one particular example, you appointed to deputy head of your presidential office, a man closely associated with the violence, the government violence against democratic russia and the eu have demonstrators in the maidan in 2014. led calls for armenia you know i'm talking and azerbaijan to respect a about oleg tatarov, why did ceasefire in nagorno—kara bakh, you appoint him to one which should have taken of the senior posts in your office? effect on saturday. the russian foreign minister, so the families, the families sergey lavrov, said the truce of those who were killed must be strictly enforced. by those forces in the maidan, they describe what you did the eu says it's extremely by appointing this man, concerned by reports they described it as a return of civilians being targeted. to the old politics the us infectious diseases of yanukovych. they said it was some sort expert, anthony fauci, continuation of a pro russian policy from you. has complained that donald trump's election campaign team has used his comments out of context and without his permission. in a republican tv advert, dr fauci appears to praise mr trump's response to the coronavirus outbreak. two prominent opponents of the belarusian president, alexander lu kashenko, have been released from jail on the same day that hundreds of activists were detained after mass protests. security forces used water cannon and stun grenades against demonstrators.

now on bbc news: hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. when ukrainians voted to make a comedian their president, the rest of the world wondered what the punch line might be. volodymyr zelensky — who played the role of president on tv before he got thejob in real life — has now had a year and a half the point is, though, to make good on his promises you are going to bejudged, of rooting out corruption and you came to power with 73% of the vote in the presidential and ending the conflict runoff against mr poroshenko. in the east of his country. your opinion poll rating's how's he doing? now are around 35%. well, he's on a state visit you have lost an awful lot of support in a year to london, so it's time and a half. to find out. laughing. you came to politics saying, "i've had a life "of making people laugh, now i want to stop them crying "about the politics in ukraine." they're still crying. president volodymyr zelensky, welcome to hardtalk. thank you so much.

you came to power as the anti—politician. you promised ukraine's people that you would deliver fundamental change. have you kept that promise?

president volodymyr zelensky, we have to end there. but i thank you very much indeed for being on hardtalk. all right... well, we are going to talk about that. you promised — promised your people that you would end the conflict in the east of the ukraine, and that you would do it while restoring the territorial integrity of your country. on that basis, after a year hello there. and a half, you failed. the changing autumn colours looked splendid in the sunshine on sunday. beginning to look a little more muted as we go through monday. lots more cloud around, outbreaks of rain spreading its way eastwards across most parts during the day as well. the cloud and rain, though, from these weather fronts as they push in through the night means the temperature shouldn't drop too much across western areas. in the east though, a little ridge of high pressure, some clearer skies for a time.

parts of east anglia and the southeast — could even be a touch of frost in the countryside, with temperatures and lower single figures, away from the city centres. but here, some early brightness before cloud thickens, rain arrives later into the afternoon. a wet start in northern ireland, through much of scotland, and around any western fringes of england and wales. the rain heavy at times. clearing through northern ireland quite quickly to a blustery wind, sunshine and a few showers later. same too into scotland as we go into the afternoon and maybe some late sunshine into northwest england and north and west wales. winds strongest across the west during the second half of the day. light winds further east, but even though those winds coming in from a south—westerly direction, they won't bring much warmth with them. after a cold start, the cloud and the rain arriving means temperatures not going to lift much — parts of yorkshire through towards the midlands and lincolnshire could be only around nine degrees, same too in aberdeenshire. through monday night, the rain could linger across east anglia and the south—east, and it returns across parts of northern scotland with some heavy showers through northern ireland, wales and the south—west. well, mr president, that's not strictly true, is it? with the clearest conditions there isn't peace, there isn't in south—west and north—west

england, here, a touch of frost into tuesday morning, but i think all of us see a bit quiet, the osce monitors of cloud around and some rain around at times on tuesday. our weather front, well, pressure deepens in around it. who look at the situation so that low pressure spinning around, buckling our weather on the ground in the east have front back southwards across scotland during the morning — talked about 1,400 ceasefire brighter conditions in the afternoon. violations since july. we will see some brighter weather on tuesday across you claim that the prisoner the heart of england and wales, swaps, the ceasefire, but outbreaks of rain have changed the situation. the truth is, they haven't. across many northern—eastern areas, heavy showers towards the south—west as well. the breeze will be picking up, but it won't feel quite as chilly, i suspect, for the south—west midlands down towards the south—west. then, as we go through into wednesday, still some cloud and showers around, particularly for england and wales. a stiff north—easterly breeze for all, best of the sunshine in the west, driest of all parts of scotland and northern ireland. but a cool feeling day, once again, and that cool feel will continue through the rest of the week, with temperatures down on where they should be for the time of year. the winds, though, will gradually ease and the skies will brighten a little bit more, with more of you spending thursday and friday dry. that's how it's looking. see you soon.

well... but, but... but, mr president, i come back to this point, you promised the ukrainian people that you would be different, you would tell them the truth, you would be open and transparent with them. is it not the truth that with vladimir putin in power in moscow, there is no possibility of a peace in which you get back all of the territories which you no longer control right now. mr putin has made it clear that, for example, there can only be peace in the east of ukraine if you give the east ukraine breakaway territories special autonomous status, you hold elections in those territories, allow them to vote — and only after that can you put ukrainian troops back on your external border. are you prepared

to accept that?

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm sally bundock. cementing a conservative majority — the us senate charges ahead with moves to confirm amy coney barratt‘s nomination to the supreme court. the top us government scientist, anthony fauci, says an edited clip of him used in a trump campaign tv ad is misleading. well, you talk about minsk, russia and the eu lead calls for armenia and azerbaijan the point about the minsk to respect a truce after another deadly attack process is that vladimir putin says it's quite clear that you only get control in the disputed region of your external eastern border of nagorno—karabakh. back at the end of the process the english city of liverpool

— at the end of the process. could be in line for tougher so my question to you is curbs as the uk government a really simple one. give me a yes or no answer. prepares to set out do you believe you can make a peace deal with vladimir putin that gives you back all of your territories, including crimea ? so, if you fail in your term as president, will you walk away and say to your people, "you know what, ifailed, i no longer can represent you."

the war is obviously part of a bigger geopolitical context. the russians still, clearly, have a very strong concept of their sphere of influence. it affects how they operate in east ukraine, it affects their position on belarus and their attitude to president lukashenko. it affects many, many things in your region. do you believe — in the context of that — that ukraine can and will push for nato membership?

but to quote one senior european politician, the idea that ukraine can be a full member of nato and indeed a full member of the european union — looking at the long—term — that is nothing more than a fantasy. that's the truth, isn't it?

you are here in london, and you've just done a deal with the uk government to buy a significant number of new naval vessels. i think it's an investment of more than...well over a billion us dollars. you need help. the country you need help from most is the united states. right now, they're in the middle of a presidential election. are you hoping that donald trump — who has been very negative in many ways about ukraine — are you hoping that he loses and joe biden wins?

i understand that that's a significant deal for you, but i come back to the point, what really matters is your relationship with the united states. we know that donald trump tried to bully you — bully you very significantly — over his desire to see your government investigate the son of his political rival, joe biden. that became very embarrassing for you. because of that, and a host of other comments trump has made about ukraine, do you really want to see joe biden win this election?

ifi... if i may say so, mr president, you are being very diplomatic. but if donald trump leaves the white house in november, if he loses the election, will you then tell the complete truth about what happened when he... laughing ..sought to get you to investigate hunter biden? let's talk about internal affairs a little bit. as i said earlier, you've had a year and a half in power. they say in politics it is wise to under promise and over deliver. it seems to me that when it comes to your crusade against corruption, you've done the exact opposite. you've over promised and you've under delivered. would you accept that?

well, you don't believe in the people around you, it seems, because you appointed a cabinet, which was seen by many in ukraine as full of strong, honest, straight people. but within months, you replaced some of the most important figures, including the prime minister, including the prosecutor general. the prosecutor general whom you fired then said you had lost your nerve in the fight against corruption. why did you lose your nerve?

half a year, mr president. i mean, the guy had just begun hisjob and then you fired him. but you've said to me, you need time, you need time to deliver on your promise to bring peace to ukraine. you need time on your anti—corruption crusade, and yet, the guy you appointed to run that crusade, you only gave him six months. is it because he wanted to take on some of the so—called "big fish"? and you don't want the oligarchs to be prosecuted.

isn't it interesting that the one very prominent public figure — so—called oligarch — that you have, your government has pursued with every endeavour is your political rival, petro poroshenko, the former president. i believe there are 15 cases now outstanding against him, and yet, many other oligarchs who have allegations surrounding their financial activities remain completely untouched. it's only poroshenko that you seem determined to go after. why?

interesting. josep borrell, the eu foreign policy chief said your government changes, the replacement of some key reformers, "has sent worrying signals over your readiness "to resist vested interests."

as you know mr president, symbols matter a lot in politics, and ukrainians look at you and your talk about reform, and then they see some of the things they do, and they really worry that you are not actually serious about modernising, reforming, making more 00:21:19,343 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 democratic your country.