the most devastating attacks of its kind for several weeks here in Ukraine. It was an attack on the city of Zaporizhia in the southeast of this country, one of the big cities. We know that 13 people so far have lost their lives.
Global News Podcast
First deaths as wildfires wreak havoc in LA
We know that dozens of people, according to President Zelensky, have been injured, and they include a teenage girl. According to the local head of the administration, Ivan Fyodorov, he's also said that several of those who are injured are seriously injured. Now, this was an attack that happened in the middle of the afternoon.
Global News Podcast
First deaths as wildfires wreak havoc in LA
I've seen dashcam footage from cars at the time of the strike, and those were very busy streets. The local regional head did talk about the initial area that was hit. He talked about industrial infrastructure being targeted, but it's clear that there were also residential buildings there, and much of the damage occurred. is in the main street.
Global News Podcast
First deaths as wildfires wreak havoc in LA
So where people were walking, there's a tram with windows blown out. There's at least one, if not two, minibuses that I've seen in the footage from the scene of that missile strike. Totally, windows totally shattered and people just lying scattered in the street amongst the rubble, amongst the glass and amongst pools of blood.
Global News Podcast
First deaths as wildfires wreak havoc in LA
So an extremely serious strike on a very big city and one that, as you said, President Zelensky himself has condemned as Russian terror. He said that there is nothing more cruel than launching aerial bombs on a city when you know that civilians will suffer.
Global News Podcast
Canada's PM Justin Trudeau resigns
Ten years ago, he was a remarkably popular, glamorous young leader. Justin Trudeau has been forced out of office with voters unhappy about the high cost of living and internal party disagreements over how to handle the incoming US President Donald Trump. He announced his decision outside the Prime Minister's residence in Ottawa.
Global News Podcast
Canada's PM Justin Trudeau resigns
Okay, so are you suggesting that absinthe now is no more potent or dangerous for you than any other spirit? Yes, I'm saying that. We heard there, it's anise, it's aniseed flavour.
Global News Podcast
Canada's PM Justin Trudeau resigns
How would you explain the excitement around it? Because there is an excitement around absinthe, isn't there?
Global News Podcast
Canada's PM Justin Trudeau resigns
So when they talked about him mixing the drink, all he'd done was add water to it?
Global News Podcast
Canada's PM Justin Trudeau resigns
But there is no reason that this is more evil than any other one or naughtier.
Global News Podcast
Canada's PM Justin Trudeau resigns
His government had been destabilised by a row over how to respond to Donald Trump's threat to level crippling 25% tariffs on Canadian imports. Mr Trudeau rushed to Mar-a-Lago to try to placate the president-elect, but his fate was sealed when his finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, resigned, saying Canada needed to push back harder against America-first economic nationalism.
Global News Podcast
Canada's PM Justin Trudeau resigns
She's now seen as a front-runner to replace Mr Trudeau, alongside the former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney. It remains to be seen who will have to deal with the thorny issues of inflation, immigration... and President Trump that Canada is facing.
Global News Podcast
Donald Trump wants to abolish the US emergency response agency
Donald Trump repeatedly brought up the pardons that Joe Biden had given to family members and people who were part of his administration. It was feared that Donald Trump might try to wreak vengeance on people who he blamed for the prosecutions against himself.
Global News Podcast
Donald Trump wants to abolish the US emergency response agency
And President Trump kept pointing out that President Biden hadn't pardoned himself, saying that he maybe hadn't realized that family members and other people could now be compelled to testify against him if he was being investigated or prosecuted.
Global News Podcast
Donald Trump wants to abolish the US emergency response agency
Now, he'd previously said that he wouldn't go after Joe Biden, but when he was asked about it, he said, I went through four years of hell, so it's hard to say that they shouldn't have to go through that also, which is quite intriguing. He did sign an executive order in the last day or so, which is called ending the weaponisation of the federal government.
Global News Podcast
Donald Trump wants to abolish the US emergency response agency
But actually, if you read it, it looks a lot like it would, in fact, empower the Trump administration to go after people who they blame for some of what's happened over the last four years.
Global News Podcast
Donald Trump wants to abolish the US emergency response agency
He's signing more and more of these executive decrees that mean that he can, without having to pass a law through Congress, order certain things to happen. and that is more troops going to the border. He's particularly keen that they start constructing more physical barriers.
Global News Podcast
Donald Trump wants to abolish the US emergency response agency
And that's probably not the wall, but rather huge metal fences, but a way to stop people from being able to walk over the border into the United States. A lot of refugees who had already been through the system, they had been investigated, their asylum claims had been vetted, and they had been told that they were being granted asylum and could move to the United States.
Global News Podcast
Donald Trump wants to abolish the US emergency response agency
They had flights booked, special American flights that were going to bring them here. have been suddenly told that their air tickets are worthless, that they are not welcome in the United States, and that basically their refugee status has been completely rescinded. And then you have tens of thousands of people who had made appointments at the border.
Global News Podcast
Donald Trump wants to abolish the US emergency response agency
All of those appointments have been cancelled as well. So President Trump has shut down any means by which any refugees or asylum seekers would try and make it into the country. hasn't happened yet, but we anticipate will soon, are immigration raids against people who are already in America.
Global News Podcast
Donald Trump wants to abolish the US emergency response agency
There may be over 10 million undocumented migrants living in America, and Donald Trump has said he wants to deport all of them, which is probably impractical.
Global News Podcast
Donald Trump wants to abolish the US emergency response agency
It won't be long, I don't think, before you see immigration officials in some of the big cities that have been particularly welcoming to migrants like Chicago, New York, San Francisco, round up people who are not legally in the country and then presumably detain them before they try to deport them.
Global News Podcast
Israel delays vote to approve Gaza ceasefire deal
As Prime Minister, Kyrgyzstan hasn't rushed to Kyiv. It took him six months. But he came here today to say Ukraine and Britain were closer than ever. Allies against what he called Russia's barbaric invasion. And as he and Volodymyr Zelensky held talks, there was a reminder of the daily danger. A Russian drone overhead, then the air defences. The timing of this trip is important.
Global News Podcast
Israel delays vote to approve Gaza ceasefire deal
Just before Donald Trump returns to the White House, a man far less clear in his support for Kyiv.
Global News Podcast
Israel delays vote to approve Gaza ceasefire deal
President Zelensky stressed today that those security guarantees must include joining NATO. Both men say Ukraine can only consider any peace talks with Russia from a position of strength. That means more time and more aid from its allies. And Donald Trump may not agree with that.
Global News Podcast
Multiple wildfires raging in Los Angeles
Well, it's not cash. It's aid in kind. So this is military support. So it's additional missiles for air defence here in Ukraine. It's more ammunition, more air to surface missiles and it's other equipment that will support the F-16 fighter jets. Ukraine now has. So it's military aid. And of course, it's the latest chunk of the aid that the US has agreed to send to Ukraine.
Global News Podcast
Multiple wildfires raging in Los Angeles
But it's come this announcement and this meeting at Ramstein at a moment, of course, when there are questions about how sustainable and how committed Ukraine America will be in the future under Donald Trump in supporting Ukraine and sending more aid in the future. And as you mentioned, President Zelensky opened this meeting describing a new chapter starting in 11 days time.
Global News Podcast
Multiple wildfires raging in Los Angeles
Of course, when Mr. Trump becomes the new US president. So there are questions about whether these Ramstein meetings will continue. They were set up to try to coordinate aid for Ukraine and to make sure that it could get what it needs in terms of military support as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
Global News Podcast
Multiple wildfires raging in Los Angeles
And I think it was interesting to hear President Zelensky saying quite starkly, we've come such a long way, he said, that it would be crazy, as he put it, to drop the ball now and not to keep building on these kind of coalitions, these groups that these mechanisms that are already in place to help his country.
Global News Podcast
Multiple wildfires raging in Los Angeles
I think he's been quite careful to try to put a positive spin on it. He did say he was hopeful, he was optimistic. He hoped that the coordination would be better in the future. But I think there are big, big question marks right now in Ukraine. People are in a kind of limbo waiting to see what exactly is going to happen after the 20th of January.
Global News Podcast
Multiple wildfires raging in Los Angeles
And of course, the big concerns are about, you know, this continuing support. We just saw yesterday an attack in Zaporizhia, a city in the southeast of Ukraine, in which 13 civilians were killed and more than 100 people were injured there. in the middle of the street in a busy afternoon there in a major city.
Global News Podcast
Multiple wildfires raging in Los Angeles
So I think it was, you know, important, I suppose, for President Zelensky to drive home the message that air defences are still important. And to use his words, he was saying that Vladimir Putin's aggression hasn't stopped. So he was really urging the US in particular to continue providing support because he said Vladimir Putin was still intent on destroying Ukraine.
Global News Podcast
Netanyahu issues warning ahead of Gaza ceasefire
A military expert inspecting fragments of metal told me they came from a Russian Iskander ballistic missile, one that flies so fast it is very hard to intercept or even sound the alarm. So in the wreckage of a dental clinic, we found a woman trying to salvage anything left intact. When I asked for her thoughts, she shrugged. We're used to it, she said. It's the third year of war.
Global News Podcast
Netanyahu issues warning ahead of Gaza ceasefire
Because this is not an escalation by Russia. It's a reminder that the deadly strikes across Ukraine have never stopped.
Global News Podcast
Netanyahu issues warning ahead of Gaza ceasefire
This was an attack with no warning. Two explosions first and then the sirens. By daylight, the destruction was clear, with shattered glass all around, a business centre in ruins, and cars blackened and twisted by fire. Two of the dead were found in one of them. And in the centre of the street was a deep crater.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky offers exchange of North Korean soldiers
He's offering to swap these two men from North Korea to hand them over to Pyongyang if North Korea can arrange for Ukrainian prisoners of war to be returned to Ukraine. from Russia. So essentially a prisoner swap. But of course, this is with a country that doesn't acknowledge deploying its troops to Russia to fight alongside Russian troops against Ukraine.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky offers exchange of North Korean soldiers
And Russia also has not actually confirmed that North Korean troops are fighting. And in fact, It looks pretty clear now that Ukraine's claim that these North Korean troops are being deployed with fake Russian military ID is actually true. When these two North Koreans were captured, Ukraine presented a Russian military document and it was in the name of a Russian citizen born in Siberia.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky offers exchange of North Korean soldiers
But watching a video of the two men who've been taken captive, they are speaking Korean and And they do appear to confirm that they are North Korean professional soldiers. So it does seem that Russia is trying to hide the fact that it's using foreign forces for its war with Ukraine. And is this this new video posted by Kiev? Yes. That's right.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky offers exchange of North Korean soldiers
I mean, we have to say, first of all, that this is a video that's been filmed by Ukraine's intelligence service. We can't speak to these people freely or independently. They are prisoners of war. One of them, frankly, looks terrified as he's speaking. He winces with pain as he's
Global News Podcast
Zelensky offers exchange of North Korean soldiers
Under interrogation, essentially, and being filmed, this soldier says that he was involved in a military offensive on the 3rd of January, that he saw soldiers die and then he hid. And a couple of days later, he was taken captive. He says he doesn't know where he is right now. And when he's asked if he wants to go back to North Korea, he actually says no, he wants to stay here. in Ukraine.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky offers exchange of North Korean soldiers
And he's speaking all the time through an interpreter, which Ukraine's intelligence agency says has been provided by South Korean intelligence. So rather difficult circumstances for anyone to be speaking in. But that is what he has said so far.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky offers exchange of North Korean soldiers
Yeah, and I think in a way that was kind of somewhat empty words from President Zelensky. It was more, I think, a political point he was trying to make because, of course, Ukraine already has a lot of Russian prisoners of war and Russia and Ukraine do conduct swaps, exchanges of prisoners of war every few weeks, every few months, fairly regularly.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky offers exchange of North Korean soldiers
So I guess they don't necessarily need to swap the North Koreans in order to get prisoners. the Ukrainian soldiers back. I think he was more making a point that he has these men and showing it as proof. And he was also, I think, trying to underline Ukraine's interpretation of the fact that Russia is using North Koreans.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky offers exchange of North Korean soldiers
Ukraine is saying that this is a sign of weakness by Russia that is having to resort to using foreign forces to plug the gap in its own ranks that is not able to get enough Russian soldiers to fight this war. Because, of course, Ukraine has come under pressure a lot from its own allies, from the United States in particular, to find more soldiers here in Ukraine to fight.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky offers exchange of North Korean soldiers
Ukraine's struggling with a shortage of soldiers right now and low morale. But Ukraine's saying, look, Russia's having problems too.
Global News Podcast
Trump blames diversity policies for US air crash
He didn't have any evidence for that. But what he has done is sign a memo demanding that this be investigated, that all hiring practices at the Federal Aviation Authority over the last four years, whilst he's been out of power, be investigated. And if there is anybody who has been hired who doesn't meet qualification requirements, then they should be sacked and replaced immediately because.
Global News Podcast
Trump blames diversity policies for US air crash
He says he is convinced that it is these diversity policies that have lowered aviation standards.
Global News Podcast
Trump blames diversity policies for US air crash
Now, it is being reported here that staffing levels were not normal in the air traffic control tower last night, that jobs would normally be assigned to two different controllers were being done by just one person who by themselves was having to handle all the planes that were landing and taking off, as well as dealing with all the helicopters that were in that airspace. Now,
Global News Podcast
Trump blames diversity policies for US air crash
We don't know whether that's routine on occasions, whether that's unusual, but it's definitely something that the air accident investigators are going to have to be looking into along with every other aspect of this crash.
Global News Podcast
BBC investigates deadliest single Israeli attack in recent conflict with Hezbollah
When Belarusians go to vote on Sunday, Alexander Lukashenko has no intention of losing control or of allowing mass protests to erupt again, like in 2020. All the key opposition figures from those days are now either in prison or in forced exile. And those opposition supporters still in Belarus have been scared into silence.
Global News Podcast
BBC investigates deadliest single Israeli attack in recent conflict with Hezbollah
That's why their leader in exile, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, has told the BBC she's not calling on people in the country to protest. But she does want Western allies to reject the results of Sunday's vote and to step up the sanctions and the pressure on Lukashenko.
Global News Podcast
BBC investigates deadliest single Israeli attack in recent conflict with Hezbollah
is illegal rule. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya argues that supporting the Belarusian opposition is about more than defending democracy, because Alexander Lukashenko is a key ally of Vladimir Putin, helping him fight his war on Ukraine.
Global News Podcast
BBC investigates deadliest single Israeli attack in recent conflict with Hezbollah
In 2020, all of a sudden, huge crowds of Belarusians believe they could change their country. Their desire has gone nowhere. But inside Belarus, instead of hope, activists now talk of their fear and their depression.