Global News Podcast - Senior Putin aide against temporary Ukraine ceasefire

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

US officials are in Moscow to discuss proposals backed by Ukraine for a 30-day ceasefire. A senior Kremlin aide has said they give nothing to Russia. Also- a new UN report details accusations of sexual violence in Gaza

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson and at 1400hrs GMT on Thursday the 13th of March these are our main stories. A Russian aide to President Putin says the US ceasefire deal is only a temporary help to Ukraine. It comes as President Putin is told his forces are in the final stages of driving Ukrainian troops from Russia's Kursk region. A new UN report details accusations of widespread sexual violence in Gaza and on the West Bank.

Also in this podcast... You don't try as hard when you're in a relationship and you've met the person that you want to be with, so you do tend to become a bit complacent. So I can see that happening. New research suggests marriage triples the risk of obesity in men. We asked people in London if they agree. Let's start with the latest on the war in Ukraine. US officials are in Moscow to discuss proposals backed by Ukraine for a 30-day ceasefire. We'll have more on that shortly.

Meanwhile, President Putin has been told his forces are successfully driving out Ukrainian troops from the Russian border region of Kursk. On Wednesday, the President made a surprise visit there for the first time since Ukraine seized territory in the region. Earlier, the defence ministry in Moscow said its troops had recaptured the key town of Suja. Speaking to reporters by phone, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said he was confident that a Russian victory in the region was imminent. The president said that this must be done as soon as possible, as long as it takes to

preserve the lives of our military and civilians. There is no doubt that the Kursk region will be liberated quite soon. I heard more from our Europe regional editor, Dani Eberhardt. Ukraine has held territory in Kursk since August when it launched that surprise incursion. It made rapid advances. Russia was unprepared. But then since then Russia has been fighting back. It even drafted in thousands of North Korean troops and now it controls about nine-tenths of what Ukraine originally seized. Today, this Thursday,

the Russian Ministry of Defence has said that a key town, Suja, has been recaptured. That's the main town that Ukraine has still held. And a respected US-based think tank has also come to the same conclusion there. Sujia was a place where last week, I don't know if some listeners remember, there was an attempt by Russian forces to use an underground gas pipeline to get behind Ukrainian lines. So it's a key thing. Ukraine has basically, from its position, says that its main military commander has said that in the most difficult situation, some Ukrainian troops have been withdrawing in order to save lives, but that it would maintain defences in Kursk as long as it expedient and necessary. How long that is is anyone's guess but obviously Ukraine is facing an extremely difficult situation there. And what would it mean if Russia retook control of Kursk? What

would that mean for Ukraine especially with the background of these talks? Well let's think back to when it went into Kursk in the first place. What were Ukrainians thinking? It was basically to damage Russian morale, which was quite successful, bringing the war to Russia. That all worked. It aimed to relieve the pressure that Russia was putting on key places on the Eastern Front in Ukraine. That didn't really work. Russia brought in other forces and also to relieve pressure on the Ukrainian air of Sumi, which borders Kursk. And another key thing was that he wanted it to have it as a bargaining counter in the event of any peace settlements. Now, the problem here is that if it has to pull out before any peace negotiations take place, it loses any bargaining counter.

And that really starts raising questions about what the Kursk offensive was all about, the wisdom of that whole operation. So for now it still holds parts of Kursk but its hold is getting increasingly tenuous whereas for Russia if it expels Ukrainian troops that will be hailed by the Kremlin as a great victory, example of President Putin defending the motherland, that's classic Kremlin ideology and it may further complicate the situation for Ukraine in that if Russia was able to free up troops it could redeploy them to other parts of Ukraine, so for example place like Kharkiv or down to the Eastern Front. Danny Eberhardt, the US envoy Steve Witkoff is in Moscow for talks with the Russian delegation

about the ceasefire deal already backed by President Zelensky of Ukraine. I asked the Russia editor of BBC Monitoring, Vitaly Shevchenko, what details have emerged so far? Russia seems to be moving closer and closer to saying a no to the proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Yuriy Ushakov, who is a key advisor on foreign policy to Vladimir Putin, he spoke to Russian state TV a short while ago and he said such proposals for a ceasefire will offer nothing

but a temporary respite for the Ukrainian forces. And he said nobody needs such steps. They will only imitate peaceful actions. He is an important figure. Of course, he's not Vladimir Putin, and he's really careful to not speak out of line. But I don't think there's an easy way to row back from such statements. And he has been involved in talks with Americans very closely.

He spoke to Mike Waltz, the American national security adviser, by phone yesterday night. Before that, he was a key negotiator for Russia in talks with Americans in Saudi Arabia a couple of weeks ago. So I think he knows which way the wind is blowing in the Kremlin and it's looking increasingly likely that Russia will not agree to this ceasefire. So is there not any room for movement because I mean they've just started talking? Steve Witkoff, the American envoy, he arrived in Moscow this morning and there is room for

maneuver. It's not impossible for Vladimir Putin to turn around and say, you know what, ignore what my officials are saying, we are going to agree to a ceasefire. That would be extremely unlikely, but not impossible. And of course there's a reason why Steve Witkoff is in Moscow today even after as Yuriy Shakov says Moscow told the Americans that they don't like the idea of a ceasefire in Ukraine. So there is a tiny possibility that they'll work something out but it's unlikely. Vitaly Shevchenko. Now to the conflict in Gaza. The UN says Israel carried out genocidal acts against Palestinians by systematically destroying women's healthcare facilities

and by using sexual violence as a war strategy. One member of the UN Commission is Chris Sidoti. We've received reports of many cases of rape through penetration of objects of men, more than can just be put down to individualised rogue officials. Now, I mean you have to start wondering about a governmental system, military, civilian police officials and so forth, that on a mass scale undertakes these activities. So we have to say what on earth is going on here. Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has rejected the allegations, describing them as false and absurd.

He also described the UN Human Rights Council as anti-Semitic and irrelevant. I asked our Geneva correspondent Imogen Foulkes for more details about the report. It's not the first report carried out by this commission of inquiry into the human rights situation in Gaza and the occupied territories. We've had one that looked specifically at the situation for health care, things like denial of access of humanitarian supplies and so on. This one looks at this particular aspect. Now we do know that many, many Palestinian men and boys have been detained since October the 7th and what this report contains is their accounts of how they have been treated. Some have been released, some have lawyers visiting them and these are the kinds of accounts

that we're getting. There is a pattern, this is what Chris Sidoti there in the clip was saying to you, there is a common pattern of being detained, stripped, held naked in the cold for many days, then taken to a prison inside Israel, beaten, sometimes raped. Now some of these people who've endured this actually came to Geneva this week and testified in public, so important, they said, was it to them to get the message out there. I would say of course that Israel has rejected this and said it always investigates members of the armed forces who may have or allegedly have behaved badly. There's little faith that that is really happening from the UN team. They say

there appears to be a climate of impunity. Strong words from Mr. Sudhoti. I mean, he also talked about genocide, didn't he, with this destruction of a fertility clinic? This is a particularly interesting aspect of this report because the legal definition of genocide is very narrow, but one of the definitions is an attempt to suppress or stop births among a particular group, ethnic or religious. Now what the report suggests is that the deliberate attacks on maternity clinics and particularly the deliberate attack on Gaza's only fertility clinic where thousands of embryos were actually destroyed that this could be, they're not saying definitively but they're saying that this could fall under this particular clause and could show genocidal intent, quite incendiary but

you know these are human rights lawyers so they look at all the evidence and this was their conclusion. Imogen folks, the governor of the Mexican state of Jalisco has pledged to cooperate fully with the federal investigation into a mass cremation site uncovered by civic activists last week. The grisly find believed to have been used by drug cartels to dispose of their victims' remains, included ovens and hundreds of personal items, including shoes, clothes and bags. Will Grant reports. Critics argue that it is improbable that a site apparently used for the torture and mass disposal of victims' bodies

could have gone undetected for so long by local law enforcement without either negligence or corruption. For her part, President Claudia Sheinbaum has ordered the Attorney General's office to take control of the investigation. Mexicans are long used to the extreme brutality of the country's drug war, but many have been shaken by the full extent of the horror unfolding at Rancho Esaguirre. Will Grant. A US influencer has sparked outrage across the internet after picking up a baby wombat from its mother in Australia and then running away with it. Sam Jones is a self-styled hunting influencer who has gone viral after posting the interaction on TikTok. There have

been calls for her to be kicked out of Australia with Home Office Minister Tony Burke writing, I can't wait for Australia to see the back of this individual. The Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, has also spoken out. They are gentle, lovely creatures. To take a baby wombat from its mother and clearly causing distress from the mother is just an outrage. Our correspondent Katie Watson is in Sydney. What she does is she picks up a baby wombat that's walking with its mother, shows it to the camera, it's hissing in distress clearly, and in the background you can see the mother coming towards,

trying to find its joey, and the person filming this whole scene is laughing, saying the mother's like really cross. And then she goes and puts the wombat back. But clearly, I mean, this has caused a massive outrage on social media, even the prime minister weighing in on this and the foreign minister's been talking about this. It's been a big discussion point. Australia obviously takes the protection of its animals very seriously,

it's gotten a massive amount of protected and very very unique animals. The wombat itself, this wombat I don't believe is endangered, but nevertheless there have been animal protection experts saying that this is unacceptable, this has obviously caused distress. There's a very tight bond with womombat joeys and their mothers and obviously separating them is something that experts say will cause a huge amount of distress for the mother, which obviously we saw in the video.

And that's led to a big discussion about, you know, what this influencer is doing in Australia. She's gotten 90,000 followers on Instagram, but that obviously has caused a lot of people to say, you know, should she be here in Australia in the first place? Of course, the Home Affairs Minister has said that they are looking at the conditions of her visa, but has also said that he wants to see the back of this individual and is hoping that she won't be returning to Australia. Katie Watson in Sydney.

Still to come in this podcast. Roblox! Be anything, build anything. Why Roblox, the gaming platform with 80 million daily users, is being defended by its boss. And now to New York. Where hundreds of protesters gathered outside a court in Manhattan on Tuesday to show their support for Palestinian student activist Mahwud Khalil. Immigration agents arrested the Columbia University graduate

and legal U.S. resident over the weekend. It follows President Trump's pledge to deport foreign pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said nobody had an automatic right to a student visa or green card. When you apply for a student visa or any visa to enter the United States, we have a right to deny you for virtually any reason. But I think being a supporter of Hamas and coming into our universities and turning them upside down, if you told us that's what you intended to do when you came to America, we would have never let you in.

And if you do it once you get in, we're going to revoke it and kick you out. Baha Azmi is one of the lawyers representing Mahmoud Khalil, and he says the arrest is a violation of free speech. Mr. Khalil's detention has nothing to do with security. It is only about repression. United States government has taken the position that it can arrest, detain and seek to deport a lawful permanent resident exclusively because of his peaceful, constitutionally protected activism. Alex Ritson heard more on the case from our North America correspondent, Neda Taufik,

who spent the day outside court in New York. Mahmoud Khalil became a visible figure on Columbia University's campus. He was one of the lead negotiators that worked between speaking on behalf of the students with the university. And then what we saw were some very vocal critics of the protesters, whether it be vocal supporters of Israel and the faculty in Columbia University, conservative members of Congress, going online and criticizing Mahmoud Khalil directly, tweeting at officials in government to take action against him. His wife, his lawyers have all said that his views are not aligned with Hamas.

They have refuted all of those allegations by the administration. And they have said that the attacks and vilification of him online are not based in reality. So what's his legal status? Can the Trump administration actually deport him? Well, this was the start, really. This is going to potentially be a long case. His lawyers said as much. I spoke with a former attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, and he was

very clear that this is a First Amendment case. He said you can go out on the street and say that Hamas is the greatest organization in the world despite the fact that it is prescribed as a terrorist organization by the United States. And he said nobody can arrest you for doing that. He said the Supreme Court has affirmed the rights of Nazis, white supremacists, others to say what they want. And he said the remedy to that in the United States is more free speech, not less. And so because there is very kind of clear case law from the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, he says he cannot see how the government's case will succeed. And his wife is a US citizen.

He's a permanent resident. That's right. He came on a student visa, but at the time he was arrested according to his lawyers, it seemed like immigration officials didn't realize that. And once he and his wife told the immigration officials that he was actually a green card holder, they said, hold on and made another phone call according to his lawyers, but still arrested him anyway. And according to his lawyers, they also threatened to arrest his wife.

But as you say, his wife is a US citizen. She is eight months pregnant. He has a green card. So he has as much protection under the First Amendment as anybody else who is living in the United States. But the Trump administration is testing that and willing to go the distance in the courts. Neda Taufik. Botswana's Lise Gochombo made history as the country's youngest cabinet minister last year, taking up the role of Minister of Youth and Gender Affairs at the age of 26. She's also a former Miss World Africa. But now she's facing a pressing challenge, tackling growing cases of gender-based violence that young people across Botswana are demanding

action on. Nsego has been speaking to the BBC's Anne Okumu about the challenges of being a young woman in power. It's very exciting, let me be honest, it's very exciting, it's quite surreal. As women we face so many pressures, a woman cannot do this, a woman can't be young and in leadership, I'm currently facing that. I think that when you do something and you do it so well, you being a woman and you being young can never be enough to stop you. Let's talk about one of the most pressing issues many people on social media are angry about, gender-based violence. Recently Botswana Police

Service released a report which showed that in December 2024 alone nearly a hundred women were raped and another ten were murdered. And according to the United Nations more than 67% of women in Botswana have experienced abuse, which it also says is more than double the global average. What's your take on this? And what steps is your ministry taking to address this crisis? It hurts to know that it could be me next. It could affect anyone.

And so it hurts knowing that so many lives are being taken. Our perspective when it comes to gender-based violence is that it needs to be holistic and comprehensive. Previously, it was considered as a phenomenon that ought to be handled by one particular sector. And that sector was known to be the gender department. But we are taking that multi-sectoral approach. We want curriculums that promote gender equity from a young age. We want to teach children what gender-based violence is

and how to prevent it and so many other things to ensure that we prevent that culture from the roots. It also includes the Ministry of Health where we're speaking about various issues. The one that I'm very passionate about is that of mental health and positive masculinity, to ensure that our patriarchal culture is not actively perpetuating violence. We are now working towards the Gender-Based Violence Act, which will now fill in all of these gaps that are missing in the legal fraternity or in the justice system. We believe that when we started from the top and we show ordinary Botswana that it requires everyone's effort,

it will then boil down to how I relate with you. It will boil down to how parents behave around their children, how they model good behavior and gender equity. And so I think that it is quite challenging but it is definitely a challenge that we as Botswana are taking on forcefully and fearlessly. Lasego Chombo. Now to more bad news for the astronauts who've been stranded in space for nine months after a trip that was meant to be eight days long went wrong. A NASA mission to try and bring back Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams has been cancelled due to technical problems. The pair have been stranded on the

International Space Station since June 2024. So how are they holding up? Philosophical, in good spirits seemingly. This was them last week in an interview. We came up prepared to stay long even though we planned to stay short. That's what we do in human spaceflight. That's what your nation's human spaceflight program is all about, planning for unknown unexpected contingencies. This might be my last flight. That's a little sad. I'm trying not to think about it too much you know. Being in space is just pretty spectacular. Dr. Alice Gorman is associate professor of space archaeology

at Flinders University in Adelaide and she told the BBC the duo would have been prepared for this outcome. Mental health is one of the big issues that NASA identifies with human spaceflight. People are cooped up in this tiny little space, they're working incredibly hard all the time, it's very difficult to sleep well on the International Space Station. So those effects cumulatively could add up to you feeling a little bit down. We would have seen no evidence of this from them of course, but they've got to have been a bit gutted when they couldn't get home as planned. We know that they probably, on the one hand, they want to

come home, on the other hand, they get to do more science up there, they get to experience more sunrises and sunsets which happen every 90 minutes on the International Space Station. For more details on the suspended launch and what happens now, here's our science editor Rebecca Morell. There has been a bit of a saga but it's not that unusual for rockets to be delays and it wasn't actually a problem with the rockets, it was a problem with the ground-based system that launches the rockets. So the launch was delayed, the NASA officials took the decision to do that and it now looks like it's probably going to be Friday, late in the evening UK time when it goes up. But as you say, Butch and Sunny, you know, they were supposed to be on there for just over a week, they've been there for more than nine months already but actually a few more days

isn't going to make much difference and once the rocket, while it's important, it's actually carrying the replacement crew for Butch and Sunny so when the astronauts, the four astronauts who are going to eventually go up, when they finally do arrive there'll be a brief handover and then Butch and Sunny can come home, they can return to Earth. And that'll probably be on Wednesday if it goes up on Friday. But so many ifs. It's a moveable feast. And while we're talking about space, can I quickly remind you we're hoping to record a Q&A podcast about space weather.

That's things like solar flares and their impact on Earth. We'll also look at our best to see eclipses and meteor showers. So if you have a question, please email globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. Now the boss of Roblox, one of the world's biggest gaming platforms, says if parents don't want their kids on the platform, then they shouldn't let them use it. Dave Buzuki co-created the animated world where you are the designer and can create your own games and share them

with others. It now has more than 80 million daily users and is hugely popular with children but has faced allegations of exposing them to harmful content. But Mr. Bozuki insists the company is vigilant in protecting its users. He's been talking to the BBC's technology editor Suey Clymer. If you've never seen Roblox, imagine a brightly coloured animated world. But the difference between this and a conventional video game is that you are the designer. Users can create their own games within this virtual world and share them with others. Roblox! Be anything, build anything. Dave Fazzucchi co-founded the company in 2004 with the late Eric Castle and it is now played

by millions around the world. But the platform hasn't come without controversy. Around 40% of its users are under the age of 13, some as young as 8. From concerns about harmful content in the game's user's design, to accusations the platform enables grooming, Roblox has sometimes made headlines for the wrong reasons. On, I would say, almost every platform in the world right now, there's the belief that if you're 13 and up, you can just do whatever you want. And you can connect with people, you can chat with them, you can text with them freely.

We're a bit different in that every piece of text on our platform goes through a filter. We analyse all of that communication, we watch for bullying, we watch for harassment. It's not quite the same communication and I would say behind the scenes the analysis of what's going on goes all the way to, if necessary, reaching out to law enforcement. Last year, Roblox announced new safety features, including stopping under-13s accounts from being able to send direct messages. But this doesn't mean older children can't steal message with adults.

We set up two accounts, one as a 15-year-old and one as a 27-year-old. We were able to get around Roblox's chat moderation systems. We won't describe exactly what we sent, but we were able to ask the teenage account for their social media details outside of Roblox. When I offered my phone to Dave Buzziuky to show him the evidence, he didn't take the phone and did not look at the screenshots we'd taken. What you're highlighting in this scenario is in a way people saying, look, Roblox is so safe, we have to go somewhere else to hang out.

We have to go to one of these other platforms where maybe we could share images or do that, and we have no tolerance for that. I think you'll see over time Roblox stepping up even in the 13 through 17 zone, which we agree is a very vulnerable time for people and being more and more the best in the world of those types of relationships. So we're very aware of this. We don't condone or support any type of image sharing on our own platform. You'll see us get more and more, I think, way beyond where the law is of this type of behaviour. What would you say, what's your message to parents who don't want their

children on Roblox? My message would be if you're not comfortable don't let your kids be on Roblox. That sounds a little counterintuitive but I would always trust parents to make their own decision. I would say at the same time there are literally tens and tens and tens and tens of millions of people having amazing experiences on our platform. And you can listen to the full interview with Dave Bozucki on Business Daily that's available wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Now to some interesting new research for any men who found they are putting on the pounds in a relationship. A study from Poland has shown that married men are three times more likely to become obese than those who are unmarried. Interestingly, this weight gain

wasn't mirrored in married women. But experts say both sexes need to keep an eye on their waistlines. Our reporter David Lewis is following the story. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, the vows couples make on their wedding day always with the best of intentions. But for husbands, pairing up could pile on the pounds. That's according to new research from Poland. Scientists there say tying the knot triples the risk of obesity for men, but not in women. But it's more than a tale of gorging grooms. Dr. Alicja Czika-Mekalajczyk from Warsaw's National Institute of Cardiology suggested

women cannot accept living with obesity and are more often stigmatised by society, so tend to work to keep the weight off. But it's not all brilliant for brides. Marriage markedly ups the risk of being overweight compared with unwed couples. 39% higher for women, in married men a whopping 62%. Scientists study the health of more than 2,400 people, average age 50. Experts analyse participants' weight and factors, including body shape, marital status and mental health. So do we let ourselves go in married

life? I asked these married men near the BBC building in central London what they thought. You don't try as hard when you're in a relationship and you've met the person that you want to be with, so you do tend to become a bit complacent so I can see that happening. Some men probably do get a little bit bigger than normal, you just feel more relaxed so your body shape doesn't sort of affect you anymore. Whereas when you're single and you're looking for a relationship you want to present yourself as the best you can. I don't find it true.

I mean it's obviously down to what you do and how you keep yourself active, it's down to you. Do you think that there's something true that once you get in a relationship you're like oh I can't be bothered to try anymore, I can just let myself go? No, not for me, not for me. Obesity rates have exploded internationally, doubling over the past 30 years. Interestingly, poor mental health or a lack of basic medical knowledge also had a significant impact on the risk of women becoming unhealthily overweight, but this wasn't found in men. The Polish team insists education was key. Health knowledge

and health promotion across the lifespan could reduce the worrying phenomenon of increasing levels of obesity, they concluded. Food for thought there from David Lewis. And that's it from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News podcast David Lewis. Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Jack Wilfan and the producer was Stephanie Prentice. The editor is Karen Marten. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye bye.