Ryan Bridge: Putin and Trump decide their fate

You've got to feel for Zelensky on weeks like this. 

Friday's the big day. Putin will fly to Alaska and meet Trump for cup of tea and biscuit. 

They'll negotiate the terms of ceasefire for what the Russians are calling a 'Ukraine crisis', rather than a bloody war they started. 

The body count is as astonishing as the fact there's a war raging in Europe in 2025. 

One million Russian soldiers killed or injured. 400k Ukrainian casualties, including between 60 and 100k dead. 

Moscow now occupies 20% of the country. 

And the guy responsible for this hellfire is not being dragged by soldiers into an international criminal court to face charges, he's about to be welcome, wined and dined by the most powerful man in the world to discuss terms for a ceasefire, which includes keeping land he's not entitled to. 

If we put ourselves in Ukrainian shoes for a second, if war returns to the Pacific theatre. 

It would be like Washington and Beijing meeting to decide that China can keep and occupy all the land north of Auckland simply because they took it. 

And you're meant to sit back grateful that at least the fighting will stop? 

Ukrainians certainly aren't ready to roll over on territory. 

The Europeans are huddling round Zelensky now to give him some moral support. 

But, they need more than huddles and handshakes to bandage over what must feel like an insult to their country and sovereignty - two global superpowers meeting far, far away in Alaska to decide their fate.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you've got a feel for Vodimir Zelenski. On weeks

(00:03):
like this, Saturday is the big day Friday their times,
Saturday hours, Putin will fly to Alaska and meet with
Trump for a cup of tea in a biscuit. Lovely,
they will hash out the terms of a ceasefire for
what the Russians are calling the Ukraine crisis, rather than
a bloody war that they started. The body count is astonishing.

(00:24):
It's as astonishing as the fact that there is a
war raging in Europe. In twenty twenty five, one million
Russian soldiers have been killed or injured, four hundred thousand
for the Ukrainian side, including sixty to one hundred thousand dead.
The Russians now occupy about twenty percent of Ukraine. And

(00:45):
the guy responsible for this hell fire is not being
dragged by some soldiers into an international criminal court to
face charges. No, he's about to be welcomed, wined and
dined by the most powerful man in the world to
discuss the terms for as Sea, which includes keeping land
that is not entitle to If we put ourselves in

(01:06):
Ukrainian shoes for just a second, if war was to
return to the Pacific theater. It would be like Washington
and Beijing meeting to decide that China can keep and
occupy all of the land north of Auckland simply because
they took it, and you meant to sit back and
be grateful that at least the fighting will stop. Ukrainians

(01:27):
certainly aren't ready to roll over on territory. The Europeans
are huddling around Zelenski now to give them some moral support,
but they need more than cuddles and handshakes to bandage
over what must feel like an insult to their country
and to their sovereignty. Two global superpowers meeting far far

(01:47):
away in Alaska and deciding the fate of their nation.
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