tourism of europe. >> europe has failed to bring peace and zelenskyy probably wants to. maybe he wants to keep the gravy train going. i don't know what's the problem, but he hasn't been able. he's very upset. >> he comes as military chiefs are drawing up plans for a 30,000 strong peacekeeping force for a combined british and european operation. >> so as that pressure mounts today, we're asking, should we look at introducing conscription? >> growth is the number one mission of this government. >> inflation on the up. growth on the go. slow. the chancellor is going to host another roundtable today with business leaders as she tries to revive the economy. >> a veterans charity that needs desperately saving. our reporter sophie reaper hears about the life saving work at the spearhead foundation.

>> jesus christ superstar, the most famous story ever told. but as wicked star cynthia erivo is set to tackle the part, some are asking whether or not it's blasphemous for a woman to play jesus. >> well, we're going to be speaking exclusively with that musical's creator, sir tim rice, to get his view. >> the second sinkhole in surrey. a major incident declared as a residential road is swallowed up. >> we'll be meeting the man who's just completed the world marathon challenge. seven races on seven continents in just seven days. >> and in sport this morning, will a shadow of the former selves. manchester city limp out of the champions league? darwin nunez misses a sitter of his liverpool draw at aston villa two two. and tiger woods says it's the most embarrassing moment of his career. it's not that bad but we'll find out what it is. >> it's already much milder this

morning compared with recent mornings. big changes are arriving across the uk as far as weather is concerned. i'll have the full details in the forecast coming up soon. >> it'sjust coming up soon. >> it's just gone. 6:00 i'm stephen dixon. >> i'm ellie costello and this is gb news breakfast. well, it's lovely to have you back. >> thank you. what a delight to be back. >> oh, did you have a lovely time in scotland? >> yeah. really nice. >> yeah. really nice. >> was it very relaxed? >> was it very relaxed? >> it was very relaxed. it was middle of nowhere. i was chilled out. >> the middle of nowhere. >> the middle of nowhere. >> it was middle of nowhere. it was chilled out, very relaxed. didn't pay attention to anything that was going on in the world. >> well that's good. >> well that's good. >> it's really switched on. >> it's really switched on. >> very, very good. and did you have, like, half a river to yourself or something? >> yeah. on the tweed banks of the tweed. >> did you fish? >> did you fish? >> i did not fish. no. there's a good salmon area. i'm not fisher. >> yeah, not a fisher.

>> yeah, not a fisher. >> it was freezing. i mean, it was freezing cold. >> yeah, yeah. you know. >> yeah, yeah. you know. >> but it was just lovely. >> but it was just lovely. >> did you swim in the river? >> did you swim in the river? >> no, not this time. >> no, not this time. >> no. >> no. >> no, i've done it before. >> no, i've done it before. >> a bit. >> a bit. >> cold, but it's. no, it's lovely. and the good people of scotland. thank you. very nice. it's just so friendly. >> yeah, yeah. >> yeah, yeah. >> yeah. it's just really, really lovely to get away. yeah. and who needs to go to the sun? >> i know. >> i know. >> and go. >> and go. >> and go. >> and i mean, we've missed you, but i'm getting the impression we have missed you. but we're getting the impression that you could do with another week what it is. >> yeah, yeah, it. >> yeah, yeah, it. >> wasn't quite a lovely time. >> wasn't quite a lovely time. >> wasn't quite ready to come back, to be fair. >> who is, though? from holiday? >> who is, though? from holiday? >> this is always the way, isn't it? it's like the. i definitely had the sunday night jitters last night. >> oh. did you. >> oh. did you. >> oh. did you. >> oh i'm. >> oh i'm. >> not very i'm not ready. >> not very i'm not ready. >> but you missed us though, right? >> yeah, obviously. >> yeah, obviously. >> are you sure? >> are you sure? >> very, very much. >> very, very much. >> okay. >> okay. >> well, she was on the. she was sending me messages every day. >> oh. were you. why didn't you leave him alone? he's on holiday. >> no, i was actually very, very good because i was going to talk to you about work, and i said, no, i can't because you're on

holiday. so i just refrained and instead just said, how are you? >> how's the trossachs holiday? >> how's the trossachs holiday? >> how's the dog? >> how's the dog? >> yes. >> yes. >> yeah. and i kept it to that kind of. >> you did? yes, absolutely. >> you did? yes, absolutely. >> did the dog have a nice time? >> did the dog have a nice time? >> dog had a great time. lovely. yeah. off lead all the time. >> it was nice. >> great, great. >> great, great. >> i need to do scotland properly. you know, i've done edinburgh once for two nights, but i've never done the trossachs. >> you need to get out. you need to get out into the. yeah. >> i'd like to do. it's on my bucket list, you know. >> oh, well, this was, this was lowlands rather than highland, but. >> it was lowlands. >> it was lowlands. >> it was lowlands. >> i think it was. it's just fantastic out there in nature. good, good bit of british countryside. >> good. >> good. >> very good. >> very good. >> yeah. nice. yeah. >> yeah. nice. yeah. >> it's good for the soul. >> it's good for the soul. >> it's good for the soul. >> it is good for the soul. anyway. >> welcome back. >> welcome back. >> yes. >> yes. >> thank you. yes. back to reality. because. and dealing with what's going on around the world. because sir keir starmer has shared his support for ukraine's president zelenskyy, calling him well as he is a democratically elected leader, adding it's perfectly reasonable for him to suspend elections at the moment. >> well, it's marks a stark contrast from president trump, who branded volodymyr zelenskyy a dictator after ukrainian president accused him of living in a russian made disinformation

space. >> well, donald trump also had this to say overnight at a forum in miami. >> president zelenskyy talked the united states of america into spending $350 billion to go into spending $350 billion to go into a war that basically couldn't be won. europe has failed to bring peace, and zelenskyy probably wants to. maybe he wants to keep the gravy train going. i don't know what's the problem, but he hasn't been able. he's very upset. he's been working for three years. he's never been even meetings or phone calls to stop this war. it's a horrible thing. he refuses to have elections. his low in the real ukrainian polls. i mean, how can you be high with. every city is being demolished? it's hard to be. somebody said, oh, no, his polls are good. give me a break. >> well, meanwhile, here at home, european military chiefs are considering a reassurance force for kyiv, which would include 30,000 british and european troops positioned away from the front line in the east of ukraine. >> let's get the thoughts of the chairman of republicans

overseas, greg swenson, who said, good to see you, greg. in all honesty, what do you make of this? because it does he have a point, i don't know. i mean, it's quite dangerous talk because it does seem to side him very much with putin. it has to be said. >> yeah. i think the president likes hyperbole. he likes to throw a grenade in the room. nothing has worked in the last three years. so he's trying something different now. you know, he has a tendency to exaggerate. i don't know that 350 billion is the right number, but. but i think that the president wants to end this war. you know, that's that's his end goal you know, that's that's his end goal. and how he gets there is often provocative. it's often unusualin often provocative. it's often unusual in terms of diplomacy. but look what hasn't worked, you know. >> do you do you end the conflict at any cost? >> no. >> no. >> because it would be the cost is to the people of ukraine. >> yeah. no, this is not a surrender. this is not a white flag. i mean, he's sitting down, you know, they're sitting down in riyadh with the russians

because the real the two important parties here are the us and russia right now, because the us is, you know, to a certain degree, funding ukraine. and so but again, what's happenedin and so but again, what's happened in the last three years, even the last 11 years, hasn't worked. angela merkel encouraged ukraine to accept the two minsk agreements. and they didn't work, obviously, because the russians, you know, putin, you know, he can't be trusted. it's, you know, maybe at best trust but verify. but, you know, i don't think anything that's happenedin i don't think anything that's happened in the last three years has worked. so president trump just tries to throw a grenade in the room and make something happen. >> does president trump know that putin can't be trusted? >> yes he does. yes. i mean. >> he doesn't appear to have harsh words to say about president putin. >> yeah, but he will at some point. he has harsh words to say about everybody ultimately. but that's what he's trying to you know, he's looking at the end game. how he gets there is going to be different than what we see

normally in diplomatic circles. but that's president trump. he sees, you know, he sees an outcome. he wants the outcome and he'll do what he, you know, whatever it takes to get there. >> but what makes this what makes this difficult to swallow for a lot of people is