Global News Podcast - Russia and Ukraine begin short ceasefire

Episode Date: May 9, 2026

President Trump says a short truce between Russia and Ukraine was agreed at his request. They've also each pledged to release 1,000 prisoners-of-war. The deal coincides with Russia's commemorations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War. A big parade in Moscow's Red Square has been scaled back, with no tanks or missiles. Also: Britain's prime minister, Keir Starmer, is facing renewed pressure after his governing Labour Party was battered in English local elections and suffered a historic defeat in Wales; the Trump administration has released a first batch of previously secret files documenting reported sightings of unidentified flying objects - or UFOs; thousands take part in the Palestine marathon three years after it was put on hold due to the Gaza war; and a royal message for the naturalist David Attenborough on his 100th birthday.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Will Chalk and in the early hours of Saturday the 9th of May, these are our main stories. A three-day ceasefire has come into effect between Ukraine and Russia. They've also each agreed to exchange a thousand prisoners of war. Britain's Prime Minister, Kirstama, is under renewed pressure after his governing Labour Party was battered in English. local elections and suffered a historic defeat in Wales.

And the Pentagon has begun releasing what it says are never-before-seen files on UFOs. Also in this podcast, Mexico's school children are told they're getting an extra 40 days off this summer as their country hosts the World Cup. But is the president about to shatter that dream? And... Thank you for your wisdom, your kindness, your dedication. and for reminding us always of the wonder of the world we call home. A royal message for the naturalist David Attenborough on his 100th birthday.

There is, for now, a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. President Donald Trump said he had personally requested the temporary truce. He said it would include what he called a suspension of all kinetic activity and a prisoner exchange. I asked, and President Putin agreed, President Zelenskyy. agreed both readily, and we have a little period of time where they're not going to be killing people, and that's very good. And they also agreed to give a thousand on each side, a thousand prisoners back. So they're going to be transferring almost immediately a thousand prisoners from each side. That's very good. Russia, Ukraine. But even if President Trump got the deal over the line,

the ceasefire to mark the anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany, was something both sides had already announced and then accused each other of breaking. Our global affairs reporter Paul Moss told me more. Every year Russia holds celebrations in May to mark victory in World War II and it's normally a huge event. I mean, this dates back to the old days of the Soviet Union with soldiers marching, the latest weapons displayed.

They put missiles, ICBMs on parade with leaders from all around the world watching. This year, though, Russia says it's needed to scale back the commemorations because it's scared of them being attacked. Now, Cynic suggested that was just an excuse. In fact, Russia's running rather short of men and arms and needed all of them for the fighting and couldn't spare them for parade.

But then Ukraine's President Zelensky did actually seem perhaps to threaten to attack the festivities. He said he didn't recommend any foreign leaders show up for that event. Now, bear in mind, Ukraine has had some success recently getting its drones and missiles past Russia's defences. Only this week they hit a building. in Moscow. So Russia clearly took this threat very seriously and its response was to threaten a massive airstrike on Kiev if there was any disruption. And now we've got this truce that originally

separately suggested by Ukraine and Russia, but it's Donald Trump, isn't it, who's taking credit for this ceasefire we've got now? He is taking credit, yes, but it's a suggestion that was made by both countries before. I mean, bear in mind it was the Soviet Union which fought Germany in World War II, a country which back then included Russia and Ukraine together, and Ukraine lost about 8 million people in that war, maybe more. It is their joint victory being celebrated. A reminder that they were once fighting together against a common enemy, so you would think they could get this agreement made.

And indeed, as you say, Donald Trump's claiming credit for it. He said he persuaded the two leaders to agree a ceasefire as part of on-going negotiations to end the conflict and persuaded them to swap a thousand prisoners. of war as well. Well, given as you say, there are vested interests on both sides, do you think them that this truce will actually hold? That is the big question. Previous truces have not. They've seen the fighting continue with both sides blaming the other for breaking the truth. We'll have to see. But of course, the sad truth is that even if this ceasefire does hold through the festivities,

it is only temporary. The conflict seems very likely to resume straight afterwards. This is a conflict which has already killed hundreds of thousands of people on both sides. and shows every sign of killing many thousands more. Paul Moss. Historic shift, heavy defeat and a bloodbath. Some of the words, the newspapers here in the UK, are using to describe local election results in England and devolved Parliament results in Scotland and Wales.

But given these elections don't actually have any bearing on the National Parliament and a general election isn't due for three years, is the drama warranted? Reform UK supporters would the honourable. say yes. The right-wing populist party, which has only existed in its current form since 2021, has made huge gains. The governing Labour Party has seen huge losses, including the end of its 27-year rule in Wales. Reforms education spokesperson, Sweller Braverman, says it bodes well for the party's leader, Nigel Farage. I do think that there is a very high chance of Nigel becoming

Prime Minister. I very much hope that he will become Prime Minister. I think the next general election will be the most crucial in my lifetime because the choice will be very, very binary. It will either be a left-wing coalition to take us into deeper poverty, open borders and humiliation on the world stage, or the chance to start the recovery. So is the current Prime Minister, Keir Stama, now finished as Labour leader? I asked our UK political correspondent Rob Watson. I think the view inside the governing Labour Party is that Kirstama has been finished for some time, even before these disastrous election results. There's been a view that his position is unrecoverable in the longer term

because he's so unpopular within the party, but also in the country. So then the question is always, well, if he's not going to lead Labour into the next general election in 2029, when does he go? So there is a question as to whether these disastrous results will bring that moment forward a bit. And the answer is that it's hard to say. There doesn't seem to be any precipitate move against him right now, although, of course, there have been calls for his resignation, but there is a sense that maybe the party will wait

because the problem holding them back from moving against Kirstama is who would you put in his place? I mean, if the Labour Party could unite around a single candidate, I think Kirstama would be gone much sooner rather than later. And it's not too dramatic to say, is it, that these results also have implications. for potentially the future of the UK, because great results for pro-independence parties in Wales and Scotland.

That is true. I mean, it doesn't necessarily mean that there's going to be demands from another referendum in Scotland or a referendum in Wales, but I think what is undisputable is that you now have in Northern Ireland as well. The largest parties are parties that their dreams go to our life beyond the United Kingdom. So not necessarily that independence is around the corner, but perhaps questions about devourable. about more powers, and if you like, the overall constitutional settlement.

And to that extent, yes, absolutely victories for the Scottish National Party and for Plaid Cymour, the Welsh Nationalist Party, are likely to place strains on the Union. And of course, with any local elections, it's always a bit of a funny one, because the view is always towards the implications for the next general election. So looking in your crystal ball, then, Rob, what are the implications for the next general election? So I think you just can't overstate the importance of the results that we've been looking at. I mean, they really do seem to represent a crumbling of the old order. And what I mean by that is the domination by conservatives and labor of Britain's political system,

both at a local level but at a national level for the last hundred years. Now, people might say, well, is that a flash in the pan? Perhaps conservative and labor will come back and that the populists of the green and reform and others will somehow slip back. But I think that may be wishful thinking on behalf of the big parties because the forces that are driving the success of the smaller parties and which are damaging labour and conservative look unlikely to go away because those forces, and you see them in other developed countries,

voter anger at the system, a lack of trust in politicians, anger at the stagnation in living standards, and the growth forecasts in Britain are pretty dismal, a sense that nothing works proper anymore, what you might call cultural and identity concerns, so that's things like immigration and social cohesion, and a widespread sense that people just don't have much control over their lives. And that has led to anger against the established parties

who've been running this country for the last hundred years, Labour and Conservative, just as you've seen that in other developed countries. And it seems immensely unlikely that those forces, if you like, are going to be addressed in the next three years. So absolutely, We could at the next general election in 2029 be seeing a fragmentation of British politics, British politics looking more like the politics of other continental European countries

with multi-parties and all sorts of scrambling for power at the end of it all. Right. So say you're in the headquarters of the Labour Party right now then, what can they do or is there anything they can do to slow that and to turn that around? So I think the view inside number 10 is that the only way to do it at this point is by delivering, by somehow showing that people's lives are going to get better, do feel better, and to try and put aside division. But of course, there are ideological disputes within the Labour Party. Some would like to see it move even further to the left with more government spending, with higher taxes on the wealthy. The real problem confronting Labor, and this would apply even if Kirstarmer is replaced by somebody else,

is that essentially the kind of hand that any new leader would be dealt with is a tough one, Britain as a country with, low growth with high levels of debt, high levels of taxation, and high levels of social dissatisfaction. So whoever took over as leader, it's pretty much a poison challenge. And one other thing that I just add into the mix, there was one poll before these elections, which suggested that 67% of British people think this is a country heading in the wrong direction. So this is an unhappy and angry country. And whether you're in power or wanting to get power, that is a tough. crowd to please.

Rob Watson. Let's move on to US politics, because a month ago, voters in Virginia chose to redraw the state's electoral map. A move the Democratic Party hoped would help them win more seats in Congress. Now, though, Virginia's Supreme Court has overturned that vote, saying the way the motion ended up on the ballot broke the rules, and the old map has now been restored. All this is playing out ahead of crucial mid-term elections in November. Our North America correspondent Anthony Zirke has been following this one and spoke to my colleague Carl Nasman. They decided this on a procedural issue, essentially, to amend the Virginia State Constitution the way they had to in order to allow this change in congressional districts.

The legislature had to vote on the measure before last year's election and then after that election and then it would have to be passed by the voters in Virginia. And what the Supreme Court of Virginia said was that that first first, vote was too close to election day. It happened while early voting was going on. And so the million plus people who voted in the election did have a chance to cast their ballots, understanding that that was what the state legislature did. So it was all about the process by which this was brought to effect. In terms of the impact now on the upcoming midterm elections, how big of a ruling do you think this is going to be? It's going to be a big ruling because it's going to result probably in Democrats holding in about four left seats than they were hoping for.

The way they redrew these maps, it gave Democrats a majority in 10 of Virginia's 11 congressional districts. Right now, they only hold six of the 11 districts. Now, they may be able to pick some up later this year because some of those districts are closely contentious. But if it's a close election, if the majority in the House is determined by two or three seats, then this could be the difference. It is definitely a setback for Democrats who are hoping that this would be a good

counter to the redistricting that Republicans have already done in states like Texas and Ohio and North Carolina. What happens next because there are other Republican states that are looking to fall in line here, follow the example of, like you mentioned, Texas and redraw their voting maps to give Republicans an advantage heading into those crucial midterm elections? Yeah, we're not done yet. Just last week, Florida redrew their maps, probably going to give Republicans a handful of extra seats there. But there was a Supreme Court decision just last week on the Voting Rights Act that has opened the door for a lot of southern states to redraw their maps. The court said that states do not have to have protected districts for majority black voters that would reflect the populations of those states at large.

And so now you're seeing Tennessee already redraw their lines in order to net an additional Republican seat. You could see places like Alabama and South Carolina and Georgia take similar steps. So just about two weeks ago looked like this was all going to be a wash with California and Virginia on one side and Texas and maybe Florida and a handful of other Republican states. On the other side, it was going to balance out. But what we're seeing now with that Supreme Court decision and the defeat in Virginia is that Republicans are in a position where they could tilt the playing field towards them by maybe even as much as a dozen seats. This still is going to be a tough election for Republicans in November. they're still going against political headwinds, but if this is close, then this is going to really help Republicans maybe eke out another small majority in the House, but a small majority is still

a majority. And if Democrats were in control of the House, they would be launching investigations of Donald Trump and ramping up oversight and blocking his legislative agenda. So the stakes here are very high. Anthony Zerker, we are sticking in the U.S. for this next story, because as we speak, a dedicated group of believers will be pouring in great detail over some newly released government files. There to do with something that has fascinated Americans and people around the world as well for decades, sightings of unidentified flying objects, more commonly known as UFOs. They include files from the FBI, the Department of State and the US Space Agency NASA, with some dating back to the 1940s.

President Trump directed the Pentagon to release the documents because of what he called tremendous interest, Valerie Sanderson. Got more details from our correspondent, John Sudworth. The first thing to say is this makes fascinating reading and viewing for anybody who logs onto this website. It's all been put in the public domain. 162 files in total. Some of them are still images, many of them taken from US military aircraft where they've seen something that they can't quite explain, perhaps they're tracking it or whatever, and they've taken still images. Some of it is video evidence, again, showing strange objects that the camera operators, the pilots have seen whilst on missions, all in various parts of the world. Some of them show sort of little bright lights moving erratically across water or across land as the aircraft try to move with them.

Others show things very difficult to describe. All of this has been put in the public domain because President Trump said back in February that he wanted to do more. he called for the release of all and any information relating to UFOs, or as the Pentagon calls them nowadays, UAPs, unidentified anomalous phenomena. But it's important to say, of course, the point about all of this is these are all unresolved. There may be other explanations for what we're looking at. It's just that the Pentagon hasn't been able to pin those down. So, John, what stands out to you? Some really intriguing detail in some of this information.

For example, being made public for the first time is the debrief of the appointment. Apollo 11 astronauts back in 1969, in which they talk very openly in this long transcript that's been published about seeing weird objects. Neil Armstrong describes one as being shaped like an open suitcase. You've got Buzz Aldrin on that transcript talking about these tiny bright lights that he says he can see that appear, he says, to kind of penetrate the spacecraft, seem to be coming through the walls of the spacecraft. And what's really interesting is it sort of unfolds as a kind of a conversation. He's speaking to Neil Armstrong. And Neil Armstrong says that for the first few days when Buzz Aldrin mentions this phenomenon, he can't see it. But on the last day,

Buzz Aldrin's so convincing that Neil Armstrong sits there and looks for them. And then he says, yes, he too can see them. Will more batches like this be made public? They will. So again, important to say, this isn't the first time we've had the release of these kinds of files. Some have been made public under previous administrations. But President Trump said back in February that he was going to do more. Clearly a concerted push to put some of this evidence into the public domain. They are redacted. They've been stripped of things that might identify, for example, some of the camera operators or pilots. They're obviously going through them carefully, but yes, we are told more will be released. John Subworth. And you can find those documents. I've just been looking

myself actually on the US Defence Department website war.gov forward slash UFO. It is quite addictive though, so don't blame us if you're still there in a few hours' time. Still to come in this podcast. Thousands take part in the Palestine Marathon in Bethlehem after a three-year hiatus because of the Gaza War. The crew of NASA's Artemis II mission have returned home safely after successfully completing their groundbreaking voyage around the moon. Splashdown confirmed. Humans are back in the business. of going to the moon.

But while the mission is over, the Artemis Space Program is just getting started. 13 minutes, the BBC Space Podcast is looking back on their epic journey and discovering what the future holds for the Artemis Space Program. Just imagine what we as humans can do next. 13 Minutes presents Artemis 2

from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast. Reports from Saudi Arabia say the country prohibited the United States from using its airspace and bases to launch operations for its brief bid to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Washington is understood to have retained access to its allies airspace for other uses. Earlier this week, President Trump announced a pause in his two-day-old Project Freedom to guide ships through the strait. US media reports now say Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto Saudi leader, talked directly to Mr. Trump. and refused to allow US forces to draw Saudi Arabia into the operation.

So how much damage has been done to the Saudi-US relationship? Michael Ratney is a former American ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He spoke to the BBC's Paul Henley. I think it's stressed, to be sure, Trump launched the war, along with Israel, without consulting the Saudis or anyone else in the Gulf, either about its objectives or its timeline, or whatever role they would play.

and he started the war without making clear to them whether or not the United States would offer them protection. So I think it started out, despite the fact that obviously the Saudis have no love for the Iranians, it started out with a certain amount of tension. How big a mistake was it to launch Operation Freedom, which depended on Saudi airspace without even consulting Saudi? Yeah, assuming that's the case that they didn't even consult Saudi at all, and I'm not sure that's the case, but assuming it is,

it would be kind of a bad mistake. They depend on retaining the support of the Saudis for a lot of things in the military space, whether or not it's directly involved with combat operations with Iran or not. We have a large military deployment there and we really need their cooperation. I think when they're antagonized and when they're nervous

and when they're not totally sure what we're up to or where we're going with this, I think it just drives that distrust a bit further. The war has caused quite a lot of antagonism, hasn't it, among the Gulf states? Yeah, I mean, I think they're confounded. On the one hand, none of them have any love for Iran and would love to see a different sort of regime there. On the other hand, I think a lot of them knew that a war like this would be much harder than Trump imagined it would be, and they worry that they're going to be left with a worse situation.

The Iranian regime, if not intact, at least still in place, and all of their ability to stoke mayhem in the region, missiles, support for proxies. Plus, it's not clear what's going to happen with a Strait of Hormuz. So I think this was sort of nearly the worst case scenario for them, which is you launch a war, the Iranians launch reprisals that affect Saudi and other Gulf countries, and they're left with a worst situation. Has it changed the way that Gulf states see it, having U.S. military bases on their soil? They were seen as there for protection.

Perhaps they're seen as a liability now. Yeah, that's a tough issue. I think obviously the United States can be imperfect partners, as are many of our partners. At the end of the day, though, the alternative partners for the Gulf, you know, if you think about folks that they might have reached out to, whether it's Pakistan or China or others, the end of the day, those countries aren't really going to come and defend Saudi or the Gulf at all in the event of a conflict with Iran. So they have uncertainty now with the United States. but I think at least they have greater clarity and a longer standing relationship, at least in the area of defense than they do with any other country. I expect going forward, they're not going to, as we would say,

throw the baby out with the bathwater. I think they'll want to retain a strong relationship with the United States, but I expect they'll also be reaching out to other potential partners as well. So you don't see long-term damage to U.S.-S.-Saudy relations? I see once the dust settles on this war, and we don't know when that's going to happen. I think there'll be a moment where they're all reflecting on the nature of the relationship with the US. I think there is probably some additional distrust.

I don't know whether that's going to be specific to the Trump administration or to the US in general. I do think they're going to want to retain the relationship, but they're going to want to look for other possibilities as well. Michael Ratney from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Thousands of runners have returned to the West Bank city of Bethlehem for the first Palestine Marathon in three years. Restrictions over the Gaza War meant the 2024 and 25 events were cancelled. Whilst more, this year's marathon was held in conjunction

with a 5K race inside Gaza, as the fragile ceasefire there continues to hold. Weira Davis reports. This is the heart of Bethlehem. We're in Manger Square and this is the 26 Palestine Marathon. It's the first time they've been able to hold this event for three years because of travel restrictions because of the Gaza War. So there's a huge amount of excitement here.

Thousands of runners in the marathon, the half marathon, and in the 10K. But even the route of the marathon itself is predicated, is constrained by the Israeli separation barrier. They have to run several maps in order to complete the full marathon. But I've been speaking to some of the runners and some of the organizers. You see, I'm Ismail. They come from everywhere to run Palestine Marathon. Etidal Ismail is the director of the Palestine Marathon. And she's particularly proud that this event has been able to take place today.

This is a focus on our right to move, our right to freedom of movement. Other people, it's easy to move from a city to another city to travel. But in Palestine, we have in this right. This is a very special marathon for me. I've ran here 13 years ago in the first edition. Ahmed Tacher is the favorite male Palestinian runner in this race. And for him, it's an emotional moment to be able to run on his own turf. So this is a very important day, not for me only, but for all of us.

It's a celebration. It's us representing and telling our story to the world. The story about our race. right to movement. In any marathon, they talk about hitting the wall, getting through the barrier. But in the Palestine marathon, it's not just a psychological wall, a psychological barrier. There's a physical wall as well, because the huge concrete Israeli separation barrier is very much part of this course.

And here we are at the halfway point. runners coming around this sharp bend and behind them the huge concrete barrier that separates Palestine and Bethlehem from Israel. It weighs really heavy on all of our hearts. Riem Alley is originally from the Palestinian territories, but she now lives in the US and has come back here, especially for this event, with her husband. She eventually came second in the women's race.

It just means so much to us to do what we love and to move and to show that regardless of what's there, that we can still have fun. We don't have to have barriers to kind of control us in a sense. Here at the crowded finish line in Bethlehem's Manger Square, there are families because there's a family race,

there's a 10K. And the key feature of this event is that it coincides with a 5K in Gaza. It's the first time there's been a big social and sporting event there since the start of the devastating war between Hamas and Israel. And of course, the Palestinian economy has been hit hard in recent years.

And we haven't seen this many visitors here in Bethlehem, a town so dependent on tourism for a long time. We're a Davis reporting from Bethlehem. It sounds like a dream for most school children. Not only is your country hosting the Football World Cup, but even better you get an extra 40 days off school because of it. And that dream looked as if it was been. becoming a reality in Mexico after an announcement on Thursday from the Education Secretary.

But now the president has thrown the plan into doubt, saying actually no final decision has been taken. As Will Graham reports from Mexico, from a parent's perspective, it might not have been such a welcome idea anyway. No offence to spending time with one's kids, but this was probably the last decision that any parent in Mexico wanted it here. Earlier this week, the education minister, Mario Delgado, announced that school, would be out early, in fact, a month early. No more classes from the 5th of June. He gave two reasons for the decision. The first is an unseasonal heat wave in Mexico,

but the second was to stop so many cars circulating on the road during the FIFA World Cup, and that reason has infuriated parents. Many Mexicans are already angry about hosting the competition over sky-high ticket prices and oversaturated public. transport. And now this. One parents group described the decision as a grave error. Millions of families are now facing a decision about how to best juggle their time

between extra childcare and work. I don't know what I'm going to do because I need to see patients, but I need to see my children too. And this is going to be very complicated for all the women in this country that need to work to bring food and rest and everything to their children. This is really going to be a lot of people. going to affect us. We're working mothers and work every day. We don't have educational activities or things to entertain them at home, and we can't be with them the whole time. We need to work. Now, President Claudia Seymbaum has been dragged into the debate.

At her morning press briefing, she said the announcement by the Education Ministry wasn't a final decision and that the school year hadn't been fully defined. Still, people are saying that's not what it sounded like from the Education Minister and are wondering why the World Cup should impact their kids' educations. Will Grant, reporting from Mexico. Finally, getting to 100 years old is a major cause for celebration, and the naturalist David Attenborough, who's reached that milestone,

has been attending a concert in his honour at London's Royal Albert Hall. It featured music from some of his best-known programmes and a message from King Charles. Our culture editor, Katie Razel, was there too. Sitting in the Royal Box, the 100-year-old was celebrated with a night of orchestral music and performances from musicians who've collaborated on his programs. Bastille, Seeger Ross.

There were highlights from Sir David's 70 years of broadcasting, including his famous encounter with Mountain Gorillas, and for the world's best-loved nature presenter, a message from the king. I wish you a very happy 100th birthday. In a special film tribute, after an attempt to deliver the king's birthday card is thwarted, it's appropriately left to a relay of furry friends to ensure his majesty's letter reaches Sir David. The Prince of Wales was there to celebrate Sir David's profound influence. Thank you for your wisdom, your kindness, your dedication, and for reminding us always of the wonder of the world we call home. A very happy 100th birthday. The evening ended

with a standing ovation that brought us smiling Sir David to his feet, and the sentence A Canadian, who is seen as the voice of nature, was treated to 5,000 rapturous voices belting out a happy birthday. Katie Razl reporting. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcast at BBC.co.uk. Don't forget our sister podcast, The Global Story, which goes in-depth and beyond the headlines on One Big Story. This edition of the Global News podcast was mixed by Ben Andrews, and the producer was Nikki Verico. The editor is Karen Martin, and I'm Will Chalk.

Until next time, goodbye. The crew of NASA's Artemis II mission have returned home safely after successfully completing their groundbreaking voyage around the moon. Splashdown confirmed. Humans are back in the business of going to the moon. But while the mission is over, the Artemis Space Program is just getting started. 13 minutes, the BBC Space Podcast is looking back on their epic journey and discovering what the future holds for the Artemis Space program. Just imagine what we as humans can do next.

13 Minutes presents Artemis 2 from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.