Gavin Grey: UK Correspondent on Starmer's Ukraine announcement, fatal fire in North Macedonia

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced military planning to protect a potential Ukraine ceasefire is moving to an "operational phase." 

Military leaders will meet in London on Thursday to secure plans that will back a peace deal. 

UK Correspondent Gavin Grey joins the show to discuss the Starmer's announcement, and the fire that killed at least 59 people in North Macedonia.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The UK. We go and Gavin greg Good morning to
you either Andrew. Terrible fire in the nightclub in North Macedonia.
People killed and people arrested for courting it.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Yes, that's right, I'm afraid really groomed death toll on
the rise. It's at least fifty nine people with ages
so far between fourteen and twenty four years old in
a nightclub, one hundred and fifty five injured, eighteen said
to be critical condition with burns. What we believe happened
is one five hundred people packed into and around the

(00:33):
Pulse nightclub in a town roughly one hundred kilometers east
of the capital of North Macedonia, towards the sort of
towards the border with Bulgaria, and they were there to
see a hip hop duo called d NK. Now, the
problem is it appears that during the concert there was

(00:54):
a pyrotechnic device. Sparks from that hit the ceiling, and
the ceiling was made of highly flammable material and it
just went up incredibly quickly, say our witnesses, and of
course there was a stampede for the exit, so it
really really awful. We believe the government is set to
declare seven days in national mourning and now demand urgent

(01:15):
inspections of all nightclubs and restaurants used to host large gatherings.
And yes, we do believe that four arrest warrants have
been issued and one person so far has been arrested.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
It just reminds me of a story out of America.
And this is like twenty years ago Ben called Great
White were playing, They had pyrotechnics and a one hundred
people died. More than one hundred people died. You just
don't do pirate technics indoors, particularly in the smaller venues.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
But there we go.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
So apparently the United Kingdom is now into an operational
phase in Ukraine.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yes, so there was that phone call, wasn't there a
virtual call between hosted by the British Prime Minister, but
involving New Zealand, Australia, Canada, members of the Comnwealth, but
also nearly two dozen European countries too, with Japan as
well apparently set to offer assistance for what's being called
the Coalition of the Willing. What we mean, we mean
that if and when there is a cease far between

(02:06):
Ukraine and Russia, that the Coalition of the Willing really
does think there needs to be some kind of a
peacekeeping force on site. America says it's not convinced, but
plenty of people who simply do not trust Vladimir Putin
to stay out of Ukraine even after that cease far.
So we're going to, I think, get more details on Thursday.

(02:28):
We're due to have a meeting of military leaders to
put what are being called strong and robust plans in place. However,
I have to be honest Andrew, some of the details
on this are really sketchy. It all sounds promising, but
until there is actually this agreement, and then until the
coalition has got its act together with exactly what it's
going to offer, we won't really know how effective. It is.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Kevin Gray out of the UK.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
I thank you for more Familily edition with Ryan Bridge.
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