Could Trump side with Putin over Zelensky in Ukraine war talks? | Global News Podcast

This is the Global News podcast from the. BBC World Service. I'm Charles Havland. and today Ukrainians fear that President. Trump will bow to Russia and cut Kiev. out of talks to end the war in Ukraine. as US envoy Steve Wickoff meets Vladimir. Putin. Our Russia editor will tell us. what happened in that meeting. Mr. Witkov said you are a humanitarian to. [music] Vladimir Putin which will great. with many considering we're now sort of. approaching 5 years of Russia's war on.

[music] Ukraine and we'll hear the. Ukrainian reaction from our. correspondent in Kiev. [music]. >> They are suspicious that they can't. trust Donald Trump and Steve Wickoff. that they have repeatedly shown. themselves to be uh closer to the. Russians than they are to the. Ukrainians. [music]. The past 48 hours have laid bear a. widening rift between Washington and. Kiev over the war in Ukraine as Donald. Trump's envoy Steve Witkov met Ukraine's. Volimir Zalinski in Oslo and then today.

spoke to Russia's Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg. Ahead of those Russian. talks, President Trump put the onus on. Mr. Zalinski to make a peace deal. >> Ukraine has to want to settle this war. Zalinsky has to want to settle this war. And if he doesn't, I think it's going to. be a very bad thing. Look, we have given. tremendous amounts to Ukraine. We've got nothing back other than high.

diesel. >> President Zilinski said it was not up to. him to end the conflict. >> Ukraine wants peace more than anyone. And it was Russia who started this war. And the decision to keep the killing. going is Russia's choice and Russia's. alone. We have some clear ideas on how. to get to peace and we are united with. our European partners in this effort and. we want the Americans to take these. ideas to the Russians and one of the.

important ideas is to move to a. trilateral potential trilateral meeting. of the leaders to address the issue that. only the leaders can do. Wednesday. morning did see a diplomatic. breakthrough as it was announced that a. retired American teacher Steven Hubard. detained by Russian forces four years. ago in Russian occupied Ukraine would. soon be on his way home. Our Russia. editor Steve Rosenberg is in Moscow. He. told me what happened when Mr. Witkov.

and Mr. Putin met today. We've seen. American praise for Vladimir Putin. Russian state TV just showed uh the. opening remarks at the start of the. meeting which was really interesting. I. mean it began with Steve Witkoff. praising uh President Putin for the. release of the the US citizen Steven. Hubard and Mr. Witkov said you are a. humanitarian to Vladimir Putin which. were great with many considering we're. now sort of approaching five years of. Russia's war on Ukraine. As regards the.

war itself um Mr. Wickoff said he. brought some papers with him, some. proposals from Oslo. He said, "Read them. at your leisure." Which suggested that. we're not going to get an outcome here. on the war as a resolution today. Um. Steve Wickoff said there was some degree. of momentum, he thought, in peace. discussions after Oslo. Oslo he said, had been a step forward. Um and he. suggested to President Putin possibly. the resumption of trilateral talks,

Russia, Ukraine, the United States. uh. as a next step and then um they went on. to discuss uh business cooperation and. uh Mr. Whitov talked about the wonderful. possibilities uh of cooperation um in. the world of business between Russia and. the United States and they talked about. the diesel deal between Donald Trump and. Vladimir Putin which um has put a big. smile on the face of of Russian. officials. Well, as you heard, there.

have been growing calls for direct. three-way talks between Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump, and Mr. Zalinski to end the war. in Ukraine. Reports say that Vladimir. Putin has proposed a meeting between. himself, Donald Trump, and Chinese. President Xiinping. To find out what. Ukrainians will make of that suggestion. and Steve Wickoff's Russia meeting more. generally, we spoke to our correspondent. in Kiev, Dan Johnson. It sounds like. Vladimir Putin is trying to be helpful, trying to be a friend to America,

releasing that man who'd been under. arrest and offering to try to help. negotiate an end to the war in Iran, saying that Russia's links with Iran. could be could be useful in achieving. progress there. So, uh, Putin is. obviously trying to make himself out to. be a close friend of America and Donald. Trump perhaps trying to capitalize on. the poor state of relations between the. White House and Ukraine at the moment. despite President Vladimir Zalinsk's.

efforts yesterday to start rebuilding. that relationship. It is still. difficult. There's still a lot of. suspicion amongst Ukrainians that there. may be discussions about ending this war. that they are not part of and they've. insisted that they must be at the table. So Vladimir Zalinski has repeatedly said. that he's willing to participate in. talks, that he will meet Vladimir Putin, but that that needs to be three parties. together with America, not involving the. Chinese, or if it is involving the. Chinese, then at least also involving. Ukraine. They are suspicious that they.

can't trust Donald Trump and Steve. Wickoff that they have repeatedly shown. themselves to be uh closer to the. Russians than they are to the. Ukrainians. When Donald Trump again. urged a deal uh to end this war last. night, he issued further criticism of. President Zilinski's approach and the. Times Donald Trump said that he' not. managed to agree a deal. Ukrainians know. how much they want this war to end. because they're feeling the impact of it. every day in terms of the attacks uh. that are hitting this country's energy.

network, its transport connections, and. people's homes. There were four more. deaths across the country this morning. when residential buildings were hit in. Kev and in HKE too. So everybody knows. how how desperate this is and uh what a. positive thing it would be to bring it. to an end, but they are wary of the. circumstances in which that is. negotiated and what they may be asked to. concede as part of those negotiations. Moving on from the war in Ukraine now, the US is just days away from crucial.

midterm elections and President Trump's. hardline immigration policies could be a. major factor in the vote. With that in. mind, we wanted to show you this report. from our correspondent Tom Baitman who. spent months covering the raids by. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or. ICE. He's now in the state of Ohio where. the Trump administration is pressing. ahead with the targeted deportation of. thousands of Haitian immigrants. >> Who we have? >> It's a black Dodge Charger living here.

>> The ice watchers are out before dawn. trying to track the latest immigration. rates. >> behind us. He's not going to like that. >> They spot an agent risking another. flashoint in this attempt to hold to. account Donald Trump's mass deportation. drive. But the watchers soon become the. watched. >> Here's that guy again. He turned around. He's with them. >> as the ice patrol car tails us. >> Here comes the charger next to cover his. hand. >> He's getting out. >> He's getting out. >> Yeah,

>> he's taking photos. So, this is an. agent. I can't see. He got a uniform on. >> It is another fleeting moment in. America's much wider standoff. I followed the border patrol campaign. since the start. >> But any sign that that's going to create. a deescalation, I think it's over. And. >> and the backlash that flared in. Minneapolis after agents shot dead two. Americans in January. Mr. Trump later ousted top officials.

>> Where are you? >> And since then, many arrests have been. more like this, behind closed doors. Yet. migrant deaths in custody have. continued, say campaigners. In fact, across the US, ICE operations have. grown, including in the American. Midwest. Deportation campaign here feels really. different to what we were seeing at the. start of this year, which was explosive. And you can feel how the tactics have. changed now. You come to a place like.

this, it is much lower profile, much. harder to spot, but actually the numbers. of deportations are going up. Springfield, Ohio is on America's. immigration fault line. 5 years ago, its. population jumped by around a third as. thousands of people settled here from. Haiti. But now facing anxious days. Many are. among more than a million immigrants in. America from countries caught in war or. disaster who have had their temporary.

protections ended by Mr. Trump. Many. have gone from being legal to. unauthorized migrants overnight. At this support center, one who sought. help was Pierre Damas Bell. He aspired. to build a life in America. An honor. student and college cadet. His family. says after his protected status was. ended, he was tagged with an ankle. monitor. Pierre wrote on social media he. felt shame and humiliation. Weeks later, he walked into traffic on the motorway.

and was killed. He did everything. all right to be here until. they put the tag on him telling him that. the sense of belonging. he had was just an illusion. >> We love America and we love Americans. >> Ohio is Republican held, but this is a. tightening election race here. Many. still back the president's tactics. I.

mean, if you come here, you come here. legally, man. I'm I'm all about it. >> But a lot of these guys are have been. here legally because they're on this. temporary protected status. >> Yeah, but it's over now, ain't it? So, it's time to go. >> The shop is empty because I can't. purchase right now my chain dice. >> And so, a community keeps its head down. Pashia says business has all but. collapsed. One customer who does come in, a. warehouse worker of three years, is. another who's been tagged by ice.

The administration calls the monitors an. alternative to detention. It says it is. keeping Americans secure and argues. Haiti is safe to return to. A claim many. dispute. >> Yeah, I'm fine. >> Sorry. >> Yeah, I'm okay. >> As we're leaving, a neighbor spots us. and fears an ICE raid on Pasha's store. >> Yes, I'm okay. >> And there is a stand of solidarity. across the street. Back at the center, some have to report.

to ICE today. A meeting that can lead to. detention ahead of deportation in a. febral environment ahead of elections, a. walk-in with no certainty of walking. out. And that's all for this edition of the. Global News Podcast. To learn more about. any of the stories we covered today, you. can listen to the Global News Podcast. wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd. like to get in touch, our contact. details are below. I'm Charles Havland.

Until next time, goodbye. [music].