NATO calls for unity as tensions rise with US over Ukraine
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What is the main topic of this episode?
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles and in the early hours of Friday the 14th of February, these are our main stories. The head of NATO has appealed for the West to stay united as a rift opens up between Europe and the United States on peace negotiations about Ukraine. Days ahead of German elections, the man tipped to be the country's next leader has said things must change after an asylum seeker drove a car into a crowd of people. Riot police in Tehran have prevented a protest demanding the release of people still under house arrest 13 years after they disputed an election result.
Also in this podcast... The most romantic day of the year. But if you're single or seething and would prefer getting back at your former flame, help is at hand.
We hear some unusual advice for Valentine's Day. How will the war in Ukraine end and at what cost to Kiev? That is the question dominating the minds of politicians and diplomats across Europe and beyond. After Donald Trump's conversation with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, speaking to reporters a day later in the Oval Office, President Trump was asked if he believed his Russian counterpart wanted peace.
I believe he wants peace. I believe that President Putin, when I spoke to him yesterday, I mean, I know him very well. Yeah, I think he wants peace. I think he would tell me if he didn't. I think I'd like to see peace.
How is the US-EU tension affecting NATO's unity?
Do you trust President Putin?
I believe that, yeah, I believe that he would like to see something happen. I trust him on this subject.
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaya Callas, has accused President Trump of appeasing Russia over Ukraine. She insisted that European states and Ukraine itself must be part of any peace talks.
It is clear that any deal behind our backs will not work. Any agreement will need also Ukraine and Europe being part of it. And this is clear that appeasement also always fails. We shouldn't take anything off the table before the negotiations have even started because it plays to Russia's court and it is what they want. Why are we giving them everything that they want even before the negotiations have been started? It's appeasement. It has never worked.
US officials have already said Ukraine can't expect to get all its territory back or be allowed to join NATO. But speaking after a NATO meeting in Brussels, the US Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, said this didn't amount to a concession to the Russian president.
I think realism is an important part of the conversation that hasn't existed enough inside conversations amongst friends. But simply pointing out realism, like the borders won't be rolled back to what everybody would like them to be in 2014, is not a concession to Vladimir Putin. It's a recognition of the hard power realities on the ground after a lot of investment and sacrifice, first by the Ukrainians and then by allies, and then a realization that a negotiated peace is going to be some sort of demarcation that neither side wants.
The German defence minister did, though, call it regrettable that Washington was already making concessions, in his words, to the Kremlin. Jonathan Beale is our defence correspondent in Brussels, where he asked the head of NATO, Mark Rutter, if he agreed with that.
Well, he's saying that the parameters, as does Pete Hegseth, of these negotiations have not yet been decided. Even though we have heard from the US Defense Secretary that Ukraine will not be a member of the NATO alliance as far as the US is concerned, that it will not regain all the territories it's lost since 2014, that the US will not be
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic of this episode?
0:37–2:13
2
How is the US-EU tension affecting NATO's unity?
2:13–7:06
3
What is Ukraine's stance on peace negotiations?
7:06–13:42
4
How is the German election influencing immigration policies?
13:42–19:11
5
What is the status of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire?
19:11–23:03
6
How are former hostages from Gaza describing their captivity?
23:03–36:15
Speakers
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