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narrator: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... brett: you know as somebody coming out of college, it can be very nerve wracking, not knowing what to expect, whether you'll like your job or not, whether you'll make friends, whether you'll fit in, and here i feel like it's so welcoming and such an inclusive place to work, you just feel like you're valued. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation, the judy and peter blum kovler foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. announcer: and now, bbc news. >> hello. this is "the context" on bbc news. >> i had good conversation with president trump, we had some phone calls and he had phone calls with putin and he had said to me that putin want to stop the war.

i said to him he is a liar. >> the threat i worry most about vis-a-vis europe is not pressure, it's not china, is not any other external actor. what i worry about is the threat from within. >> this democracy was questioned earlier by the u.s. vice president for the whole of europe. he compared conditions in parts of europe when those in authoritarian regimes. ladies and gentlemen, that is unacceptable. ♪ geeta: president zelenskyy says more work is needed on a plan for ending the war in ukraine during a meeting with u.s. president -- vice president jd vance. it comes after mr. vancil launched into a wide-ranging attack on european countries. during the speech at the munich security conference. also in the program, ukraine accuses russia of a drone attack

on the chernobyl nuclear power plant. we will speak to the head of the u.n. watchdog. and gaza's fragile cease-fire is back on as hamas has released the names of the three hostages due to be released on saturday. good evening. the u.s. vice president jd vance has met the ukrainian litter president zelenskyy, -- leader president zelenskyy, but just shy of the security meeting conference, mr. vance hardly mentioned ukraine and instead use the opportunity to prorate european allies for taking the nato alliance for granted. he also accused them up talking about democracy but not living by the basic tenants of democracy, and stepping on free speech. later, the vice president met with the leader of the far right afd party. take a listen to some of the speech. v.p. vance: the threat that i worry most about vis-a-vis europe is not russia, not china, not any other external actor.

i worry about is the threat from within. in washington, there is a new sheriff in town, and under donald trump's leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to operate in the public square, agree or disagree. geeta: while the audience reception to that seems distinctly lukewarm, there was also some anger. germany's defense minister certainly had strong words. >> this democracy was questioned earlier by the u.s. vice president for the whole of europe. he spoke of the annual his age and of democracy, and if i understood him correctly, he compared conditions in parts of europe to those in authoritarian regimes. ladies and gentlemen, that is unacceptable. [applause] geeta: as leaders digest the implications of the vice president's speech, there is also been of course a huge focus on diplomacy and the future of ukraine at the security conference. days after president trump spoke

directly to president putin, the ukrainian leader says his country must not be left out of negotiations. president zelenskyy: i had a good phone call with president trump, he had a phone call with putin and he said that putin wants to stop the war. i said that he is a liar. you can count on it. i hope that you will pressure him because i don't trust him. we had such conversation with putin, direct conversations about a cease-fire but he will not just cease-fire and that is all. that is why i said to the president, yes, phone calls are phone calls. let's forget about it. what is important, the meeting, not to make any decisions about ukraine without ukraine. geeta: republican senator lindsey graham was asked if he was comfortable about mr. trump doing deals with authoritarian leaders, as it was put, like

putin before consulting allies such as germany and france. this was his response. >> it doesn't matter to me who trump calls and when he calls, it matters how it ends. afghanistan ended poorly, do you agree with that? this will not end poorly. president trump will not do in ukraine what we did to afghanistan. i think you will find a way to end this war in a fashion that putin would be a fool to do it again. geeta: these are interesting times for the delegates given the security order has been upended, confusing times, too. u.s. secretary pete hegseth seem to roll back some of his previous declarations and at the same time double down. >> we stand by the statements we made in reality about the status of u.s. forces or ukraine's involvement in nato and the unlikely nature of that. that said, i would never put constraints around what the president of the united states would be willing to negotiate with the sovereign leaders of both russia and ukraine.

geeta: for the president of the open commission, there were other key issues. >> president putin says he is willing to meet but on what terms? it is up to him to demonstrate that his interest is not to prolong this war. it is up to him to show that he has given up his ambition to destroy ukraine. and let me be very clear, a failed ukraine and would weaken europe, but it would also weaken the united states. geeta: joining me now from kyiv is ukrainian politician, mp for the servant of the people's party, chair of the foreign affairs committee at the ukrainian parliament. thank you for being with us. we have heard a lot of voices in the last two or three days, a number of conflicting lines from some elements of the u.s. administration.

i just wonder, what is your take today, given we have seen zelenskyy meeting jd vance? >> first of all, i have been listening to the speech by the vice president jd vance, and i really like his phrase that the new sheriff is in town, and i do hope the new sheriff will help to restrain and get rid of old gangster putin. this is important for us and for the whole world. additionally, what is really important, the direct meeting between our president zelenskyy and the vice president jd vance. it is crucially important because we are starting to have systematic contacts, systematic discussions, conversations with our american colleagues with the new administration. it helps to bring about mutual understanding. we can see the policy, the

attitude of the new administration is changing under the influence of this context with representatives of ukraine. geeta: what changes are you seeing? >> first of all, we can hear it in the messages, in the speeches by the vice president and by the minister of defense. now they are becoming more and more realistic. they understand russian aggression against ukraine cannot be stopped within 24 hours, that ukraine continues to need american support, and that we need more sanctions. we hope the support and aid from the united states will continue, but what is really also important for us is american leadership. american leadership is a crucial issue. because european countries are trying to follow the example of the united states. that is why it's important for us in all respects. geeta: do you think the american

administration is coherent, though? we saw donald trump being questioned by journalists, said there would be a three-way meeting today in munich which obviously didn't happen. the russian delegation were not even in munich today. we have also seen slightly conflicting statements about the level of any future u.s. support from jd vance, pete hegseth. does that give you confidence there is a clear u.s. strategy? >> well, i also heard some contradiction from different statements, but we should remember the key decision-maker in the trump team is trump himself. so everything depends on him. that is why it is so important for our president to meet directly mr. trump and discuss these issues. i am sure the whole picture will be much more clear and we will see much more realistic, more decisive peace plan on the part of mr. trump. geeta: i gather that you

nominated donald trump for the 2025 nobel peace prize, is that right? any regrets on that? >> absolutely right. one of the reasons why i did this, because mr. trump, during his first term in office, he became the first american president to provide ukraine with lethal weapons. it helped us in the first days after the full-scale invasion of russia, it helped us to repel russian attacks and to save kyiv. there is also another motive behind my decision. it is a gesture of hope that president trump can do a lot to bring just peace to ukraine. but i just peace, i don't mean appeasement, territorial concessions at the expense of ukraine. i mean peace firmly based on international law of the territorial integrity of ukraine, respect for sovereignty of ukraine. geeta: if there is no guarantee

of nato membership in the future, or if that was to be ruled out, if the current land is being occupied by the russian forces was to be where the dividing line was, if there was to be european guarantees of security for the future of ukraine, is that the sort of outline for a future deal? >> the thing is, the only reliability of our security and survival is nato membership. we continue to fight, to get this membership, because it is in the best interest of not only ukraine but also the interest of european security. i thought that when managed to persuade trump and his team to support our bid to become full-fledged members of nato.

only full-fledged membership will stop putin's aggression and guarantee our security in the future. geeta: quickly, donald trump did say last night, questioned by journalists, the nato question had initially been a provocation for russia in the first place. >> i disagree with that. it is misperception perception on the part of mr. trump. this is exactly why he should have more communication with our president and our president will explain everything to mr. trump. that is why we need this constant dialogue. geeta: we will leave it there, mp, thank you for being with us. president zelenskyy has said that he doesn't yet see a ready plan being put forward by the u.s. to end the war in ukraine. russia launched its full-scale invasion three years ago this month to devastating effect, as james waterhouse now reports. james: the sounds and scars of

russia's invasion. reminders of war weigh heavy here. the destruction from the major dam drained this reservoir. a static front line put life on hold. he used to fish these waters. now he waits for donald trump's vision for peace. >> if it stays like this as it is now, then nothing will work out. it will just be a border. most likely, it will be impossible to live next to the russians, unfortunately. james: america's big plan is a body blow for ukraine. it dared to dream, that three years of sacrifice and western support would make it safe from russia. now, it feels vulnerable and betrayed.

with all the talk about talks, ukrainians are still fighting and dying. funerals are constant. here, it is the turn of the thalia's husband, a local soldier named alexander, to be laid to rest. >> honestly, i just don't know anymore. they keep sending more and more of our guys to the front line. i wish they found some way to end it. james: donald trump says he wants the killing to stop. ukrainians know the cost of russia's invasion. even when it ends, they will be paying the price for

generations. james waterhouse, bbc news, southeastern ukraine. geeta: well, we are going to the u.s. in a few minutes because we are just waiting to get a tape replay of the u.s. president who has been signing more executive orders. we are waiting for those pictures to come through and we will bring you those as soon as we get them. this is bbc news around the . world and across the u.k. ♪

geeta: this is bbc news. we can take you to the u.s. because we have had a tape feed from donald trump signing executive orders, making further announcements. let's listen to what has been said. pres. trump: i have not heard about it. >> were you aware of what secretary hegseth was going to say at his speech at nato? pres. trump: generally speaking, yes. i was.

i will speak to roger, pete. >> for all forms of energy? pres. trump: all forms of energy. >> the pipeline you mention, is that the constitution pipeline in new york? pres. trump: that's what it is. they have been trying to get it for 20 years. what it means for upstate new york and even everywhere in new york, also other states, but in particular new england, new england will now, i think will cut the energy prices, and be cuts in new york, too. we have the permits. we have permits that just about everything we need, a new york permit, i would imagine they want to because their energy prices will come down so far. and it's a lot of jobs for new york. it's a great thing for new york. everybody wants it. will be meeting with the various governors, governor of new york, of the governors, too. we can have it built in nine

months, let's say a year. we can have been built and pretty close to nine months. we have most of the permits, almost all of the permits. >> you're prioritizing energy dominance today, you have also prioritized trade balance. the industry is worried about the steel tariffs. how will you balance that. pres. trump: talking about steel and aluminum? steel, i saved the steel industry in the first term by putting on tariffs because china was dumping massive amounts of steel, others also but mostly china. we took in 600 billion dollars worth of tariffs from china. no other president has literally gotten $.10 from china, not $.10. hundreds of billions of dollars came in from china. they understood what i did. the dumping stopped. had i not done that, you wouldn't have one steel mill. i think i can say, not one steel

mill operating in this country. and we need steel. there are some things you have to have, and steel is one of them, for military, etc. i think steel will be very strong. it will be very strong. i think it will go back to being very powerful. we saved it. we were talking about u.s. steel last week. u.s. steel would have been totally closed. we saved it. now it will be, i think very profitable. the tariffs are going to save a lot of industries. >> if the japanese company interested in u.s. steel wants to take a minority stake as opposed to full ownership -- pres. trump: minority stake i wouldn't mind grately, but what they are doing is they will be investors in debt and various other things. we didn't want to let u.s. steel go to a foreign company. u.s. steel was the greatest company in the world 80

years ago or so. psychologically, we cannot even think about letting that happen. what is going to happen, and we have seen it, you see it in the stock price, with the tariffs, ust will be a powerhouse again. >> the question about munich. vice president pence's speech to the conference has ruffled quite a few feathers. pres. trump: what did he say? >> talking about freedom of speech and migration in europe. do you believe european leaders have a fundamentally different view of the world that this administration's? pres. trump: you are talking about jd's speech? he talked about freedom of speech, and i think it is true in europe. they are losing their wonderful right of freedom of speech. i see it. i thought he made a very good speech actually, very brilliant speech. europe has to be careful. he talked about immigration.

europe has a big immigration problem, just take a look at what has happened with crime, what is happening in various parts of europe. i thought his speech was very well received actually. >> with regard to ukraine, yesterday you mentioned you thought that ukraine's nato aspirations were one of the reasons for the war. who do you blame for the war, ukraine or russia? pres. trump: well, i think this. there are a lot of people to blame. very simply, if i were president, that war would have never happened. you know what else would never have happened? the middle east wouldn't have been blown up, october 7 either. you wouldn't have inflation, you wouldn't have october 7, you wouldn't have russia and ukraine fighting. none of those things would have happened if i was president. >> you mentioned tariffs of the other day. pres. trump: how did i say, maybe around april 2. i would have done them on april

1, believe it or not. i'm a little superstitious. literally, we had it planned for april 1. i said let's make it april 2. that cost a lot of money that one day, but we are going to do it on april 2, is that right? >> the lead prosecutor in eric adams' case resigned today, saying anyone who didn't press forward was a coward. reaction to that, over implication that politics is at play here? pres. trump: i don't know about it, i'm not involved in that. these are mostly people from the previous administration, you understand, so they were not going to be there anyway. they would be gone or dismissed. they know on tuesday they are all going to be dismissed. the whole country is going to be. you come in and you put new people in. when you say resigned, they were going to be gone anyway. i know nothing about the individual case. they didn't feel it was much of a case.

they also didn't feel it was unfair with the election. i would know that better than anybody. i was weaponized more than any human being in the history probably of the world. i won the election in a landslide, winning all seven swing states, popular vote, everything else, because the people got it. it was weaponized and i was weaponized literally weeks before the election. but i think there is also something to be said, i read that, something to be said about what they were doing. it looked to me to be very political. but why did they bring this up six weeks ago? whenever it happened? they just sat around and didn't complain and all of a sudden they complain. they know they are being dismissed anyway, so you know. that is called politics, i guess. >> earlier this week, you predicted [inaudible] what do you expect to happen tomorrow? pres. trump: i don't know what

will happen tomorrow at 12:00. if it was up to me, i would take a hard stance. i can't tell you what israel will do. i watched the last people come out, and i looked at a before and after picture. one guy was a big and strong healthy guy, you could say a little bit overweight. he is not overweight anymore. he looks like he just came out of the holocaust, looked like a holocaust picture, looked at it for a long time. young lady came out last week, her hand was blown off. literally, her hand was trying to stop a bullet heading for her face. she put up her hand, goes like this, wiped out her fingers and a lot of her hand. i would take a different stance. it depends. it depends on what b.b. is going to do, what israel is going to do. now i understand hamas has totally changed and wants to release hostages again.

you have to see. this started by them saying we are not going to release the hostages as we said we were. i said, good, you have 12:00 until saturday to do it. and we didn't hear anything. all of a sudden two days ago, they decided we are going to release the hostages. i actually think they should release all the hostages. remember, they are probably as bad as they looked. i don't like to say that they look real bad, four days ago, five days ago, and the young ladies that came out were treated very badly. you don't know what happened but i do. they were treated very badly. the ones that follow probably will look a lot worse. i think they are sending out their most healthy. they have been hit hard on that, hamas. they probably didn't want to release. but obviously they change their mind.

i said 12:00 tomorrow and all of a sudden yesterday they are going back to releasing, but this all started by them saying we are not going to release anymore hostages. then yesterday they said they are going to release hostages. i think they should release all the hostages. >> 75,000 workers took this deferred resignation, a little bit short of the 5% to 10% goal you thought you were going to hit. will he have to make up the rest of that number? pres. trump: that is 75,000 more than we would have had. nobody knows what narrator: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... bdo, accountants and advisors, funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation, the judy and peter blum kovler foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. ♪ ♪ usa today calls it "arguably the best bargain in streaming"

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