Global News Podcast - Moscow says West "fragmenting" over Ukraine

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

The Kremlin has lashed out at European countries pouring money into Ukraine's war effort. Also: Anora - the story of a stripper - sweeps the Oscars board, and there's stinging criticism of the United States from the UN.

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. Russia says Western governments are starting to fragment over the war in Ukraine, describing Friday's public row between Vladimir Zelensky and Donald Trump as unprecedented. Police in the German city of Mannheim say at least one person has died after a car drove into a crowd of people. At least one person has died after a car drove into a crowd of people An aura the story of a stripper in New York sweeps the Oscars board Also in this podcast policies intended to protect people from discrimination are now labeled as discriminatory Progress is being rolled back on gender equality

Stinging words from the UN on what they see as happening in the United States. Over the weekend, a raft of international leaders descended on London for talks on Ukraine. President Zelensky was there, as were the heads of government of France, Germany, Italy and Canada. Their task – how to lead the charge in ending fighting despite Donald Trump's very public spat with the Ukrainian president at the White House on Friday. But Moscow has responded with derision, saying Western governments are fragmenting. President Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has said peace can't be achieved while Europe pumps more military aid into Ukraine. There were also statements that it was urgently necessary to ensure an increased level of financing for Ukraine. This is clearly not for a peace plan, but for the continuation of hostilities. That is our understanding.

Mr Peskov also said no coordinated peace plan was on the agenda yet. Here's Danny Aberhard. Publicly, at least, the Kremlin is containing the glee it no doubt feels over the events of recent weeks. It started with the radical shift in US relations towards Moscow initiated by President Trump and reached a new level with what Russia sees as the public humiliation of Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday. President Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of a fractured West. He's not wrong but European leaders are trying to formulate proposals to try to persuade the Trump administration to agree to joint security guarantees for Ukraine to ensure

any prospective peace would be fair and durable. Ukrainian officials and media have expressed scepticism about the outcome of the London summit. Vitaly Shevchenko is from BBC Monitoring. People are saying, well look, we've heard words before, words are worth nothing. One journalist, that's his commentary on what happened in London yesterday. And there's another military analysis account on X that's been commenting on these agreements. And it says, nothing short of boots on the ground and readiness to shoot and be targeted will be truly effective. So that's the kind of mood in Ukraine. We need more. We need action. But there's cautious optimism as well. One MP, Alexei Honcharenko, he welcomes this European initiative to mediate between Ukraine and the USA. He says this is a good start. But then again, he says how did we end up in a situation

when Europe has to mediate between Ukraine and its biggest ally, the United States? He says this is madness. So in a nutshell, there's hope, but also a fair amount of scepticism. Vitaly Shevchenko. And we'll be putting your questions about Ukraine, that Trump news conference and the subsequent diplomatic fallout to our BBC correspondents. Let us know what you'd like answered by sending us an email or a voice note to globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. The UN's human rights chief has said he's concerned by what he called a fundamental shift in the United States. Volker Turk didn't mention Donald Trump during his annual speech on the state of human rights

worldwide, but he warned of a climate of disinformation, intimidation and threats against journalists and other public officials. I am now deeply worried by the fundamental shift in direction that is taking place domestically and internationally. In a paradoxical mirror image, policies intended to protect people from discrimination are now labelled as discriminatory. Progress is being rolled back on gender equality. This information, intimidation and threats, notably against journalists and public officials, risk undermining the work of independent media and the functioning of institutions. Mr Turk also expressed alarm about the dehumanisation of migrants in Europe

and pointed to serious rights violations in countries like Sudan, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo. As we record this podcast, reports from Germany say that a car has been driven into a crowd of people in the western city of Mannheim. Videos posted on social media showed police vehicles and ambulances rushing through the city streets. More details from David Lewis. Police say one person has been killed and several others injured after a car drove into the crowd. A suspect has been arrested and a large operation is underway in the city centre. People have been asked to avoid the area as emergency services attend the scene. One eye witness who was sitting in a nearby restaurant told local media that

all hell broke loose following the incident. According to a statement to German news agency DPA, the Mannheim University Hospital has activated its disaster response plan. Eight trauma teams have been made available both for adults and children. There's been widespread condemnation in the Arab world of the Israeli decision to withhold aid supplies going into Gaza. When the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was announced in January, Israelis and Palestinians celebrated. But now, after the first phase of the deal came to an end at the weekend, there are fears that the fighting, which reduced Gaza to rubble, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and threatened the lives of hostages,

could resume. I heard more from our chief international correspondent, Lise Doucette, who's in Cairo. They've put both Qatar and Egypt, who are the main Arab mediators in this ceasefire, the United States is the other mediator in the indirect talks between Israel and Amaz. Both of them issued very strongly worded statements saying that not only is Israel's halting of humanitarian aid into Gaza a violation of the ceasefire, which came into force on January 19th, it is also a violation of international humanitarian law. They've accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war and in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. So they have made it absolutely clear that this is totally out of order and we heard yesterday from the Egyptian foreign minister, Abd al-Bati, who says that they should also keep going with the deal as it was agreed.

They should be moving into the second phase, and the second phase is the phase which Israel has always had difficulty with because it demands that they withdraw all of their forces from the Gaza Strip and move towards an end of the war in exchange for all of the remaining hostages. But Israel now seems to be rewriting the deal and they, Prime Minister Netanyahu says he has the complete backing of the United States and that is what we have heard from the US National Security Council last night. Israel's next steps, they're in full agreement with it.

Liz, why is Israel blocking aid going into Gaza? They say that the President Trump's Gaza envoy, Steve Witkoff, has come up with a new proposal that in order to move to extend the ceasefire for another 50 days, which would cover the holy month of Ramadan as well as the Jewish festival of Passover, that the Hamas has to release more hostages. In fact has to release more hostages. In fact, half of the hostages, Prime Minister Netanyahu said last night, there were 59 hostages remaining in Gaza and up to 24, as the phrase used, are believed to be alive. Now that wasn't called for in the deal, but Prime Minister Netanyahu is saying that Hamas should not expect to get the extension of the ceasefire in exchange for nothing.

So it's at an impasse. Egypt is struggling to come up with a new proposal. And certainly the Americans will be watching closely. Please do set. Five months after Austria's general election, a new government has been sworn into office by the country's president Alexander van der Bellen. One could say that all good things are worth waiting for. At least that is my hope in view of the many days it has taken to form this government. The process has certainly been long. Whether it will turn out well is still undecided, but we are positive and optimistic.

well is still undecided but we are positive and optimistic. The new Chancellor is Christian Stocker and he will lead a coalition that excludes the far-right Freedom Party which came first in September's poll. Our correspondent Bethany Bell reports from Vienna. Austria has a new government after the longest wait for a coalition since World War Two. It's a three-party coalition of the Conservatives, the Social Democrats and the Liberal Neos. Their first attempt to form a government collapsed in January. The Eurosceptic Russia-friendly Freedom Party was then given a mandate to form a coalition that failed last month. Following that, the three centrist parties managed to

agree a deal. The Conservative People's Party controls the Interior and Defence Ministries, the Social Democrats have the Finance and Justice Ministries and the NAOs have the Foreign Ministry and Education. Bethany Bell. Last week Donald Trump announced plans to impose an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, saying he didn't think enough was being done to prevent drug trafficking. Imports from China already faced taxes of 10% at the US border after a tariff that went into effect in February. Now we appear to have Beijing's response. State media in China claim a series of counter

measures have been prepared, raising the prospect of an all-out trade war between the world's top two economies. Our China correspondent Laura Bicker reports. China's state-run Global Times newspaper said the countermeasures will likely target US agricultural and food products. China remains the biggest market for US agriculture products even after Beijing slapped tariffs of up to 25% on soybeans, beef, pork, wheat and corn in 2018 in retaliation for duties on Chinese goods imposed by President Trump. Analysts believe Beijing still hopes to avoid an all-out trade war and negotiate

a truce with the Trump administration. But so far there has been no sign of a deal between the two economic giants. Laura Bicker. It's been 95 years since the first Oscars were awarded to recognise the best achievers in film. So you'd be forgiven for thinking there's not much new ground left to break. But Sunday Night's Academy Awards did make history. The writer and director, Sean Baker, became the first person to pick up four awards in the same year for the same film. Anorah, about a stripper who marries a Russian playboy, also took the gong for best actress. Our Los Angeles correspondent Emma Vardy reports.

It's the Oscars and I say let's do this thing. You ready to go? I am. A Wizard of Oz themed opening from the stars of Wicked got the show underway. The film won two awards for both production design and costume design. And the Oscar goes to? Oh, Anorah. But taking five of the six awards it was nominated for was Anorah, an independent film about a prostitute who marries a rich Russian playboy.

What is that? Is that a butterfly? Yeah, it's a butterfly. You're so classy. I know. I got dollar signs like a real hoe. Anora. Sean Baker! Its creator, Sean Baker, made history, winning four Oscars on one movie, taking best picture,

director, editing and screenplay. In one of his acceptance speeches, he urged the public to see movies on the big screen. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Parents, parents, introduce your children to feature films in movie theatres and you'll be molding the next generation of movie lovers and film makers. Mikey Madison. Star of an aura, Mikey Madison was named best actress for her portrayal of a feisty sex

worker. I also just want to again recognize and honor the sex worker community. I will continue to support and be an ally. Tell me, why is an accomplished foreign architect shoveling coal here in Philadelphia? I'm not afraid. It is not so simple. 22 years after his first Oscar win in The Pianist, Adrian Brody picked up another Best Actor award for his role as a Holocaust survivor remaking his life in America in the three and a half hour epic The Brutalist.

He then gave a more than five minute long acceptance speech. OK, I'll get out of here. I love you. I appreciate you all. Emilia Perez had been a front-runner until controversy over its star actor's social media posts. But Zuri Saldana did win Best Supporting Actress and highlighted her heritage. I am a proud child of immigrant parents. I'm a proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity and hardworking hands and I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award and I know I will not be the last. The Pope is dead.

The British screenwriter Peter Straughan accepted the award for best adapted screenplay for Kong Play. I'm here with my daughter Connie. Connie, I love you. This is for you. And that's not the same thing as yours. It's not like that jumper that you keep taking. Okay, this is mine. Thank you so much. The only prize for the Papal Thriller, which had eight nominations. Emma Vardy reporting. Still to come in this podcast.

I sell myself on TikTok. I dance naked, live. I told him I was 15 years old. He said it is okay. And he loves young girls below 18. TikTok is accused of failing to act despite knowing children are selling sexual content via its platform. As an academy of science, the Royal Society, based here in the UK, does not routinely make news headlines. It traces its roots back to the 17th century and its usual mission is

to promote excellence in science for the benefit of humanity. But a meeting of the prestigious academy's fellows later on Monday may just draw wider interest because of a proposal to expel one of their number – the billionaire Elon Musk. More than 3,000 scientists have signed an open letter claiming the Tesla and SpaceX founder has broken their code of conduct by promoting unfounded conspiracy theories. Esme Stallard reports. Agitation has been growing among fellows of the Royal Society over Elon Musk's behaviour towards the scientific community. They've claimed his actions, which include his role

in funding cuts for US government scientific research, censorship of climate change issues, and attacks on the former US Chief Medical Advisor and Society Fellow, Anthony Fauci, amount to a breach of the organisation's code of conduct. The Society has investigated Mr Musk twice before and opted for no action. But after two fellows resigned and more than 3,300 scientists put their names to a letter expressing deep concern, it's been forced to call what's being described as an unprecedented meeting. Not all fellows are supportive of Mr Musk's expulsion, some are concerned it could be seen as political interference. The meeting is private and it's

unclear if any decision will be made public. Esme Stallard. The Democratic Republic of Congo's Prime Minister, Judith Seminwa Toluka, has told the BBC the government will only hold direct talks with Rwanda and not rebels. This is despite calls from regional leaders to engage rebels in dialogue to try to resolve the conflict in the east of the country. In the last few weeks, the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured swathes of territory, including the cities of Goma and Bukavu. More than 8,500 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in the fighting. Last week, the British government suspended its

bilateral aid to Rwanda and asked the country to withdraw its troops from the DRC. The Prime Minister spoke to the BBC's senior Africa correspondent Anne Soy, who began by asking what impact Western sanctions will have on the conflict. I think these first sanctions will probably put pressure on the aggressors of the Democratic Republic of Congo. But in the meantime, there are still discussions at the diplomatic level. There is the question of restarting the Luanda peace process and the Nairobi process.

We as the Democratic Republic of the Congo remain committed, as the head of the state, the president of the republic, Felix Antoine Shisekedi said, to move forward in the context of this process. Is your government going to engage in direct talks with M23? There is a process that operates at various levels, including EAC, the Sardic Summit, There is a process that operates at various levels, including EAC's Sardic Summit, the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, the Human Rights Council and the United Nations Security Council. We continue to engage in dialogue through the Luanda Process, which involves direct discussions with the Rwandan government.

This is important because Rwandan forces pressed at the M23 leading to the invasion of Congolese territory. Additionally, we are involved in the Nairobi process where armed groups must have the opportunity to communicate with the government to find peaceful solutions to the problem at their level. The heads of state from the East African community and Southern Africa met and urged your government to enter into talks with M23. The UK has made similar calls. We must reread the resolutions that have been issued through different instances and you'll

understand that we are talking about going to a dialogue as part of the Luanda process and the Nairobi process so it is what it is. Well, Rwanda says it is defending itself and it accuses the government of harbouring and working with rebels who threaten their sovereignty, the FDLRs in Congolese territory that Rwanda considers to be a threat to their country. Based on the United Nations reports, more than 4,000 men who constitute the Rwandan troops came to Congolese territory. So tell me, how can a country claim to be threatened by 1,400

to 2,000 men when they have an effective 4,000 men in Congolese territory? Let's be serious. But are you forces working with FDLR rebels? As said earlier, we're in the process of neutralization of the FDLR forces, and therefore we're an army that would not work with these troops. And finally, what do you see as the solution to the crisis in the east of the country? The clearest solution is to ensure the ceasefire, to ensure that Rwanda troops withdraw from the Congolese territory and that the M23 stop killing the Congolese population. Based on that, with time, as we stated, we will be in agreement. FDLR who are in Congolese territory and that we did not even ask to come but who, about 30 years ago, left Rwanda not on our instructions. We agreed to work on a procedure of neutralisation

of this FDLR. The DRC's Prime Minister Judith Seminwa Toluka. An antiques dealer in Singapore has been sentenced to more than two years in prison after he admitted to secretly selling a client's 18th century vase and replacing it with a copy. More from our Asia Pacific regional editor Celia Hatton. The dealer Kwok Teow was deep in debt when he convinced one of his clients to allow him to take a Qing dynasty vase to Hong Kong for valuation. Once there, Mr. Kwok admits he secretly sold the vase for cash for half its estimated value and used the money to pay off his own debts.

He then returned the client a forged copy of the vase. In court, the once respected dealer also admitted to damaging an expensive piece of Chinese calligraphy from the same client. He tried piece of Chinese calligraphy from the same client. He tried to clean the calligraphy himself after watching a tutorial on YouTube but ended up smudging the ink work. Celia Hatton reporting. The Nigerian-born US-based author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been listed as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people. Over the years she's written award-winning novels such as Half a Yellow Sun, as well as poetry

and short stories. Now her new book, Dream Count, heralds a hotly anticipated return to fiction after more than a decade away. So why the long wait? She spoke to the BBC's Emma Barnett. I couldn't write for a while and then I started writing again. I felt tired. I thought, what if I never write again? And at the same time in this period you become a mother. That does something to you of course as well. It does, it does. Actually my block, and I don't like to use that expression because

I'm too superstitious, but my something that happened that I couldn't like to use that expression because I'm too superstitious. Okay. But my something that happened that I couldn't… The space. Yes, the space. That's good. Happened when I became pregnant. I'm not sure that it was just entirely physiological, but something changed and I just could not get back into that sort of magical place where I can write fiction.

I have always longed to be known, truly known by another human being. Sometimes we live for years with yearnings that we cannot name until a crack appears in the sky and widens and reveals us to ourselves. Dream Count tells a story of four women's lives interconnected and you go into great detail about their stories and then some of those themes but just to stay with this for a moment it's also very visceral at times about women's health. It's interesting how little of literature is about women and women's bodies, women's sort of physicality. We all come from a woman's body and that

isn't really a thing that is explored very deeply in literature. In 2014, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie published an essay of her popular TED Talk that was her take on feminism that was then sampled by Beyonce. Feminist, a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. Where are we with feminism now do you think? We should say that there is no place in the world where women are equal. There are places that are better and places that are worse, but there is just gender equality does not exist yet. I think that what's happened in places like the US has been surprising because I did not think that

we would be talking about women's reproductive rights in 2025. Our bodies are the only things that we have that actually are, is when you really think about it. And I actually understand people who oppose abortion. I understand that position, but it's a position you cannot impose on everyone and to do that in policy, in law, just feels to me a way of saying that you do not recognize a woman's full humanity. The Nigerian-American author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaking to Emma Barnett. To Kenya now where an investigation by the BBC has found that TikTok is making profits there from live streams that sell sexual content, some involving To Kenya now, where an investigation by the BBC has found that TikTok is making profits

there from live streams that sell sexual content, some involving teenagers as young as 15. Whistleblowers from the company that moderates the social media platform say TikTok knows it's happening but is failing to take adequate action despite its own guidelines which ban the selling of sex. Dabula Kamoli has this report from Nairobi. It's after midnight in Nairobi and I'm on TikTok Live. My number is on the bio girls. In the box? In the box, yes, come now. In this one, young women are taking it in turns to dance provocatively.

There's 450 people watching from around the world. And there's a host who's directing them and calling on people to send them money in the form of digital gifts. At the end of another live stream, the women say, inbox me for sexual content. I've come across many late night live streams on TikTok like this, where young women are soliciting sex work. We're in a low income neighborhood, one of the poorer neighborhoods in Iceland.

And in places like this, there's that sense of urgency of trying to get money daily because people are not living off a salary, you know. People are hustling every day. We're meeting someone we're calling Esther. She's now 17, but says she was recruited to dance on TikTok Live two years ago when she was just 15. I sell myself on TikTok. I dance naked, live.

I do that because that's where I can earn money to support myself. When you're dancing live, some people will contact you." She then uses another platform to share sexual content or arrange physical meetings. She says the man who recruited her takes a cut of everything she earns and pressured her to have sex with him. I told him I was 15 years old. He said it is okay, and he loves young girls below 18, and he gives them work. Charities say they're seeing more cases

of child sexual exploitation through live streaming. TikTok's guidelines ban the selling of sexual services, and users need to be 18 in order to livestream and receive gifts. Tick-tock. TikTok outsources its content moderation to another company called Teleperformance. One of their content moderators agreed to speak as long as we disguised his identity. TikTok actually knows what's happening in Kenya, but they're not doing anything to solve it. It's all about business.

A spokesperson for TikTok said in a statement that they have zero tolerance for exploitation and they enforce strict safety policies including robust live content rules and moderation in 70 languages including Swahili. Debula Kemali reporting. To hear the full investigation search BBC The Documentary online or wherever you get your podcasts. And that's all from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us

an email. The address is globalpodcastsbbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Kai Perry and the producer was David Lewis. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Bernadette Keough. Until next time, goodbye.