♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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. ♪ host: this is bbc world news america. ukraine's president meets with the u.s. vice president in munich as the trump administration pushes for the war in ukraine to end. hamas confirms three hostages will be released tomorrow, including one american in exchange for palestinian

prisoners. thousands of u.s. federal workers are laid off, including at top agencies like the centers for disease control. ♪ host: hello and a very warm welcome to world news america. world leaders gathered for the first day of the munich secured a conference in germany, hosting more than 50 heads of state. the ukraine war and defense funding dominated the proceedings after u.s. president trump's announcement that russia's president putin is open to talks on ending the conflict. jd vance met with ukraine's president lorimer zelenskyy on the sidelines. mr. vance said he had fruitful conversations with president zelenskyy after talks that were attended by u.s. secretary of state marco rubio. president zelenskyy made it clear any peace deal must involve real security guarantees for ukraine. president -- vice president

vance delivered a speech critical of european leaders. mr. vance avoided questions on ukraine but suggested economic sanctions or military force could be used against russia if it refused to agree to what he called a good peace deal. our diplomatic correspondent this report from munich. correspondent: after a must three years of war, the first face-to-face talks that some hope could lead to the end of the fighting in ukraine. president zelenskyy meeting america's new vice president in munich. >> the goal is as president trump outlined it, we want the war to come to a close. we want the killing to stop. we want to achieve a durable, lasting peace, not the kind of peace that will have eastern europe in conflict years down the road. correspondent: the question is how, both to end the fighting now but also to deter russia in the future. >> we are think for for the

support of president trump. we had a good conversation today. our first meeting, not last i'm sure. they are really what we need to speak more, to work more, and to prepare the plan of how to stop putin and finish the war. correspondent: the problem is president trump wants to talk directly to president putin, doing a deal man to man, with some fearing ukraine's wishes could be ignored. that is the view of some european leaders who arrived for their conference in germany with their mood reflecting the weather, many still stunned by mr. trump's decision to talk to mr. putin behind their backs. president zelenskyy told the americans and his allies that he must be directly involved in the talks. mr. putin was not to be trusted. >> i will meet with russians, with only one russian guy, with putin only after we have a common plan with trump, and we

will sit with putin and stop the war. correspondent: but the vice president emphasized that america was calling the shots, criticizing european democracies for ignoring the will of voters and censoring populist views, making clear that president trump was in charge. vp vance: in washington there is a new sheriff in town. under donald trump's leadership, we may disagree with your views but will fight your defend to offer it in the public square, agree or disagree. correspondent: amid some anger in europe at vance's speech, the foreign secretary met the vice president and tried to pour oil on troubled waters, insisting there was common ground. >> all of us have this desire to bring this horrendous war to an end. we share the view that there has to be an injury these -- has to be an enduring peace. there was an agreement that zelenskyy and the ukrainians

have to be part of that negotiated deal. correspondent: but amid all the diplomacy, the fighting in ukraine continued with kyiv claiming an overnight russian drone strike hit the nuclear power plant in chernobyl. as for vladimir putin, he was not in munich today, instead in moscow, speaking to allies in crimea, with a direct line to the white house and western divisions on show. for now, he's sitting pretty. james landau, bbc news. host: the u.s. is open to talks involving president putin, leaving many ukrainians wary. james waterhouse incident southwestern -- is in southwestern ukraine. james: the sounds and scars of russia's invasion, reminders of war weigh heavy here. the destruction, the major dam drained this reservoir.

a static front line has put life on hold. alexander used two 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, and 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 natalia's husband to be laid to rest. >> honestly, i just don't know anymore. they keep sending 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. host: meanwhile in poland, u.s. defense secretary pete hegseth met with his polish counterpart. mr. hegseth stood by his

comments that ukraine joining nato is unlikely. he warned nato allies in europe against assuming that the american military presence on the continent will last forever. here is secretary hegseth speaking earlier. sec. hegseth: my job today and in brussels was to introduce realism to the conversation. the reality that returning to 2014 borders as part of a negotiated settlement is unlikely. the reality of u.s. troops in ukraine is unlikely. the reality of ukraine membership in nato as a part of a negotiated settlement unlikely. i stand by the comments i made on that first day ukraine contact group. that is for all the press, it's difficult for them to understand that. we stand by the statement we made in reality about the status of u.s. forces or ukraine's involvement in nato, and the

unlikely nature of that. host: our correspondent will vernon has more on that visit. will: at the news conference following those talks, pete hegseth said that he stood by those incendiary comments he made earlier in the week in brussels that it was unlikely that ukraine would join nato or go back to its pre-2014 borders. mr. hegseth said he was just being realistic. he said it was too early to define the framework, the terms of any peace negotiations. he said that would be up to president trump and not have. critics said that is exec lay what you have done by dismissing the prospect of nato membership or ukraine getting its land back, you have already defined the parameters of potential peace talks. the main message that mr. hegseth brought to warsaw was that european countries need to do more on defense. he said poland was a model ally

because it leads by example. warsaw has massively increased military spending in the last few years. it is almost 5% of gdp. other european countries save mr. hegseth should take a leaf out of warsaw's book. another thing he said which will cause a lot of concern in eastern europe is he said that europeans must not assume that the american military presence on the confident will last for -- on the continent will last forever. mr. hegseth now is the time to beef up european military capabilities. host: russia responded positively to the defense secretary's comments that ukraine's future membership of nato is unlikely. russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman called it a manifestation of realism and a key element in moving forward. what about the ukrainian perspective? earlier i spoke to a ukrainian member of parliament about how the trump administration's announcements are being received.

there is uncertainty in the messaging we have heard from the u.s. in this trump administration on whether the u.s. views ukraine as an equal partner in peace negotiations. how are ukrainians feeling about that? guest: 48 hours ago when we first heard the news about the conversation between donald trump and putin and that concession between trump and zelenskyy, we have been very much disappointed with how things were going. this comment by trump, who basically refused to answer the question that he sees ukraine as an equal partner, that caused an outrage in kyiv and ukraine in general. in public we are left alone. it felt like we are on the table, not at the table. people started feeling bad today when we heard other statements from jd vance at the munich conference. they seem to have retracted from their initial position and seem to insist that ukraine's

interests will be taken into account. that is a positive development. are still cautious about what we are witnessing. host: you referenced jd vance. he spent very little time on china and russia as adversaries, instead talking about europe and its values. do you still see the u.s. as a close partner to ukraine in this? guest: i still believe that the u.s. is the leader among democracies globally. i still believe that regardless of the political party at the moment, it is still in the interests of the united states to cooperate with other democracies. i can understand that the new administration is rather different image approaches to dealing with its allies. i have seen the reaction from european allies as well. we have seen the reaction yesterday and today as well.

they are slightly shocked with what they have seen. we still believe america stands on the right side of history, that it still supports democracy and human rights. i think to be reminded of that. host: i wonder about the commentary about internal dynamics ukraine. we saw donald trump speaking to ukrainian president zelenskyy's dipping popularity numbers and there have not been elections since the war started. what did you think of that? guest: i think ukraine does have a history of conducting free elections. since 1991 we have had six different presidents, unlike russia, who had 2.5. i don't think anybody should have reasonable doubt to the very fact that ukraine chose democracy and that it wants to conduct elections. we are not conducting elections because someone is imposing that

will upon the people. it is the people who believe elections cannot be conducted in this situation. but also the ukrainian constitution directly says elections cannot be held under martial law. host: martial law has been in place since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, to your p oint. there has been criticism in ukraine that we saw president zelenskyy sanction the former leader petro poroshenko on national security grounds. poroshenko said this was politically motivated. if there were peace negotiations that include elections first, also in russian occupied areas, what impact would that have? guest: i do not see any deal where the election goes first and peace comes next. for both legal reasons but technical reasons, it is impossible to do elections while we see drones flying over cities

and bombs exploding in citizen villages. it is technically impossible. any elections can only happen after there is a full-scale cease fire established in ukraine. that is according to the constitution and according to common sense. the decision to sanction former president poroshenko has caused lots of debates here internally. i do not believe that was the best decision to be taken, especially right now, but maybe it is part of the democratic process in a manner of speaking. host: what are you hoping president zelenskyy can achieve speaking with leaders in munich? guest: the biggest sin guest -- the biggest single goal is long-term security guarantees for ukraine. we need to make sure that what we lived over the last years

will not attribute itself. that is the most critical. the nato membership, the well established supports in terms of weapons, in terms of sanctions, we need long-term security guarantees. that is nonnegotiable. any cease-fire will basically give time to russia so that it can attack again in a year or two. host: before we let you go, we have talked in the past about the fact that your husband has been on the front lines fighting. how is all of this controversy over possible peace negotiations impacting those who are fighting right now? guest: for those who are fighting, we all tried to keep reasonable and not to get our hopes high. for us especially, for the whole country, but for those on the front line and whose loved ones

are on the frontline, it is very high personal stakes. if there is a cease-fire, i can be reunited with my partner, but i don't want to hope for that to happen because i am very much scared to be disappointed. the chances there will be no cease fire are very high. everyone discusses the parameters, but the realities that the situation can be different and there could be no cease fire and we have to continue the fight. i am trying to prepare myself mentally for worse. was hoping for the best. i am trying to be reasonable on that. host: that is a view from ukraine. let's talk about this with our chief international correspondent in munich covering the security conference. after a flurry of activity and consternation from the u.s. vice

president, what is the mood right now? correspondent: first of all, there is great relief among the europeans and ukrainians that at last, after three years of a grievous war, that peace talks or at least discussions are finally on the table. but there is great worry, too. this is a very troubled munich security conference, probably one of the most troubled and its 61 year history, that they really feel what they regard as the foundation of this transatlantic partnership is falling apart, that president trump's kind of diplomacy involves the kind of unilateral step that we saw earlier when he had that 90 minute telephone conversation with president trump and seemed to give away the main issues that should be on the negotiating table, that ukraine should be at that table to decide on its own future.

the value of the munich security conference is that finally president zelenskyy can sit down with vice president vance. both of them struck up a diplomatic tone for the cameras. no doubt those talks were very candid as they tried to narrow the gaps on what they say is a mutual ambition, which is to end this war in a way that it doesn't start again. host: what about u.s. relations with european leaders? we know jd vance was very critical of fellow allies there. how are people responding to that? guest: shocked. stunned. when the u.s. vice president took to the main stage here in munich, it was expected he would perhaps give more details about the war in ukraine. instead, he gave a lecture to the gathered delegates. many of them were very

high-level officials from european countries. he basically said the main threat to europe is not from russia, not from china, it is from within, and basically excoriated them about what he said is attacks on information, on political freedoms. he accused britain of backsliding on religious rights. the comments afterward, you could imagine there was not much clapping, but afterwards even germany's defense minister said it seemed as though the americans want to look at europe through the lens of autocratic regimes. host: given all of that, what kind of cooperation do you anticipate seeing on ukraine and other issues in the coming days in munich? correspondent: we have to separate what kinds of cooperation. it is clear that now we hear more statements from the americans that there will be more talks, that ukraine will be involved, that if president putin does not go along with it, there will be sanctions.

they want to be part of the discussions to get that peace deal that president trump has so long talked about. but when it comes to implementing this deal, the security guarantees that ukraine wants, the message from washington is this is europe's war. if ukraine cannot join nato, and america's view, it has to be european money to help protect ukraine. washington is adamant this won't be on america's bill. host: thank you so much for that update from munich. now hamas and the palestinian islamic jihad delivered the names of three hostages who they say will be released to israel on saturday. a 36-year-old dual u.s. israeli citizen. a 29-year-old dual russian israeli citizen. and a 46-year-old israeli, all expect it to be hand laid over.

it comes days after hamas said it would delay the release of hostages, alleging israel delayed -- alleging israel violated terms of the cease-fire agreement. hamas says israel will release 36 palestinians serving life sentences in israeli prisons and sent 333 palestinians back to gaza after they were arrested by israeli forces during the war. our middle east correspondent has the latest. correspondent: there has been a tense wait for these names to be published. they ended up coming out earlier than expected. this after all the uncertainty around the gaza cease-fire agreed last month and whether it would stick. hamas and the other palestinian armed group in gaza say they have been holding these three men. they were all snatched from their homes on the seventh of october, 2023, and they all lived in could boots -- lived in

kibbutz near southern israel. an argentinian-israeli was taken with his brother into captivity. you have an american israeli who is 36. and you have a russian israeli who is 29. his mother, grandmother and girlfriend were also held hostage. they were released back in november 2023 in the first cease fire of the war. we had a statement from the israeli prime minister's office confirming these are the names that have been received. hamas has been saying it has been expecting 369 palestinian detainees and prisoners to be released in exchange for these three hostages. host: let's bring you up-to-date on some news in the u.s.. thousands of recently hired a federal workers were laid off thursday and friday as the trump

administration continues its efforts to shrink the federal workforce. it ordered agencies to let go of most probationary workers hired in the last year. they typically have fewer rights to appeal against their terminations. several departments, including the department of energy and interior have reported layoffs. at the centers for disease control and prevention, the ap reported the agency lost over 10% of its staff in friday's cuts. the full tally of federal layoffs is unknown but it is estimated 220,000 federal workers with less than one year of experience. further cuts are expected to follow. president trump signed two executive orders on friday, one focused on vaccine mandates in schools and the other on energy. the first order would strip schools and universities of federal funding if they mandate covid-19 vaccines. officials say the order only applies to students and not teachers and staff.

while all 50 states mandate certain staff receive vaccinations. some private schools adversities have such vaccine policies in place. president trump established a white house counsel to drive u.s. energy dominance. that counsel is meant to shape energy policy across the federal government. new york city mayor eric adams is denying claims that he asked the trump administration to drop a corruption case against him in exchange for enforcing the president's immigration agenda. speaking on fox news, mr. adams rejected the idea that a quid pro quo had occurred and called it silly. is her marks, after the top u.s. prosecutor in manhattan -- his remarks come after the top u.s. prosecutor in manhattan resigned after she refused to dismiss the case. six other top justice department officials resigned in the wake of the adams case.

mr. adams was indicted last september after he was alleged to have accepted gifts totaling more than $100,000 from turkish citizens in exchange for favors. he denies those charges. that is our program today. you can always find more on the days news on our website, bbc.com/news. you can see we are covering the munich circuit he conference in full -- security conference in full detail. for all of us 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"

that's because the free pbs app let's you watch the best of pbs anytime, anywhere.

the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy] amna: i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. they are dropping charges against new york city