it’s >> hello! good afternoon. it�*s 1:00 on sunday, the 2nd of march and this is the weekend on gb news. thank you so much for your company today. really appreciate it as always. now your main stories this hour. it's an incredibly busy day as world leaders gather in london to discuss security on the european continent. it comes as keir starmer says a three part peace plan for ukraine needs the backing of the united states. just what can we expect from the crucial summit this afternoon? and it is, of course, following those shocking scenes from the oval office on friday. and reports now suggest that donald trump is demanding an apology from zelenskyy over that very public spat as the ukrainian president gears up to meet king charles later today. i�*m asking charles later today. i'm asking how much of a bridge will the united kingdom be between those two nations? and elsewhere, i'll be joined two nations? and elsewhere, i'll bejoined by two nations? and elsewhere, i'll be joined by a farmer as protesters planning to join the pancake day rally on tuesday are

warned they could be arrested if they bring their tractors to central london. organisers say the event will be bigger and better than the previous two demonstrations. though. i'm dawn neesom and this is the weekend. 50 neesom and this is the weekend. so thank you very much for joining me this very busy sunday lunchtime. really appreciate you coming. we've got an absolute packed show for you. so you don't want to move a muscle. apart from maybe putting a cup of tea on in the breaks. it really is packed. we are bringing you loads of live breaking news so you don't want breaking news so you don�*t want to move. okay. and because this story is actually all about you and what you think about what we're talking about today and anything you have to chat about to be honest with you. and it�*s to be honest with you. and it's really easy to get involved at gbnews.com/win and join in what we're talking about today.

fantastic panel for you. they�*re already keeping me on my toes. political commentator jonathan political commentatorjonathan lewis and former special adviser charlie rowley. thank you very much for joining me. more on much forjoining me. more on them later. and they've got some really good stuff for you too. but before we get stuck in to today's stories, let's get the news headlines with the lovely sam francis. >> dawn, thank you very much. good afternoon to you. it's just after 1:00. the top story this lunchtime. well, we start with a catch up on what�*s been going on today as we gear up for this afternoon's summit of european leaders in london. let�*s take you live now to central london, where more world leaders are expected to arrive shortly for that summit on ukraine. the prime minister is already inside after welcoming french president emmanuel macron, and they are joining european allies to show solidarity with ukraine, as tensions between kyiv and washington are still dominating. talks will also focus on

strengthening european defence and rebuilding transatlantic ties. well ahead of that summit, italy's prime minister has italy�*s prime minister has warned the west must avoid division, giorgia meloni said the uk and italy could and should play a key role in building bridges, as she proposed talks between the us and european leaders. she was welcomed to downing street by sir keir starmer earlier, who said both countries share a similar mindset on supporting ukraine. our political editor christopher hope was outside downing street for us when meloni arrived. >> moving quite quickly here. giorgia meloni is behind me in downing street. the action moves this afternoon to lancaster house. 16 world leaders, leaders mainly from europe, gathering there, with also those from turkey, canada and the president of european commission and the european council. the biggest peace deal of this peace conference of this note since the second world war. >> today's summit follows extraordinary scenes at the white house on friday, where

donald trump clashed with volodymyr zelenskyy, telling him to strike a deal with russia. or he said the u5 to strike a deal with russia. or he said the us are out. dame priti patel says the uk's relationship with the us remains firm, but she has condemned those scenes in washington. >> those scenes on friday in the white house were awful. they were absolutely awful. and, you know, i just i were absolutely awful. and, you know, ijust i genuinely say this when we look at president zelenskyy, we feel a great deal of respect towards him because of respect towards him because of the way in which he's of the way in which he�*s conducted himself over the three years of this appalling illegal conflict and the barbarism of russia, which he and his people, his country, has stood up to. and that's why we will always stand shoulder to shoulder with ukraine and the people of ukraine. >> turning to other than other news this lunchtime and train fares are set to go up and so is the pressure on commuters already battling record cancellations. from today, the cost of many journeys in england and wales is rising by around 4.6%, adding hundreds to the

price of some season tickets. campaigners are warning it will just pile further misery on hard pressed households, with rail cards also becoming more expensive for the first time in over a decade. the transport secretary says she knows passengers are frustrated, but insists the government's cap has kept the increase below average earnings growth. next, the latest from the middle east, where israel has this morning blocked humanitarian aid into gaza after the first phase of a ceasefire with hamas expired. it follows the group rejecting a us proposal to extend the truce by six weeks in return for the release of hostages. israel's prime minister says there will now be further consequences unless the group changes its position. hamas, though, has accused israel of blackmail and called on mediators to intervene. talks on a second phase of that ceasefire deal, including more hostage releases, have barely begun. pope francis remains in a stable condition after suffering a breathing

crisis over the weekend as he battles double pneumonia in hospital, now for the 17th day. the vatican says the 88 year old had a peaceful night, though, and is receiving treatment to help him breathe. he was admitted to hospital on the 14th of february with a severe respiratory infection that led to further complications. we are expecting a full medical update later this afternoon and last night's brit awards went well. night�*s brit awards went well. brat, apparently as charli xcx dominated, scooping five trophies. here's the moment she trophies. here�*s the moment she claimed one of the top honours. >> charli xcx. >> charli xcx. >> i�*m living proof that maybe >> i'm living proof that maybe it takes a long time, but you don't need to compromise if you believe in yourself enough. and honestly, if you make good enough music, people will resonate with you and be right there with you. >> she won song of the year and

album of the year. she was also named songwriter of the year and won best dance act. ezra collective, sam fender and stormzy were also among the other big british winners. well, that's the news on gb news. i'll be back with you in half an hour and next we can hand you straight back to dawn, who i have also heard is very bright. for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to the qr code, or go to gbnews.com/win. >> james matthewson. >> james matthewson. >> thank you very much, sam. right. okay, let's get straight into today�*s show because it is into today's show because it is a very busy one with loads of live breaking news for you. now it is crunch time for ukraine as european leaders gather in london for a special defence summit. sir keir starmer has reiterated his unwavering support for zelenskyy this

weekend, after his disastrous meeting with donald trump. i think it�*s one way of putting it, isn't it? it comes as the prime minister reveals he and macron have agreed to work on their own peace plan for ukraine in order to build bridges. okay, well, let's delve down into this one with our panel. first of all, i'm joined one with our panel. first of all, i'mjoined in the one with our panel. first of all, i'm joined in the studio by all, i�*m joined in the studio by political commentator jonathan lis, former special adviser to michael gove. charlie rowley and executive director of the henry jackson society, alan mendoza. so many men, so little time, as i like to say on a sunday afternoon. but i�*ll make an effort. okay. let's come to you first, alan. i mean, you you�*re the henry jackson society. you analyse and research domestic and foreign policy ideas. don't and foreign policy ideas. don�*t you. try to. yeah, absolutely. and certainly with regard to russia and what's going on in russia and what's going on in russia at the moment. now, we've talked until we're pretty much blue in the face about friday�*s meeting between zelenskyy and trump and jd vance from the

russian perspective. how do you think putin would have been analysing what was going on there? >> well, i. >> well, i. >> mean, i think we got a clear sense of what the putin regime thought by various tweets and other pronouncements coming out from putin henchmen. at all have no, because he doesn't need to say anything. the reality is that putin's voice is being amplified by other people in his circle. they�*re obviously delighted by the mess of friday. it's, you know, kind of confirmed that they are onto a winner by their current strategy. and putin's best point strategy. and putin�*s best point of view is to just stay silent right now. he doesn�*t need to inflame anything. he can see everyone fighting and trying to work it out. now we may hear from him once today's summit is over and once we know what's come out of it, because then he may have a platform from which he would like to say something. but right now he's allowing, you know, the west essentially to fight among themselves. and that's a problem. >> which brings us neatly on to what is going on this afternoon. obviously, we have got the world leaders meeting there. europe, as well as canada and turkey, 18 leaders in total at lancaster house today, being headed up by

keir starmer. what can we expect there? what what do they hope to get out of it. >> well firstly there's going to be obviously an attempt at unity. that's the most important unity. that�*s the most important part here. everyone's come into that meeting, whether it's that meeting, whether it�*s giorgia meloni or macron or starmer. they've all come in starmer. they�*ve all come in saying basically we are united. a we want to show our continued support for ukraine, but b we want to show that we are collectively on the path to peace.| collectively on the path to peace. i mean, that is quite important to note that people are talking about wanting to get to peace now. that�*s something that wasn�*t the case, say, 4 or 5 months ago. >> i�*m going to come back to you >> i'm going to come back to you later on that point, alan, because i just want to make there is a difference between peace and ending a war. and i think that's the point i keep coming back to. but i think we can actually cross now. live to gb news political editor christopher hope, who is on downing street for us with more. actually not on downing street at lancaster house there. chris, thank you very much for managing to get to us this afternoon. chris, what is going on? how many of the leaders are turning

up many of the leaders are turning up there, and how long can we expect it to go on for, and what are we expecting to get out of it? >> i. >> i. >> hi, tonya, welcome to the central london location. we can't say exactly where we are, but you'll see behind me there securing our future. they�*ve got securing our future. they've got this branding of this major event here. it's the biggest peace conference about the future of europe. many say since the second world war, a big moment. i�*m ticking off the leaders as they arrive. we're leaders as they arrive. we�*re expecting 16 leaders, plus the leaders of the european commission and the council of europe. so far, i've ticked off france's president macron, poland's donald tusk arriving with what looked like a broken leg, hobbling in. and also there's nato secretary general mark rutte. it's a very, very big day here. we heard earlier from sir keir starmer they the uk government is trying to lead the establishment. what they're calling here, a coalition of the willing set up by the uk and france. it sounds to me like a peacekeeping force of some sort in ukraine to enforce the peace

we also need as a country, according to what answered earlier, is a uk, us backstop. that means radar support. that means fast jets looking over the european force on the ground. the badging of that force isn't clear. russia say they won't accept nato troops in ukraine and nato troops. it can�*t be european union. that will be acceptable, i think, to the uk. 50 it might be the creation of so it might be the creation of a whole new idea of a european border force patrolling that eastern flank with russia. a lot is changing very quickly here, but it's all happening here. and do stay tuned on gb news all day. it's difficult. day. it�*s difficult. >> do we know roughly how long is this going to go on for, chris? i mean, these things go on for hours. >> oh yeah. >> oh yeah. >> they can do. expecting to break up around 4:00. and then a press conference involving the prime minister later that will also be live on gb news. 50 also be live on gb news. so expecting that that to happen, i think all the individual world leaders will go off into other parts of london and speak to their own domestic audiences. i think it will just have the pm

on his own. we saw him welcoming mark rutte and also donald tusk moments ago, and he�*s on on duty moments ago, and he's on on duty here. receiving the big issue here. receiving the big issue here is how can they win back the support of the us? how can they present a united front to they present a united front to the us saying we will, we will enforce this, this peace if we have to, but we need your support to a backstop to stop russia invading. again. the big concern we heard from sir keir starmer when i was with him in washington, dc is what happens, what will stop russia coming what will stop russia coming again? they might agree at some form of peace deal, but what will stop them? currently, donald trump is saying that the idea of us companies mining for rare earth minerals in ukraine will be enough to stop russia coming again. i mean, some would say having some us miners and mining companies in a sovereign country isn't enough, really, to country isn�*t enough, really, to stop someone like russia who may want to invade and increase its territory so they won't have that protection before a deal can be done. that's where the dispute is now. and we think zelenskyy is here to. and from

here he's going to sandringham where he meets with the king. and this is all kind of in a way performative to show to donald truss the world is uniting around zelenskyy. perhaps you can come back on board too. but of course the suggestions over the overnight that that zelenskyy himself may have to apologise, eat some humble pie. after the extraordinary row that bust up in the oval office on ffiday bust up in the oval office on friday night. >> okay, chris, thank you very much. we will be coming back to you live as and when to get the updates. we�*re back now back to updates. we're back now back to the panel on this one. alan, back to that comment about getting peace. isn't that difficult? ending the war is a difficult? ending the war is a difficult thing here because, you know, every time we speak to any of the politicians from ukraine or any of the ukrainians themselves on the ground, they say, yeah, this is fine. you can sit in your lovely room over there, you can all come up with some wonderful agreement and russia might even agree to it. but there's no guarantee going forward that they're going to stick to it. >> well, that's why the deal, as everyone is hung up on, has to focus around some security guarantees to make sure that

russia does stick to it. i mean, it does seem apparent now that everyone, including president zelenskyy, recognises there was an opportunity to end the war. on what terms is the key moment here? and, you know, how much will ukraine have to give up, you know, unfairly? let's be honest about it to a russian aggressor, in order to preserve itself going forwards and to secure the peace going forwards. now, it�*s quite clear that us security guarantees are needed on top of whatever the europeans can provide. and i'm sure that, you know, there is room for negotiation on that part. >> can we can we do this without america? >> and america aren't at the table at the moment? i mean, we had our elon musk tweeting overnight about america getting out of nato. we don't need to be in nato europe on its own. can we protect the ukraine? >> well, europe can put force on the ground. but the reality is, is the european force going to deter putin? a lot of this is about deterrence going forward. it's the idea that the next time he comes, he'll think twice. because the americans who are the big military dog, they�*re the big military dog, they�*re the ones who actually underpinning this are europeans are some way off, as we know, on

our defence spending to be able to, you know, sort of be able to preserve and promote the idea that they can be an effective deterrent. so in reality, we do need the us beyond, you know, the illusionary part, because there is a reality to us military presence. and the europeans at present do not have. now, if they come out this conference to say we've all conference to say we�*ve all decided to spend 5% of gdp on defence, well, then you've got a european military tenant. until that point, we�*re going to need that point, we're going to need the us. >> there is already debate on that. i