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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." >> well, it sounds as if donald trump has changed sides in this, away from the ukrainian side that the americans have been backing since the outset.

>> we have seen this disinformation. we understand that it is coming from russia. it is unfortunate that president trump, and we have great respect for him, unfortunately lives in this disinformation space. >> eagerness is going to be seen by the kremlin as weakness and putin is going to expect more concessions from president trump. not the right position to be in when you're dealing with moscow. ♪ >> zelensky says he's counting on unity in europe after donald trump launched a fresh attack, branding him a dictator saying he's done a terrible job. following the ukrainian president's comments saying the u.s. pretty is living in a

disthat was space. the u.s. inflation level is at its highest in 10 minutes. germany prepares to head to the polls in a crucial election on sunday. we'll be live on the campaign trail and the security breach return continue. we'll get an analysis on ukraine. what do the players want and what might a deal look like? european leaders have condemned president trump after he publicly blasted the ukrainian president. in a social media post, m mr. trump labeled zelensky a dictator and claim it would up crane had talked the u.s. into spending hundreds of billions of dollars for a conflict that they couldn't win. earlier president zelensky accused the u.s. president of living in a disinformation space as he appeared to blame ukraine for russia's invasion, saying he could have made a deal a long time ago.

this comes hours after russian's president vladimir putin says that a meeten between u.s. and russian officials on the war in ukraine was the first step in reconnecting between the two powers. our correspondent james waterhouse begins with this report. >> an extraordinary allegation from ukraine's once biggest alley. president trump: i think active power to end this war and i think it's going very well. i hear oh, we were never invited. it's been going three years. you could have made a deep. >> leading to comments from president zelensky who accused prosecute trump of living in a bubble. >> target unfortunate that president trump and with great respect for them as the long islander 206 miles per hour people who constantly support us unfortunately live in this disinformation space.

>> on his social platform, trump doubled down. he refuses to have elections he said. he's very low in ukrainian polls and acalled him of being a dictator without elections. what president zelensky is not is a dictator. elections have legally been postponed here since the start of the invasion so perhaps not a good day for keith kellogg to visit. trump says it is successfully negotiating an end of the war with russia. >> it is impossible to solve many issues, including ukrainian crisis without increasing the level of trust between washington and the united states. >> away from the politics, ukraine's capital is just trying to get on. russia's tanks were expected to be in kyiv on that morning three

years ago and the fact they were stopped is something they're very proud of but american's new russian negotiations could mean things will change. almost everyone knows someone who has injured or been killed. >> if trump isn't with us, if he doesn't want to support ukraine essentially he is we trailing hiss swords, america and his ideals. the very ideals we're defending here. >> for ukraine, everything will be all right. our guys are not fighting in vain there. we're optimistic and hopeful. >> we will definitely win but i don't think we will feel joy from that because my brother and my cousin were kid and it's the same for nearly everyone family. >> a reminder of the sacrifice ukraine has made to withstand russia's aggression. the last 24 hours has put it at

risk of being for nothing. >> to discuss this further, i'm joined by professor jamie shae, former deputy secretary of security at nato. good to talk to you. so much has happened and it's am wednesday. first of all, your reaction to what we've heard from both president zelensky and president trump inspect last few hours. >> good evening. it's obviously very depressing and perplexing. there was a famous american senator, daniel patrick moynahan who said serve entitled to their own opinion but serve not entitled to their eastern facts, and, of course, every foreign policy approach, every piece of diplomacy, particularly in complex negotiations has to be based on the what really happened in history and what the fact are and it's obviously alarming that president trump is deafuating now so far from the

actual facts, whatever his opinion is on the ukraine conflict. my second observation is that president zelensky probably should not have used a am any or directly personal comments about president trump. we all know he has a pretty thin skin and reacts to the media and react immediately and personally to what he sees. therefore i think a much better approach is not to attack trump personally, you don't really win by doing that but in a much more moderate way. find a way to september the facts straight. i think that's a better winning approach but it is slightly encouraging looking at washington that some republican congress figures have criticized president trump's remarks for being over the tom and that shows i think that he's getting

a bit of pushback from some of his own supporters too. >> when he rings up, perspective zelensky says he will meet a u.s. envoy on thursday and hopes for constructive work with the u.s. that's after days of him being say he's been shut out because ukraine didn't have a seat at the table at talks earlier in the week between the u.s. and russia. >> our ukrainian courage, on our relationship as partners, and on america. america, that needs success as we all do. success unites. our union is what best protects our future. with peace. >> gnashes what mr. zelensky has been saying in the last few moment. comes to the next point, what

role buzz europe have in all this? >> europe, of course, have to be directly involved because the consequences for what happens in ukraine for good or bad will affect europe more and much more quickly than they will to the united states. europe, of course, geographically is going to be tied to ukraine and always in the vicinity of russia. there are very high stakes. if putin does come to subject gate ukraine, he'll bring the russian army directly to nato's borders and that will need a more effective deterrent. so having ukraine between itself as a state and russia gradually absorbed into nato and the fact that ukraine would effectively

be nato's front line of defense, battle hardened. this could still be the case if it allows ukraine still to keep a sizable army, something that putin doesn't want and then that army can be build up and equipped by europe and the quiet. but, of course, europeans have to find a way to get themselves into the talks and this offer of being willing to contribute to some kind of security guarantee force in you crepe, which the united kingdom is championing at the moment is the way there but the europeans haven't shone a great deal of unity on this thus far and if you're not united, you're not going to influence either trump or putin. >> thank you very much, professor shae, who used to work at nato. here in the u.k., inflation has jumped to itself highest level in 10 months, rising to 3% in the year to january compared to

a rate of 2.5% in december. the higher than expected rise was fueled by increasing food prices, airfares and an increase in private school fees. the treasury's warned of a butchy roamed ahead to get inflation back down to the 2% target. here's our business editor with more. >> food prices are heading up again and here in bristol shoppers have noticed and are making changes. >> you don't think about shopping. you think about i must use less, i must measure it. whereas before you probably wouldn't. >> i started looking at the price now. i didn't used to. now you have to check. >> 200 miles east in ipswich at this charity funded catcha, the cost of living crisis has never gone away for gaby and sonnen. >> life is a struggle.

most months we can barely make ends meet, even with two working parents in a house hold. >> what sacrifices do you make? >> we go to parks a lot. do free things a lot rather than bowling or the sin that. i literally go through his old clothes and sell them just to make a little bit of extra money to do things. >> so many everyday items have seen some big rises in the last 12 months. within food, it is literally a mixed bag. white sliced bread down but only by 1%. carrots up 9%. lamb up 16%. butter up 18% and instant coach up 21%. now, overall food prices are up by about 3.3% but remember, that's on top of some very supreme rises over the last couple of years. compared to january 202

, food prices are 35% higher. inflation has come down a lot since the energy crisis peak in 2022 but prices haven't fallen but have been going up less quickly. the good news is that wages have been going up faster than prices. >> in might put a little bit of buzz in their plans but i would expect to see at least another couple of interest rate cuts by the end of 2025. oon the other side they're looking at economic growth. >> rising prices, slowing growth. not a combination any chancellor would pick with big budget decisions to make in five weeks. >> the vatican says pope francis is stable and that his condition has shown slight improvement. at hospital in rome. you can see the live pictures there while the pope is being

treated for pneumonia in his lungs. this is the scene live outside the hospital where the poach is staying. beth any bell is there for us. tell us the latest on what we know from the vatican. >> the vatican says the pope's condition is stable. it says that blood tests have shown a slight improvement, particularly when it comes to inflammatory markers and it said today after breakfast he met with his closest aides, he was working with them. he had lunch, took the eucharist and also this afternoon he metropolitan with italy's prime minister for about 20 minutes and she issue a statement saying she was very happy to see pope alert and responsive and she said we joked as always and that he had the same sense of humor and she said he was extended

best wishes from the government and of all the people of italy. >> pope has been in hospital now for a number of days. any indication on whether he'll be able to go home soon or not? >> he's been in hospital since friday. he was taken in because of a respiratory tract infection then doctors yesterday said that a c.t. chest scan showed double knew moan tow, he had pneumonia in both lungs and they said this makes kind of a complex clinical picture and they said he'll have to stay in hospital for as long as needed so it's not clear yet when he'll able to leave hospital. >> bethany bell live in rome. thank you for the moment. around the world and across the u.k., this is "bbc news."

>> some breaking news just coming into us. as we've been reporting a war of words between the u.s. president donald trump and the ukrainian president zelensky. we're hearing that u.k. president sir keir starmer has spoken to the u.k. perspective zelensky. stressing the need for everyone to work together. the prime minister expressed his support for president zelensky as ukraine's democratically elected leader and said it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during wartime. in response to the fact that donald trump has called mr. zelensky a dictator and mr. starmer also reiterated his

support for u.s.-led efforts to get a lasting peace in ukraine, which deterred russia from any fourth aggression. just hearing from downing street that sir keir starmer has spoken to s volodymyr zelensky and reiterating his support for the country, saying everyone needs to work together and supporting mrs. zelensky as well. as there's been a heated war of words between trump and zelensky. at the same time we've also heard from volodymyr zelensky that he is going to be meeting the u.s. envoy on thursday in which he hopes for constructive work with the u.s. all of that amid the talks about the future of ukraine between the u.s. and russia and the ukrainians haven't had a seat at that table. now let's turn to germany.

just days away from a crucial general election. campaigns dominated by immigration, the war in ukraine and the economy. opinion polls suggest that the opposition party is on course to emerge as the strongest single party after the vote on sunday. the far right alternative for germany is currently projected to be the second largest party. all of this as a poll conducted for the german press agency show that is one in five german voters are still undecided. let's cross live to the northwest of germany and join our correspondent jessica parker who's been on the campaign trail attending a c.d.u. rally this evening. there's a lot at stake in this election. where do you see things at the moment? >> yeah, good evening. as you said, i'm at a c.d.u.

rally. we've been hearing frederick metz, the man widely expected to be germany's next chancellor if the polls are right addressing a variety of subjects. we were listening to what he might have to say on foreign policy given the developments out of the u.s. and ukraine over the last 48 hours. he didn't touch from what i heard directly on donald trump's comments but he did talk about the need for a stronger europe. he said that countries like germany, france, poland, u.k. need to come together to form a common response. now, in terms of the state of the race, to bring you guys up to date there, it is still very much the c.d.u. topping the polls. the far right alternative of defensiveland coming -- deutschland coming in this second place.

it's how the poll numbers shake out and what kind of administration mertz might be able to cobble together. >> it might be tricky this time trying to get two parties together to form a government given about who's in front at the moment. >> yeah, it's an uncertain situation. one of the other reasons it's uncertain is there are a few parties hovering around the 5% mark and if you don't get 5%, you don't get into the bundestag and your votes basically get recalculated into over parties. they're talking about a possible coalition with the democrats. i think what frederick mertz wants to avoid is to have a three-waco litigation. we've seen that over the last government. it collapsed and there was a lot

of public bickering and that's why we're having a snap election now happening earlier than it was due to be because the government clamsed after various issues but eventually over a budget issue. so mertz hoping he can form a government with just one other party. but the final calculations aren't yet in. >> a few busy days ahead for you and that election takes place this weekend. it's been two months since the assad regime in syria fell. human right organizations estimate that more than 100,000 syrians have disappeared since the uprising began in 2011 with more than 3,000 being children. the bbc has found evidence that some children who were detained with their families were then transferred to orr fannages by

orders of the security center. >> all that is left for their families to remember. the faded photos of their missing children. human rights organizations in syria say hundreds disappeared under the assad regime. desperate to find them, relatives gathered to their cause is not forgotten. >> i went to visit artia and his wife who are searching for frustrations of their missing daughter heba and her two girls. sham and islam. they were 4 and 5. they were taken in 2014 while living in a suburb of damascus when security forces raided their house, taking 14 people, including seven children. >> we searched in security watches. we were told they are in state security but not sure.

somebody told me that some girls were sent to detention centers to an orphanage but they denied having them. >> in the archives in the basement of the ministry, the files like dusty, messy and untouched. hard to item how to start the search. mr. akmadan is newly appointed to the task and showed us some of the times. >> this is a document showing orders by air force security to hand over children to orphanages and some of the names that were taken were ages 1 or 2 years old. >> we visited latin hyatt orphanage, home to around 130 children of all ages. it is now under the new administration.

the new director, i asked him whether he knows anything about case of sham and islam. >> no. i don't but i learned that had many families used to come here looking for their children. we welcome any family here. we want to help. >> for artia and azid, this might not be comforting but for some of the children here, there is now a better chance to be found. "bbc news," damascus. >> before we leave you this half-hour, a reminder of that breaking news that's just come into us from downing street and that is that the u.k. prime minister sir keir starmer has spoken to the ukrainian president zelensky. significant because it comes as tensions appear to be ratcheting up between president trump and president zelensky.

while the u.k. prime minister has expressed his support for zelensky as ukraine's democratly elected leader during the phone call between them. according to number 10, mr. starmer told mr. zelensky it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during wartime as the u.k. did during the second world war. the prime minister spoke to president zelensky this evening and stressed the need for everyone to work together. more on that story in a few 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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