Zelensky open to wartime election

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

0:48I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Wednesday 10th December, these are our main stories. President Zelensky says he's ready to change Ukrainian law to allow elections to be held under martial law. Donald Trump lashes out at European allies, calling them decaying nations led by weak people who fail to control immigration. And M23 rebels reportedly enter a strategic town in eastern Congo, despite a recent ceasefire with the army. Also in this podcast, the BBC visits Sierra Leone, where children are going from classrooms to gold mines and... They must be inhaling terabytes of information because their sense of smell is so cute.

1:36They're probably smelling emotions, smelling things that happen that we can only dimly understand. We look back on the life of the so-called elephant whisperer.

1:51After Donald Trump claimed that President Zelensky was using war not to hold an election, the Ukrainian leader has said he's ready to do just that, if security can be guaranteed during it. Look, I am ready for the elections. Not only that, but I am now asking, and I am saying this openly, for the United States to help me, possibly together with our European colleagues, to ensure security for those elections. Then in the next 60 to 90 days, Ukraine will be ready to hold elections. I personally have the will and readiness to do so. Mr Zelensky was elected in 2019, but has remained in post because martial law was declared, suspending the need for elections in a democracy during a time of war.

2:37Hannah Shellest is a foreign policy analyst with the think tank Ukrainian Prism. Even a year ago, President Zelensky said that he's ready for elections as soon as the conditions allow, because they were statements originally from the European Union calling for the elections. then. The U.S. president already spoke about this. And he said that he doesn't have any problems with this. The question is how to create conditions in addition to the fact that martial law legally prohibits to have elections in Ukraine. But just technically, one million soldiers at the front line, four million refugees, plenty of the absolutely unsecured places and strikes.

3:13So you cannot guarantee the security of the polling stations, first of all, not speaking about the whole process. But if it is the main condition of the United States to continue helping Ukraine, theoretically, everything can be done. Svitislav Yorash is the youngest member of parliament from President Zelensky's Servant of the People Party. The whole point is the reality of the elections is impossible without various measures and various means, such as much more advanced anti-air systems that will try and protect Ukrainians that are going to the polls over the country. Russians have attacked everywhere around the country and there is no reason to think they want to attack on the election day, whatever the election day may be.

3:58The reality is it's not just a question of what America wants. The question is what will guarantee this peace lasting. My colleague Alex Ritson has been speaking to our reporter Will Vernon. Well, I think there was one really interesting key bit of what Mr Zelensky said. He said, I'm asking the US and Europe to guarantee the security of these elections. If they do this, he said, Ukraine could hold elections within 60 days. Now, it's difficult to see how exactly the West could do that, right? Guarantee security without doing something like imposing a no-fly zone or sending in peacekeepers. And it's highly unlikely that the Western countries will do that.

4:35So what exactly does President Zelensky mean by guaranteeing the security? Could he actually just be trying to sound accommodating to President Trump, you know, who demanded that Ukraine hold elections? Or will he actually ask Parliament to change the law? Obviously, it's a war zone. What are the problems with holding an election now? And is he vulnerable to interference? Well, if the elections do happen, I think that's a really big if at this stage. Obviously, it's incredibly difficult to hold elections during wartime. You know, it's difficult enough to keep people safe in Kiev if they're going, you know, around to polling stations.

5:11What about the frontline areas? They're just being hammered constantly by bombs and missiles and artillery. You've then got the issue of hundreds of thousands of servicemen and women on the frontline. You know, what do you do about them and voting for them? And there's the people in the occupied territories. You know, are you going to disenfranchise them by not providing any sort of, you know, system for them to vote? So there are a lot of questions of how you would possibly do this. And yet Donald Trump, of course, has been questioning to a degree the democratic legitimacy of President Zelensky.

5:41Is that behind this? I think that's a really key question. Why did Donald Trump call for these elections? We hear this demand that elections should be held in Ukraine a lot, but we only hear it coming from one place, and that is Moscow. And that's because the Kremlin don't want Zelensky in power. They don't see him as a legitimate president, and they want to undermine him as much as possible in the eyes of Donald Trump. So I think a lot of people will see this as another tactic by the Kremlin to try and use this process of peace proposals and negotiations and back and forth and this and that to try and drive a wedge between America on one side and Ukraine and Europe on the other.

6:23Will Vernon. President Putin has hosted more than 200 military personnel and civilians on Russia's annual Heroes of the Fatherland Day, which honours people who've shown what the Kremlin calls extraordinary courage and heroism. Our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg reports. The Kremlin continues to tell the Russian people that in its war on Ukraine, Russia is victim, not aggressor, liberator, not invader, and that its soldiers are heroes.

6:57On Hero of the Fatherland Day, President Putin gave awards to Russian troops back from the front line. Our strength and our victories stem from a sincere love for our country, said the man who'd ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago. Despite Russia suffering huge losses in its war and the damage to Russia's economy, Vladimir Putin is exuding confidence. Fueled by recent success on the battlefield and by the pressure President Trump appears to be putting on Ukraine to make concessions to Moscow. There were ceremonies across Russia. In the town of Chekhov, we watched officials, students and war veterans lay incarnations at a World War II memorial.

7:50At the local cultural centre, schoolchildren were being shown around an exhibition of Russian weapons and food parcels for the front. Irina helps prepare them. Does she trust Donald Trump and the US peace plan? I listen more to what our president says, Irina tells me. I trust him more. This will definitely end with our victory. It will be on our terms. That is certainly what the Kremlin wants. Steve Rosenberg. There's been no let-up by the US president on criticising Europe and its leaders. Last week, he unveiled a new national security strategy document, which suggested Europe was facing a civilisation erasure and blamed the EU for blocking US efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine.

8:44Now speaking to Politico, he's doubled down. Most European nations, they're decaying. They're decaying. You can imagine some leaders in Europe are a little freaked out by what your posture is. No, they should be freaked out by what they're doing to their countries. They're destroying their countries. He also said Europe couldn't control immigration. They're people I like. I get along with them. You know that. But they can't let this happen. And it gets to a point where you can't really correct it. It will mean that they're no longer going to be strong nations. Does that mean they won't be allies?

9:23Or they'll be, well, it depends, you know, it depends. They'll change their ideology, obviously, because the people coming in have a totally different ideology, but it's going to make them much weaker. European leaders, understandably, are not very happy. Chancellor Friedrich Mertz of Germany particularly criticised the national security strategy and its suggestion the US would help save European democracy. Michael Gala echoed that view. He's a member of the European Parliament and on the Foreign Affairs Committee. We do not need any lecturing from the US as far as the state of our democracy is concerned.

9:58We are, as a European Union, a democratic union. We are democratically elected. We are legitimate. We should not try to keep an erratic president happy only to find out in the next moment that he is much closer to Putin than, for instance, to us or for Ukraine. So what is Donald Trump's game plan? Our North America correspondent is David Willis. It's classic Donald Trump, I think, Charlotte, isn't it? And we previously heard similar criticism from the US Vice President, J.D. Vance. Donald Trump is particularly unimpressed by Europe's immigration policies. He's making no secret of that. And he's taken a tough line on the issue here, of course, because he believes that European governments are weak in the way that they have dealt with that issue and as a result that they have seen their cities disfigured by the influx of migrants.

10:52He described cities such as London and Paris as creaking under the burden of migration from the Middle East and Africa and added that without a change in border policy, some European states will not be viable countries any longer. And he singled out Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim to become mayor of London, as a disaster, directly linking his election, that's the election of Mr Khan, to the influx of migrants from other countries. It is, of course, a controversial view and widely at odds with those in Europe. I mean, has there been any pushback at all? I mean, imagine a lot of Democrats aren't happy with what he said about these traditional allies.

11:39But are people within his own party unhappy about this? Little so far, I have to say. And I think we are seeing muted pushback from European leaders as well. Britain's prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, rejected the suggestion that Europe talked about Ukraine, for example, but didn't produce anything. while the German Chancellor, Friedrich Mertz, who said he saw no need for the Americans to want to save democracy in Europe, we can manage that on our own, said Mr. Mertz. But like Republicans in Congress, Charlotte, European leaders have to tread a careful line between responding to this harsh language on the part of the American president whilst avoiding alienating their strongest ally.

12:31Friedrich Mertz summed it up, saying the question of what this means for our security cooperation is obviously the most important question. It confirms my assessment, said Mr Mertz, that we in Europe must become much more independent from the US in terms of security policy going forward. That was David Willis. Every five years or so, the UN works with hundreds of scientists to publish a report analysing major threats to the environment. This year warns of a dire future, unless there's a rapid move away from coal, oil and gas and fossil fuel subsidies. But it's the first time the report has been published without a politically negotiated summary, after some government representatives refused to accept its conclusions.

13:18A senior UN official told the BBC the report had been hijacked by the US and other rich countries. Our environment correspondent, Matt McGrath, has been reading the report. There's a weighty tome stretching to 1100 pages. And it says that the world is suffering from these severe and interlinked environmental crisis, climate change, land degradation, pollution, and so on. And it says they've become more than just environmental crisis. There are now security concerns. There are now economic crises. There are human health issues as well. And tackling them will require really big political courage and big resources.

13:54The key thing, you know, in these reports, these UN reports, these big weighty things, is this summary, because it signifies that governments are rowing in behind the science, they're accepting the recommendations, and they will put into practice what the report says. That hasn't happened with this report, because the United States and Saudi Arabia, Russia, and other countries objected to the issue of fossil fuels being phased out or phased down, as has been said in many other negotiation forums, the end of plastics and this major economic transformation. And this idea of transformation, moving economies away from this kind of GDP and the way economies work to a kind of a type of economy that doesn't necessarily measure things in that way or doesn't use fossil fuels in the same way and reduces fossil fuel subsidies was a major point for these countries.

14:41And they objected to going along with it. And as a result, there was no summary for policymakers. And the report is somewhat weakened as a result. Matt McGrath. Four Afghan men have been arrested for posting videos wearing outfits inspired by the BBC TV series Peaky Blinders, which is set in England after the First World War. The Taliban said the men were spreading foreign culture. Azadeh Mishiri has the details. In videos on social media, the four men are dressed in flat caps and three-piece suits, adorned with golden chains, like those attached to pocket watches. They're posing, and some of them are dangling cigars.

15:20The Taliban government told the BBC their clothing was in conflict with Afghan and Islamic values. A spokesman said even jeans would have been acceptable, but argued the values in Peaky Blinders were against Afghan culture. After they were called into the ministry, local media aired an interview in which the men thanked officials for their advice. The BBC could not verify under what circumstances this interview was recorded. Since the Taliban seized power more than four years ago, they've imposed a number of restrictions on daily life, including on social media content. Azadeh Mishiri. Still to come, an autistic sculpture artist making history with her bold and captivating pieces.

16:05Naina winning the Turner Prize is everything. She's a real role model, but has broken a proper glass ceiling.

16:18If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

16:56Despite signing a ceasefire in the US just days ago, fighting between the Congolese army and M23 rebels is continuing in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Rwandan-backed militants are now reported to have fought their way into a strategic town, considered the government's last major foothold in the region. Our reporter David Bamford is following developments. So the latest reports coming out of eastern Congo is that the M23 rebels, who are Rwanda-backed, have reached the city of Uvira. Now, Uvira is the very last government-held settlement in South Kivu province. It's well south of the cities that they took a year ago, which were on the Rwandan border.

17:43And so the latest reports suggest that the government army is just running away. I mean, it seems like the ceasefire, I mean, it's not working. There's no point to it. I don't think realistically there ever was any prospect of a ceasefire. The M23 rebels certainly haven't got the memo about a ceasefire. What happened in Washington with the Washington Accords, the leaders of Rwanda, who are supposed to be backing the rebels, and the leader of Congo, they signed this ceasefire agreement. Basically, that hasn't happened. The rebels have continued to go south. And there are mixed reports about to what extent they've actually entered the city.

18:21There's about 700 ,000 people live there. It was held by both government troops and Wazalendo fighters. Wazalendo is a militia that supports the government. But the latest report suggests that they have left. and the rebels say they're going to maintain stability there. They're not saying they're invading the place. And as you said there, 700 ,000 civilians who presumably are terrified and they're also exhausted by this conflict. Yes, and thousands are said to have been crossing into nearby Burundi. But as the rebels move south into the city, they're going to be blocking off that escape road into Burundi.

19:04So it's difficult to know where the remaining population would be able to flee to after that point. David Bamford. Sierra Leone is known for its abundant natural resources, including gold. And with an estimated 60 % of people living in poverty, mining is seen as a financial lifeline, despite dangerous and illegal conditions. But it's not just adults heading down the pits. It's children as well, with sometimes deadly results. Godwin Asadiba sent this report.

19:38These are the sound of a village in shock and grief. Two boys, 16-year-old Mohammed and 17-year-old Yaya, died yesterday when an abandoned gold mining pit collapsed. Yaya's mother, Namina, shows me pictures of her son, the boy who supported her after her husband died. Today, these images are all that remain of him. I wept and begged them to call the excavator driver. When he arrived, they cleared the debris that had buried my children. It's not easy for me. It's my child. He's the one that helped me at the man in sight. Sa and Tsumana, a local activist, says this isn't an isolated tragedy. He says five children have died in this region alone, in the last three years.

20:32Some parents, they will tell you there is no alternative. They are poor, they are widows, they are single parents. They have to take care of the kids. But when there is no alternative, so they themselves encourage the children. Even a day after the funeral, children return to the pits. In the sweltering heat, they dig for a few grams of gold, hoping for a better life, but trapped by poverty. So why didn't you go back to school then? That is no money. That is why I'm here. We're now trying to find some so we can sit for exams next year. Komba earns in a week what many earn in a month, just$35. The work is bug-breaking and dangerous, but for him, there's no alternative.

21:18On average, Komba and his colleagues extract four carat of gold a day, though today only two were found. Every gram comes at a cost, though, particularly for his education.

21:35Education is free until age 14, but poverty pulls children from classrooms into pits. Even volunteer teachers sometimes abandon lessons to mine alongside students, chasing survival over study. Teachers as well leave classes to go to the miners. Are there times that they go to meet some of their students there? Well, they are mining together. The mining sites are almost... You know, the community go to mine at a specific site. They meet with their teachers there. Illegal mining towns have sprung up in the past two years. The government says it is trying to regain control and return children to school.

22:17It's just a question of survival sometimes. If you're a kid, you need to eat. You need to fend for your family. But I think it's fair to say that we are making progress and changing the incentive nature that allows kids to stay in school. Back in Yembadou, Mohamed and Yaya rest side by side. With opportunities so few, illegal mining threatens both the lives and futures of children across this region. That was Godwin Asadiba. Now, you may not have heard of Ian Douglas Hamilton, but the 83-year-old zoologist who died on Monday in Kenya did more than perhaps anyone on the planet to change our understanding of elephant behaviour.

23:09He also, in the words of one obituary, did all in his power to ensure the survival of Africa's elephants in the face of sustained human avarice and aggression for more than six decades. Here he is speaking in 2009 in the BBC documentary The Secret Life of Elephants, describing a herd who found the corpse of another. There are very few animals that show a concern about dead animals or indeed even recognise the dead of their own species. But the extraordinary thing is how much they seem to care. They must be inhaling terabytes of information because their sense of smell is so cute and they have such huge areas of their brain to process it.

23:57They're probably smelling emotions, smelling things that happen that we can only dimly understand. Dr Joyce Poole from the organisation Elephant Voices worked with Ian Douglas Hamilton for decades. She's been speaking to my colleague, Tim Franks. I met him when I was 19 years old in 1975. And I had just read his and Aurea's book Among the Elephants. He was among that first sort of cadre of biologists who went out and studied animals that they knew individually. And that's what really led to our understanding that elephants are so long lived, they live in families and that mothers and daughters stay together for life and so on.

24:44He went from that landmark study to then recording something far, far more depressing. And that was, he used the term Holocaust, the mass slaughter of elephants through the 1970s and 1980s and pioneered scientific techniques to prove what was going on, didn't he? Yeah, absolutely. And I actually, I worked quite closely with him during part of that time. But yes, Ian was, you know, counting elephants and counting elephants deaths and came up with his, the carcass ratio that really documented the slaughter that was going on across Africa. used a lot of the data that he had collected secretly preparing a proposal for CITES that eventually ended up banning the trade.

25:39And also changing people's minds, you know, reaching out to the public because just the ban in itself, you know, just CITES marking it with their, you know, stamp or putting them on appendix, one wasn't going to change anything if you didn't reach the hearts and minds of people and convince them that wearing ivory was not something that you should do. And I think that Ian just had such a flair. He was such a charismatic person. So that combination of that scientific inquiring mind and his very charismatic personality, he was able to touch all the bases, as it were. But the thing is, you know, one could get annoyed with him sometimes because he was like an overgrown boy in some ways.

26:26But he had such a twinkle in his eye and, you know, such a devilish smile that you could never be angry with him for long. And he had also clearly such a deep appreciation for the animals that he was studying. And, you know, he named the elephants. Yes, Ian named his elephants and we have gone on to do the same, all of us. and such personalities. And of course, I've now experienced some of the same terrifying and also incredibly gentle elephants. Dr Joyce Paul. Finally, one of the most prestigious art awards in the world has for the first time been won by an artist with a learning disability. Naina Kaloo took home the Turner Prize for her colourful and intricate sculptures and drawings.

27:19Organisers of the prize, which is open only to artists from the UK, described it as a milestone moment. Here's our culture editor, Katie Razzle. And the winner is Nena Kalu. A historic win for a learning disabled artist who has limited verbal communication. The prize, say the judges, was awarded on merit for what the jury chairman said were really compelling sculptures and drawings that could only be made by Nena.