Ukraine Talks, U.S. Health Agency Cuts, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Fallout

0:02Top foreign policy officials from the U.S. and Russia meet in Saudi Arabia today. Yeah, Ukraine isn't invited, but ending the war is a primary focus. What's on the bargaining table without Ukraine present? I'm A. Martinez. That's Leila Faddle. And this is Up First from NPR News. The country's health agencies have not been spared from federal job cuts. Regardless of whether they were filling an important role or how they were performing in that role. We'll hear what people were told about why they were let go. And the governor of New York may try to remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office.

0:40Controversy surrounding the mayor has deepened since four of his top aides and deputy mayors announced that they will resign. What Mayor Adams is saying about his own future. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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2:22Rinse. It's time to be great. Today, in Saudi Arabia, U.S. and Russian diplomats met to discuss ways to end Russia's war in Ukraine. After the meeting, which was billed as Peace Talks, the U.S. delegation, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, addressed reporters. We agreed on what the goal is. The goal is to bring an end to this conflict in a way that's fair, enduring, sustainable, and acceptable to all parties involved. Joining us to talk about what was achieved and what wasn't is NPR's Russia correspondent Charles Maines. Good morning, Charles. Hi there. Okay, so this meeting just wrapped up.

2:58What can you tell us? Well, the meeting was a direct result of that phone call last week between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which these two leaders agreed to pursue this negotiated end to the war in Ukraine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as we heard, headed the U.S. delegation, along with White House Envoy Steve Witkoff, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz as well, who said that they showed up determined to get things done. President Trump is determined to move very quickly. We just had a head of state phone call, the first in years. And here we are less than a week later at the highest level of the U.S.

3:34and Russian government. And we expect to continue to drive that pace. Now, these talks paced out at about four and a half hours. Both sides described them as positive, as serious. They also made clear this was just an initial step towards more negotiations to end the war. They didn't expect to solve it in one day. But Charles, notably Ukrainian and European officials were absent today. Did either side address that? Yeah, no, that's right. Ukraine was not even invited, although both Trump and the Kremlin say Ukraine will be involved in some way at some point. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned Kiev won't recognize any deals that are done without Ukraine.

4:11And Europe, of course, has been upset about being sidelined, an issue they see as key to European security. Yet the American delegation, Waltz in particular, pushed back against this idea that somehow Kiev or Europe was being ignored. He said, no, this was just shuttle diplomacy. You talk to different sides and pass on what they have to say. Now, given the atmosphere you describe, are we witnessing something more here? Is this a reset between the U.S. and Russia? Well, it certainly feels like it's headed that direction. Both sides say they would move forward with plans for a meeting between Trump and Putin.

4:43They've now agreed to meet face-to-face. So by all accounts, Russia's isolation over its actions in Ukraine appear over. In fact, after the talks, Lavrov spoke about how it wasn't normal for big countries like the U.S. and Russia to not engage as they hadn't during the Biden years. But things were different now. So here he says that the talks were useful. And for the first time in a long time, Russia felt not just heard, but listened to. Okay, following these talks, do we have any sense of what the outlines of a deal might look like? Well, President Trump has said Ukraine must give up both its NATO ambitions and territory to Moscow.

5:19These are two key Russian demands that have really fed fears that Ukraine won't have a say in its own future. But Secretary of State Rubio, as we heard in that intro, says he wants a deal acceptable to all parties. How that works, where borders are drawn, I don't think anybody knows, including Rubio. But there's clearly a concern in Ukraine that while Kiev wants a just peace, Trump just wants peace. And because of that, and because Moscow has the upper hand both on the battlefield and around the negotiating table, they're nervous. NPR's Russia correspondent Charles Maines, thank you for your reporting.

5:50Thank you.

5:57The Trump administration has begun making broad cuts to federal health agencies. Yeah, more than 1 ,000 employees got letters terminating their employment at the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. NPR's Ping Wong joins us now to discuss. Good morning, Ping. Good morning, Leila. So what will staffers of these agencies find as they get back to work from the three-day weekend? You know, they're not really clear. They're going back to the office today, and they don't really know who to expect or who they're going to see.

6:30That's because over the weekend, around 1 ,000 people got fired from NIH, around 750 from CDC. Some people are also let go from FDA, though we're not sure how many at this point. And I do want to note that those numbers are quite a bit lower than what was expected. We heard some people that told us that they had been told on Friday they were going to lose their jobs but haven't gotten a letter yet. And we heard that some of those jobs were saved at the last minute because they were considered essential. but people in leadership say they're really not clear what the criteria was. Do we know who was cut?

7:02So we know some were people that were working to ensure medical devices are safe at FDA. Others were diagnosing the causes of outbreaks at CDC, and there were many, many others. What they seemed to have in common was that they were mostly probationary employees, so people who were new to the agency or just moved to a different job. They were serving a one - or two-year trial period, and they have fewer worker protections. He spoke with Steve Monroe, a senior official who retired from CDC in 2021. He says it seems short-sighted to just ask the people that are easier to fire. Regardless of whether they were filling an important role in the organization or how they were performing in that role, we're just going to fire everybody who's been here for less than a year.

7:46He says it's also bad for development and for morale. Well, on that point of performance, how much do we know about why they were fired? Well, the letters that they received, and we've seen a few of them, they're all very similar. They came from the Department of Health and Human Services, which is the agency that oversees all the health agencies now led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And the letters do say, quote, you are not fit for continued employment with the agency and, quote, your performance has not been adequate. It ends their employment on March 14th and says they're going to be put on administrative leave until then.

8:19But we know for a fact that many of the people who got this letter had recently received stellar performance reviews from their workplace. One from CDC had recently received an award of excellence for their work preventing animals with infectious diseases like rabies from entering the country. It's not clear why these employees were told their performance was inadequate, but many have responded with documentation of their high performance. So where does this leave the agencies? Well, it's been a really confusing and chaotic time. Workers say that they feel demoralized, vilified, characterized as lazy by some in the Trump administration when they and their colleagues say that they work really hard to serve and protect the public.

8:56And they see this as just the first wave. They're expecting more cuts, deeper restructuring to come. Even workers with full protections think they could be next. You know, they've been canceling their Netflix accounts, reducing retirement contributions to save a little money in case they find themselves fired, too. NPR's Ping Wong. Thank you, Ping. You're welcome.

9:23New York Governor Kathy Hochul says she may use her authority to force New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office. That announcement came after four of Adams' most trusted aides, including the city's first deputy mayor, announced yesterday they're quitting. Turmoil in New York escalated after the U.S. Department of Justice dropped corruption charges against Adams. And critics say that move was part of the deal to secure Adams' help with President Trump's deportation policies. NPR's Brian Mann has been following all of this and joins me now. Hi, Brian. Hi, Laila. So what did Governor Hochul say?

9:56Well, in a statement, Hochul said she spoke with Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, one of Adams' top aides who's resigning. And that conversation left Hochul with, and I'm quoting here, serious questions about the long-term future of this mayoral administration. Hochul acknowledged no governor in the last 235 years has used their authority to oust an elected mayor of New York City. But Hochul then pointed to the crisis in City Hall, which she said is troubling and cannot be ignored. So Hochul now says she'll meet with key leaders in Manhattan later today for what she describes as a conversation about the path forward.

10:32Now, four top Adams aides are quitting. How big a deal is that? Yeah, it's huge. It's a wipeout of Mayor Adams' top leadership. And this clearly got Hochul's attention. New York City is a complicated place to govern under the best of circumstances. And those departing hold key roles, dealing with everything from the city's infrastructure to the ongoing challenges from migrants arriving in the city. These were really the people keeping things on track. While Adams faced those DOJ criminal charges, now they're headed out the door. It's important to remember, too, Layla, this isn't the first wave of departures.

11:06Other key city leaders have also gone. Yeah, I mean, and this case has been mired in controversy, Brian. We saw a slew of resignations at the Department of Justice over its decision to drop the charges against Mayor Eric Adams. Just remind us what Adams was accused of and why the DOJ suspended the case. Yeah, in September, the DOJ laid out a sweeping case against Adams, alleging he used the power of various city offices over nearly a decade to solicit lavish vacations and improper campaign contributions. Some of the bribes allegedly came from foreign agents working for Turkey. Adams has denied any wrongdoing and said the charges were political retribution for his criticism of the Biden administration's immigration policies.

11:48He never offered any evidence to support those claims. This month, the DOJ moved to shelve this case, saying a criminal trial would prevent Adams from helping the Trump administration deal with migrants in the city who don't have legal status. As you say, that decision by the Justice Department was so controversial, at least seven top federal attorneys have resigned. Any sign that Adams plans to step down? You know, he's facing intense pressure to go. Hochul's statement and these latest resignations raise the temperature even more. But speaking on Sunday at a Baptist church, the mayor was defiant.

12:23And I want you to be clear. You're going to hear so many rumors and so many things. You're going to read so much. I am going nowhere. Nowhere. And in a statement Layla sent to NPR, Adam said he's disappointed by these latest departures, but the city will keep functioning. The situation, of course, moving very quickly. We'll see what moves Governor Hochul makes later today. NPR's Brian Mann following developments in New York City, I'm sure, will have you back on soon. Thank you, Brian. Thank you.

12:59And that's Up First for Tuesday, February 18th. I'm Leila Faldin. And I'm A Martinez. How about giving Consider This a try? The team behind NPR's All Things Considered goes deep into a single news story in just 15 minutes. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get those podcasts. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Ryland Barton, Jane Greenhall, Denise Rios, Rina Advani, and Jenea Williams. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Join us again tomorrow.

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