Global News Podcast - Trump to call Putin to stop Ukraine 'bloodbath'

Episode Date: May 18, 2025

Donald Trump has said he will call Vladimir Putin on Monday to stop the Ukraine 'bloodbath'. Also: Reuniting Chile's stolen children with their birth parents, and the theft of a statue of Melania Trump.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson and in the early hours of Sunday the 18th of May these are our main stories. President Trump says he'll be speaking to Vladimir Putin on Monday in a new push to end the fighting between Russia and Ukraine. Seas Fire talks between Israel and Hamas have entered a new phase as Israel steps up its offensive in Gaza. Storms and tornadoes in the US states of Kentucky and Missouri have left more than 20 people dead. Also on this podcast... People accepted it with quite mixed feelings

because it was aesthetically nothing too special. But it's been there and I don't see nobody being particularly bothered by it, nor that anyone would gain a particular value by taking it. The theft of a statue of US First Lady Melania Trump from her hometown in Slovenia, all that remains of the giant bronze figure, are the feat. The US President Donald Trump has announced

he'll have separate phone calls with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine next week in an attempt to end what he called the bloodbath in Ukraine and to push for a ceasefire. It follows talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul this week, the first of their kind in three years. I asked our correspondent Joe Inwood how these conversations may go. That is a very, very good question and one I can't answer right yet. We do know how it's going to take place or when it's going to take place and that is Monday at 10am US time and Donald Trump is going to speak to President Putin. We understand that his main

topic of conversation is, in his words, this is his all caps post on his own social media platform True to Social, stopping the bloodbath, in quotations, which is killing more than 5,000 people a week, he says, and he also says he's going to be talking about trade. We're then going to have a call, we understand, after that, or he will have a call with President Zelensky of Ukraine and other NATO members. And I think the idea is that Donald Trump is trying to put into action what he said last week, which is that the war in Ukraine is only really going to stop when him and Vladimir Putin get round a table.

Now, of course, this isn't a table, it's a phone line. But I think the White House will be hoping that this is a first step towards trying to do something to end the invasion. And it follows, of course, Joe, doesn't it, the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in the last few days, but no ceasefire was agreed. And of course, Mr Putin and Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky, none of them were there. So how important are these talks on Monday? I think these could be very important. If any talks are going to matter, it's going to be talks between President Trump and President Putin. I think that was made clear by President Putin refusing to show up on Thursday in Turkey, despite being asked to, challenged to by President Zelensky, who of course did go to the country, went to Turkey, but didn't go to the meeting

because it was a very low-level delegation in the end. I think it's probably a fair assessment that if any talks are going to do anything, it'll be between these two men, so they could be very consequential. Of course, they could also come to nothing, and I think it's going to be very interesting to see how these turn out, because of course, Donald Trump thinks of himself as the great deal-maker, as the man who can solve this. Monday, for the first time, he's going to be put to the test. And do you think the key to this is going to be Mr Trump's attitude to Vladimir Putin? Because there seem to be warm words and then he seemed to cool. Yeah, Donald Trump, it's fair to say, can be fairly difficult to predict.

He has spoken very warmly about Vladimir Putin in the past, but then has really become quite cross with him on social media. So it's going to be interesting to see which version of Donald Trump turns up. I think one of the kind of the most interesting changes dynamic has been his warming recently towards President Zelensky. Of course there was a very, very difficult relationship at a point and one of the points that's been made by many people is that President Putin has been essentially stringing along playing Donald Trump and a few weeks ago Donald Trump seemed to suggest that as well, that it could be that he was being played.

And so, as I say, which attitude he takes towards President Putin is going to be very, very important. One final thing I think is worth always reminding people is that the Russians have always held a very maximalist position on all things to do in the war in Ukraine. They've maintained their position, it seems, that they not only want to keep all the territory they've captured by their illegal invasion, but also take more territory which they've failed to capture as part of any deal. And they've also set very strict limits on what

they think the Ukrainian armed forces should be, who they should have alliances with. So we're going to need to see movement from the Russians if there's going to be any kind of deal. Jo Inwood. A senior Hamas official has told the BBC that talks about a possible ceasefire in Gaza have resumed through Qatari mediators in Doha. The dialogue comes as Israel announced the start of its latest operation in Gaza, which it says will see troops seize strategic areas and free the remaining hostages. The UN says the new offensive is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.

Maria Davies reports from Jerusalem. There's considerable pressure on Israel and Hamas to agree to the American plan that would reportedly see some remaining hostages released from Gaza in exchange for a period of calm. But both sides have previously indicated there are considerable obstacles. The development comes after a week of intensifying air strikes in Gaza in which more than 250 people have been killed and the Israeli military has declared the start of Operation Gideon's Chariots. It would occupy and control swathes of Gaza,

force the population southwards and, in the Prime Minister's words, destroy Hamas. The plan has been condemned by aid agencies and by many Israelis who fear it could damage the chances of freeing remaining hostages. One senior UN official said the attacks, the continued denial of aid and the forced movement of people could amount to ethnic cleansing. After 10 weeks of a total Israeli blockade, Gaza's humanitarian crisis is deepening. Dr Victoria Rose, a British surgeon working at a hospital in southern Gaza, has told the BBC that child patients were basically skeletal. The children are really, really thin. We've got a lot of youngsters whose teeth have fallen out. One of my colleagues is two years old and her hair is thinning.

They really are in the worst condition I've ever seen them and that makes it so difficult for us. Israel has repeatedly denied there's a shortage of food in Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing supplies for its own use. But with increasing concerns that there is a critical risk of famine in Gaza exacerbated by the worsening conflict, the United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has again called for a permanent and immediate ceasefire. Nothing justifies the atrocities of October 7 terror attacks by Hamas, but nothing justifies the collective

punishment of the Palestinian people. We need a permanent ceasefire now. The unconditional release of all hostages now. And the free flow of humanitarian aid now. If the ceasefire talks don't succeed, thousands of Israeli troops, regular soldiers and reservists could go into Gaza as Operation Gideon's chariots ramps up. Thousands of residents in many parts of northern and central Gaza have also been told to leave their homes or places of shelter, an impractical and almost impossible task, say aid workers,

who say that many people have been repeatedly made homeless during the war. Wirri Davis, our Middle East regional editor, Sebastian Usher, told me more about the talks. The Hamas media spokesman said that these talks are resumed without preconditions and with all issues on the table. I mean, it's difficult to really know what that means without preconditions because I think there's no way that Hamas and Israel aren't coming with their conditions. I mean, that's why efforts to get, well, why it took so long to get that six-week ceasefire going in the first place and why it's been so far impossible to resume a ceasefire after that collapsed. And I mean, it's essentially founded on the gulf between Hamas wanting a guaranteed end to the war in Gaza and a guaranteed full withdrawal of Israeli troops. And the Israeli government's demand essentially that it should be able to continue to operate

in Gaza when it feels necessary. And I think the events that we've seen, particularly in the past few days, with this new offensive that Israel says it's only in its opening stages, but we've seen, I think, more than 300 people killed in the past three days in Gaza. We've seen an intensity that there really hasn't been for some time in the attack. And there's a sense from what we're seeing on the ground and what we're hearing from various plans that are coming out, although not necessarily official policy yet from the Israelis, that there is a move to push the Palestinians in Gaza into smaller and smaller spaces and for the Israeli army, the Israeli forces, to take over, not just temporarily but permanently, spaces. So you know in that atmosphere it does still seem very very difficult for any ceasefire agreement, any further release

of more than one hostage at a time as we saw earlier this week to actually occur. And this is really offensive is taking place despite what anyone else says. I mean the UN is saying isn't it that the latest offence of his tantamount to ethnic cleansing? Well yes absolutely and I mean Germany, Italy, France, the UN as you were just hearing there have all made very strong rhetorical demands on Israel on the Israeli government to stop this offensive and also to raise the blockade that's been in place now for more than 10 weeks. Again, what we're hearing from Gaza,

from doctors, from aid agencies there is that the situation is becoming catastrophic, that there is a famine looming. So, you know, there is, as ever, a huge urgency about a ceasefire being agreed, but as ever the stumbling blocks between the two sides still seem unbridgeable and we really don't know if this latest round is going to be able to do anything about that. Sebastien Usher. A court in Los Angeles has reduced the sentences of two brothers, Eric and Llaman Endez, more than three decades after they were jailed for life for murdering their parents at the family mansion in Beverly Hills. The siblings can now apply for parole, which could

eventually lead to their release from jail. The brothers' case became world famous after Netflix made a series about it, gaining them a fan base, which experts say may affect the decision about their future. The BBC's Reagan Morris reports from Los Angeles. The Menendez case is one of the most infamous criminal trials in America. Thanks to TikTokers and Netflix, the Menendez brothers have a new generation of supporters and many of them were not yet born in 1989 when the brothers murdered their parents with shotguns in their Beverly Hills mansion after what they describe as years of sexual and psychological abuse inside the home. At the time, they were portrayed as spoiled monsters motivated by greed.

But a true crime drama series recast them as victims of childhood sexual abuse driven by fear and shame. It really just goes to show the power of a Netflix series and politics. Former federal prosecutor Nima Roumani says if you'd asked him a year ago if the Menendez brothers might ever be released, he would have said never. And yet there's still going to be a lot of politics. Do you think they're going to be released from prison? I do believe that they will be released from prison.

Ultimately it's up to California governor Gavin Newsom. He can accept or he can reject the parole board's recommendation. He knows that releasing the Menendez brothers is wildly popular, I would say, because of the sexual abuse that they suffered. Like many others, the governor has been discussing this case on his own podcast. Here he is describing what the California Parole Board has to consider when the brothers have their first hearing next month. The question for the board is a rather simple one. Do Eric and Lyle Menendez, do they pose

a current, what we call unreasonable risk to public safety? But if the Parole Board does recommend the brothers be released, it may not be a simple decision for Governor Newsom, who many believe has his eye on national politics. Governor Newsom has a history of rejecting high-profile parole recommendations. Several times he refused to release a member of the Manson family. And three years ago he rejected parole for Sarhan Sarhan, the man who assassinated Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. I am so happy that I wore waterproof mascara, is how I'm feeling, because I have been crying all day long.

And although social media is full of support for the brothers, there are plenty of others who think they deserve to stay in prison. But remarkably, every living member of the Menendez family, including the siblings of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, say they've forgiven Eric and Lyle and want to see them released. Their cousin, Anna Maria Beralt, Jose's niece, was overjoyed outside court after the brothers were resentenced, making them eligible for parole.

But ultimately we are here today with this result because of Eric and Lyle, because they chose to live their lives with clarity and a purpose of service that the judge was impressed by. And so a huge thanks to them too for being the kind of people that we could bring home. Getting released on parole typically takes months, so the Menendez brothers won't be out of prison in June, even if the parole board agrees then that they do not pose a threat to society. If they are granted parole, Governor Newsom will then have to decide whether to accept

or reject the decision, weighing the shifting public opinion about the Menendez brothers with his own political ambitions. Reagan Morris Still to come. I had this wave of emotion. Like it was hope, hope to finally learn the truth. My heart was pounding. My cousin told me that a young man was looking for me.

I said, it can't be. All my life, I remembered him. Reuniting Chile's stolen children with their birth parents. As we record this podcast, more than 20 people have died in the US and hundreds of thousands have no electricity after severe storms hit the Midwest on Friday. With search and rescue operations underway, officials have said at least 14 people were killed in Kentucky and

seven died in Missouri after both were hit by tornadoes. Stephanie Prentice has this report. As emergency services make their way through the aftermath of the tornado looking for survivors, drone footage of parts of Kentucky shows entire communities reduced to piles of wood, upturned cars and trees torn down to stumps. The National Weather Service had issued warnings for an active and complex weather pattern, but this family in Laurel County, one of the area's hardest hit, said the force of the tornado took them by surprise as they all sheltered in their hallway. We went to the hallway and then my husband and my son come running in and you pretty much jump on

top of her because you could feel the air and everything's soaking and it sounded like train and then we saw stuff falling and the next thing we knew he said most of the house was gone. We searched for car keys this was the only car we could find keys to and it's almost a story but it's starving and so now we're just trying to get out to get across town to my mom's basement." Many others are also sheltering underground, with warnings that up to 150 million Americans could be affected by severe weather in the next week, including storms generating hailstones the size of a tennis ball.

In Missouri, more severe weather is forecast across Sunday night and Monday, and buildings there are being fortified after 5,000 were flattened in St. Louis. Officials have imposed a curfew on residents, and its mayor, Kara Spencer, described a difficult task ahead. We are obviously still grieving. The Governor-Eye just got done surveying some of the hardest hit areas here. The devastation is truly tremendous, but we are really focusing on lives, saving lives and making sure that we are protecting lives moving forward.

While the Midwest in the US is used to extreme weather, the severity of the storms has reignited debate around climate change. Leading scientists looking into the historic four-day storm that killed 24 people across the central Mississippi Valley in early April concluded it had been made more severe by the burning of fossil fuels. The rate of storms is also rising. The United States had the second highest number of tornadoes

last year with nearly 1,800 recorded. Stephanie Prentice. In the 1970s and 80s in Chile, during the rule of General Augusto Pinochet, thousands of babies were illegally kidnapped, trafficked and adopted. A network of hospital staff, social workers, judges, priests, nuns and adoption brokers were involved and the infants were often taken overseas. A small organization based in Santiago, Nos Buscamos, has reunited hundreds of these stolen children with their birth mothers, often with the help of DNA testing kits. Jane Chambers has been speaking to one man who grew up in the

US and was reunited with his birth mother 42 years after she'd been told he died. I got these results in and it said there's a cousin of your parents in the database. I just started drafting this email to this woman who's a match. I was like, hi, my name is Jimmy Tidon and I'm trying to find Maria Angelica Gonzalez. She had a baby boy on October 31st, 1980, and she may or may not know that I'm alive. She wrote back, we have a Maria Angelica Gonzalez. I clung to the tense of that word because she didn't say had, she said have present. I had this wave of emotion when I heard the word have, like it was hope, hope to finally

learn the truth. I was finishing my lunch when my cousin called me and said, Did you have a son on October 31st, 1980? This is Maria Angelica Gonzalez, Jimmy's birth mother. My heart was pounding. I said, Why are you asking me that? My cousin told me that a young man was looking for me. I said, No, it can't be. All my life I remembered him. I cried for him so much.

Maria Angelica wanted to talk to Jimmy, but she needed time to be ready. So Jimmy decided to start small. I sent her a photo of me and a text saying, Hola mama, soy su bebé. I couldn't believe it. I looked at his face and found him identical to my eldest son. My heart leapt with rage, then happiness, then suddenly rage, then happiness. He sent me a video of my granddaughter saying, hello grandmother, I was overjoyed. Those first text messages were followed by phone calls and soon Jimmy and his family set off for Chile so he could

meet his birth mother and hug her for the first time in 42 years. My oldest daughter asked me, what are you going to say? And jokingly I was like probably, hola mama. And that's exactly what I could get out in that moment. So those were the first things I said to her was hola mama, te amo mucho. It was good. It was painful. It was a mixed feeling. I was angry, a lot of anger, outrage, joy to know my son was good. It was painful. It was a mixed feeling. I was angry, a lot of anger, outrage, joy to know my son was alive, but indignation that so many years have passed. She's so tiny. She's such a tiny woman. She's so sweet. And I just couldn't imagine somebody

doing something so horrific to someone so kind and so small. It was heartbreaking. Since that reunion in 2023, Jimmy and his mama, as he calls her, have met several times and formed a strong bond. He's even added her last name, González, onto his own. My relationship with my son is very beautiful. He's a wonderful son. We are always communicating. All week we have video calls. And now I have a third granddaughter who I went to hold in my arms in the United States when she was born. We brought Mama actually to America when my youngest daughter was born because she's missed every major family moment

So we felt really strongly about bringing her to America so that she could be there for that And it has been wonderful Wonderful to have this family that God has given me and that this puzzle, the missing piece was completed. And you can hear more about the work to reunite Chile's stolen children with their birth parents on People Fixing the World wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Police in Slovenia are investigating the disappearance of a statue of the US First Lady Melania Trump. It had stood on the outskirts of her home town since 2020. But all that remains of the giant bronze figure are the feet. Our Balkans correspondent Guy

Delany reports from the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana. So, Jnica is a small town on the river Sava. It's known for three things. Its underwear factory, its logging industry and Melania Trump. Pop into a cafe or restaurant and the odds are you'll find a reference to the First Lady. The Melania cake at Yulia Patisserie has even achieved a level of international renown and so has the larger than life Melania statue that stands by the river, or at least it did until somebody chopped it off at the ankles earlier this week. The statue was something of a lumpen figure, and locals like Smilyan Slukan aren't sure what to make of its sudden disappearance.

People accepted it with quite mixed feelings because it was aesthetically nothing too special, but it's been there and I don't see nobody being particularly bothered by it, nor that anyone would gain a particular value by taking it. American artist Brad Downey commissioned the statue as a comment on upbringing and immigration. He suspects its demise has something to do with Trump getting re-elected. The police investigation continues.

Guy Delaunay. And after much frenzied anticipation, the Eurovision Song Contest ended in the early hours of Sunday morning in the Swiss city of Basel, with a win for the Austrian entry. Artist JJ won with a total of 436 points from the international juries and the public, with his powerful operatic number, Wasted Love. It's a tempestuous ballad that draws on singer Johannes Pich's background as a singer at the Vienna State Opera. Israel came second. Earlier there were clashes between Swiss police and pro-Palestinian protesters outside the venue during the performances. And the Israeli contestant Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Hamas attacks on the Nova Festival, was apparently left shaken after two people tried to storm the stage during her performance. And finally, one of the favourites to win this year was the Swedish entry Kaj. And as some of you listeners have pointed out to us, a few days ago we called the group Swedish

but they're actually Swedish speakers from Finland. Thank you for getting in touch so we could correct that and keep feedback coming by emailinging globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk And that's it from us for now but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod.

This edition was mixed by Jack Wilfen, the producers were Alison Davis and Charles Sanctuary. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye bye.