Global News Podcast
Concern in Europe after Trump and Putin agree to start Ukraine talks
Thu, 13 Feb 2025
Senior figures in Europe have accused President Trump of making unnecessary concessions to Russia ahead of peace talks on Ukraine, and a breakthrough is reported in talks to get the Gaza ceasefire deal back on track.
Chapter 1: What are the main stories covered in this episode?
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jackie Leonard, and at 14 hours GMT, these are our main stories. The US Defence Secretary has denied that President Trump has betrayed Ukraine by pushing for a peace deal with Russia. Meanwhile, Germany has accused Mr Trump of making concessions to Russia on Ukraine before peace talks have even started.
And a breakthrough has been reported in talks to get the Gaza ceasefire deal back on track. Also in this podcast, a man has driven a car into a crowd of pedestrians in the German city of Munich in what officials suspect was a deliberate attack.
The fact that there are many injured is a slap in the face. We feel for the victims. We pray for the victims. We very much hope that everyone will make it.
And researchers in Australia say a warming planet is changing the behaviour of crocodiles. We begin with Ukraine. As the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion approaches, there's been a flurry of activity from the US about ending the conflict.
As you'll have heard in our last edition, Donald Trump has had a long phone call with President Putin of Russia and says he plans to meet him in person, reversing years of the US isolation of the Russian leader. Mr Trump has also spoken on the phone to President Zelensky. The news of these conversations has been front and centre at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels.
Boris Pistorius of Germany accused the US president of making concessions to Russia before peace talks had begun. He said the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO should remain, as well as the issue of losses of territory.
Putin is constantly provoking the West and attacking us in a hybrid manner. It would be naive to believe that this threat will actually subside as a result of any peace agreement whenever it comes.
On Wednesday, the US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said it was unrealistic to expect Ukraine to return to its pre-2014 borders and he downplayed the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO. But today he insisted the US isn't betraying Ukraine and it's time to move towards a negotiated settlement.
We recognize the incredible commitment that has been made over many years. And no country, as President Trump has pointed out, has made a larger commitment to the Ukrainian mission than the United States of America, north of $300 billion. So the United States has invested in stabilising those front lines after the aggression of Russia. There is no betrayal there.
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Chapter 2: How are Trump and Putin's talks affecting Ukraine?
Damien McGuinness. China is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for around 30% of the global total. But new research shows that the country's coal plant construction surged last year to its highest level in almost a decade. This appears to conflict with President Xi Jinping's promise that carbon emissions would peak before 2030. Here's our China correspondent, Laura Becker.
There has been a lot of coal construction, in fact, about 95 gigawatts of power within the early half of 2024. Now, that's the most coal-fired power plants that China has built since 2015. However, this report also notes that there has been an unprecedented surge in renewables, in wind and solar in particular. In fact, the report notes
that China has installed more in wind and solar in almost one year than the United States has done in total since records began. And what this analysis seems to suggest is that they are concerned that the solar and wind capacity is being layered on top of coal production. It's not being installed instead of.
And they fear that the net zero target President Xi has pledged that China will be net zero by 2060 might slip away from China unless that changes.
That was Laura Bicker. Still to come, a warning from the former chief executive of Google about artificial intelligence models being misused by terrorists and rogue states.
An example would be the ability for the system to fool us. Another one, if it developed a desire to get access to weapons, especially nuclear weapons.
Hamas has said it will now release three Israeli hostages on Saturday and is committed to the ceasefire deal with Israel. The announcement follows mediated talks in Cairo. The group had said it would postpone the release, accusing Israel of breaching the terms of the ceasefire. Israel has said it will resume the war against Hamas if the hostages aren't released.
Our correspondent Yolan Nel is in Jerusalem and has been following the story.
Through the day, we've had various positive signs that this latest crisis in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal can be overcome. We know that Egyptian and Qatari mediators have been working on the areas Hamas has complained about, the amount of fuel going into Gaza, numbers of shelters. Egyptian sources indicating more heavy lifting equipment to move rubble is to go in.
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