Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on the latest in negotiations for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine

Ukraine and the US are signalling they're nearing a proposal to end the war as Russia maintains its uncompromising position. 

Ukrainian and US officials have negotiated details of a proposed 28-point peace plan in Switzerland. 

A US official's told reporters Ukraine has agreed to a peace deal, but there were still some minor details to be sorted out. 

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking it appears several key issues have still been set aside, including the new territorial boundaries, the size of an ongoing Ukrainian military, and the proposed ban on NATO troops inside Ukraine.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Richard Arnold, good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Now we got a deal, but who's agreed to?

Speaker 1 (00:04):
What were why win and have?

Speaker 3 (00:06):
Well let me start with the military side, so we
can you call it a peace process when Putin has
just blitzed the Ukrainian capital of Kiev with more than
five hundred missiles and drones through the night in a
barrow that went on for more than six hours.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
That certainly caught people's attention. There.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Two residential towers have been hit, along with power stations.
At least seven people have been killed and the damage
to buildings and systems extensive. Seven of Kiev's main districts
now are having power disruptions, so it is brutal. What
is happening on the diplomatic side is that the US
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who was part of the talks
earlier this week in Geneva with the Europeans and Ukrainians,
now has gone off to Abadhabi and the UAE, the

(00:41):
head of Ukrainian intel also is there, and there was
a chance they say that they could meet with Russian
officials as well, and that Lensky might turn up in
Washington soon. So how is this to be assessed? Have
the Russian shifted in any aspect. Here's what their foreign
minister Lavov is saying.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
We have tunnels of communication with American colleagues and they
are being used, and we are awaiting their version, which
they consider an interim version, in terms of completing the
phase of coordinating this text with the Europeans and Ukrainians.
Then we will see, because if the spirit and letter
of anchorage are lost in the key understandings we have documented,

(01:19):
then of course the situation will be fundamentally different.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
Well, the so called spirit of anchorage is that Putin
wasn't giving an inch, and it appears that several of
the key issues still have been set aside, including the
new territorial boundaries as signement, ongoing Ukrainian military and the
most ban on NATO troops inside Ukraine.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
So that's a number of it, really, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Meantime, Marco Rubio, the U Eberseecutive State, has been pretty active.
Trump deadline of Ukrainian deal by this Friday or else
has been set aside. The initial negotiating program of twenty
eight points, mostly laid out by Russia, has been trimmed
back to nineteen points. What they are they're not spelling
out while Ukraine is trying to keep in favor with
Trump by saying they are ready to deal with Ukraine.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Zelenski says as well, un legal recognition for what he
has solid.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, not clear that has changed, right, And then we
come to the Pentagon, who were it's a formal reviewer,
I think is the official term into Mark Kelly.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, well, we'll see.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
It is ongoing the Trump revenge campaign against his political foes.
The latest target, yes, is the military hero, former astronaut
now Senator Mark Kelly. He is responding to trump assertions
that he should be executed for saying in a video.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
That US troops should refuse illegal orders.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Well, the White House begets that word illegal when they're responding,
but that is simply the law. Why the senator thought
it was a brilliant idea to put it in a
video as a bort of speculation. But the Pentagon now
is investigating Kelly for possible military breaches, Senator Kelly saying,
this is just intimidation.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
I said something that was pretty simple and non controversial,
and that was that members of the military should follow
the law. And in response to that, Donald Trump said
I should be executed. I should be hanged.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
All this seems to be just diversions. As Killy says.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
Also, I've had a missile blow up next to my airplane.
I've been shot down, nearly shot down multiple times. I've
flown a rocket ship into space four times, built by
the lowest bidder. And my wife, Gabby Gifford's meeting with
their constituents shot in the head, six people killed around her,
a horrific thing. She spent six months in the hospital.

(03:31):
We know what political violence is and we know what
causes it too. You know, the statements that Donald Trump
made is insightful, incites others. He's got millions of supporters.
People listen to what he says more so than anybody
else in the country, and he should be careful with
his words.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
So turn it down. Good luck with that.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
I'm seeing the couple of guys appreciate it. For more
from the Mic Hosking Breakfast, listen live to news talks.
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