US military officials in Kyiv to discuss "peace plan" | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast where. we go behind the headlines and why they. really matter. On today's episode, we're. discussing the US military officials who. are already in Ukraine. Why are they. there? Well, they're there to discuss. the efforts to end the war, a plan that. reportedly echoes Russian demands. EU. foreign ministers say Keev and Europe. must be involved in any peace plan. We're joined by the Russia editor at BBC. monitoring, Vitali Chevchenko. Let's start off then with these. unconfirmed reports. Uh we're seeing.

these proposals which may include. Ukraine having to give up territory, dramatically shrinking its military. It. feels like Groundhog Day that we've been. here before. >> It does. I saw these demands earlier. back in June when I was in Istanbul for. the second round of talks between Russia. and Ukraine. Well, uh here they are. And. uh essentially it's um Vladimir Putin's. wish list in Ukraine that amounts to a.

demand for Ukraine's capitulation. It not only. um envisages control of a territory but. also a degree of political uh control. over Ukraine as well. Now, the fact that since early June, we. haven't really made much progress of. amending, well, I should say the West. hasn't made any progress on amending. Russia's terms for a settlement in.

Ukraine. It raises questions about. whether it was worth it at all to engage. with Russia diplomatically. And. secondly, if it's true that this latest. so-called peace plan in in big quote. marks, if it was drafted jointly with. America, does that mean it supports. these really really maximalist demands. that we have been hearing from Moscow?

is uh Washington still uh an an. independent mediator in in the whole uh. process of starting some kind of. movement towards peace um in Ukraine. But if if all this is true, that's. really bad news for Ukraine and also its. allies in Europe who have apparently. been not involved at all. interesting stuff where it comes to the. fact that there could be conversations. happening behind the scenes and the.

impact that can have on the eventual. path to peace. It's all behind the scenes. And uh the. the impression that I've got since. Donald Trump came to power uh earlier. this year is that well he's kind of a. lot more friendly towards Vladimir Putin. than he is towards uh Voldemar Zalinski. And the Ukrainian president, he is. currently finding himself in a really.

difficult, maybe even impossible. position because the Russians, they're. advancing slowly. It it costs them a lot in terms of uh. people being killed, their soldiers. being killed, but they're moving or. edging slowly ahead in uh Donetsk. region, in the Parisia region. uh they. are just half an hour down the road from. Zaparisia, which is a major city in in. southeastern Ukraine. Hundreds of. thousands of people are still there and.

once the Russians get within artillery. range of Zaparisia, it's it's going to. be disastrous for them. There's also. this corruption scandal that erupted in. in Kiev. um earlier this um this month. Um. >> yes, because how does that impact the. diplomatic efforts as well? Well, because domestically there's that issue. So, how does that affect parliament and. let's say if there is a peace plan put. on or a proposal put on in order to come. to an agreement on what's happening if.

there's not a or if there's a lack of. confidence within the current. government. It affects the whole process. hugely because can you imagine how much. more diffic diff difficult it's going to. be for Vimemer Zalinski his allies in. the west to keep justifying. continued. uh assistance to Ukraine in terms of. money weapons if there's someone from uh.

Zalinsk's uh inner circle a friend uh. who has a literally a a toilet seat made. out of gold in in his flat. Uh and and. and that person Timur Mindage is um. involved in u this alleged scheme which. embezzled $100 million involving energy. in Ukraine. And you will know how hard. Ukraine's energy has been hit by the.

Russians. It's a key target for Russia. who's trying to um make Ukrainians cold. and live in the dark as winter. approaches. Now, we're told that key. people from key people who uh were. friends with Voldemi, they stole a lot. of money. So now may be a perfect moment. for both Russia and the United States.

when they appear to be acting in unison. to put more pressure on Voldemir. Zalinski. And also this moment is. probably the most difficult and the. darkest in Ukraine literally since the. start of the full-scale invasion. And. this is happening with the backdrop of. Russia continuing to bombard Ukraine. We're heading into the winter months as. well. Um, a lot of difficult issues, factors to ponder. And then we've also.

got this potential proposal of a peace. plan. And and and with that, what sort. of concessions or what sort of Yeah. What what what would Ukraine be willing. to concede on the path to peace? I think. it's a question of. how much assistance it gets to keep on. fighting because on the one hand there's. no doubt that Ukrainians. well they're determined to preserve.

their statethood to uh stop more. Ukrainian land from being occupied. But. on the other hand, it's equally true. that without foreign western assistance, they they would just have nothing to. fight with. So when it comes to. concessions, well, let's think about the. bigger picture. Ukraine gets invaded in. 2014, sort of on the sly by Russia who denied.

invading. Then again in 2022 openly. uh tens of thousands of people died more. than well maybe hundreds both Russians. and Ukrainians. and now. we are in a situation when uh the. world's most powerful nation America. apparently. jointly drafted this quote unquote peace. plan uh maybe even supported whatever.

they got from from Russia. despite the fact that it's clearly. Ukraine that's that's being invaded. uh in violation of international law. So. whenever Ukrainians hear about. concessions, well, they keep asking why are we. expected to make those concessions and. and when Marco Rubio, the American. Secretary of State, he tweeted u. yesterday, I think that yeah, to resolve.

this war, both sides need to make uh. important concessions. What we are yet. to hear is what concessions exactly is. Russia being asked to make because the. conditions that I heard in Istanbul. earlier this year and the conditions. that the demands that we're hearing yet. again, they indicate that they suggest. that Ukraine's being asked to give up a. lot in exchange for nothing.

>> Finally, President Trump wanted to end. this war in 24 hours. He said he could. It's not happened. And we want to look. further down the line in, let's say, a. hopeful manner to to see peace. eventually. How likely is that off the. back of what we've just been talking. about? And and and how soon could we. predict there to be some sort of a an. agreement, some sort of a ceasefire, some hope for people? >> I'm afraid, and it really saddens me to. say so, not anytime soon. And the reason.

why I'm saying that is twofold. One, the. West, least of all, Donald Trump, they've given Vladimir Putin no reason. whatsoever to stop or reconsider his. policy towards Ukraine. And secondly, Ukraine is not desperate. enough to just lay down their arms and. and stop fighting. Therefore,

I think this will go on. >> Vitali, thank you so much for your time. That's all from us for now, but if you. want to catch more of our world stories, make sure you download the Global News. podcast. You can find it wherever you. download your podcast from. And also. subscribe to our BBC News YouTube. channel and give this video a like. And. also, if there are any stories you think. we should be covering, drop us a comment. below. For now, thanks so much for. watching.