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Zelenskyy to Speak after Virtual Meeting with Trump, E.U.; Trump and Putin to Meet in Alaska on Friday; Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov to Attend Trump-Putin Summit; E.U. Insists Ukraine Must Attend Next Meeting; Zelenskyy Insists on Ceasefire First, then Security Guarantees; IDF Says It Struck Armed Men Posing as Aid Workers in Gaza; Prince Harry and Meghan Extend Netflix Deal. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired August 13, 2025 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN London, this is CONNECT THE WORLD
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to our second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Christina Macfarlane in
London, where the time is just after 3 pm.
Ukraine's President Zelenskyy and European leaders are meeting virtually with president Trump ahead of his highly anticipated summit with Vladimir
Putin.
A U.N. program officer inside of Gaza tells me about the dire humanitarian crisis on the ground for women and girls in particular and her own personal
struggles as a mother trying to keep her own family safe.
And president Trump is trying to make his mark on the U.S. capital city, Washington, D.C., ramping up a military presence and putting his stamp on
America's cultural institutions.
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MACFARLANE: We are waiting to hear from Ukraine's president after a virtual meeting that's been taking place this past hour with U.S. president
Donald Trump and European leaders.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will talk alongside German chancellor Friedrich Merz, who greeted him earlier and is hosting a series of meetings today,
including one where European leaders talked before president Trump joined them.
Those leaders have expressed concern that Russian president Vladimir Putin will make unreasonable demands to end the war on Ukraine when he meets with
president Trump Friday in Alaska.
They also insist that President Zelenskyy should be part of any peace negotiations. Well just ahead of today's meetings, president Trump posted
on social media that the leaders he's talking to with today are "great people who want to see a deal done."
Clare Sebastian is back with me this hour.
Clare, the president there obviously praising these European leaders after what has been a whirlwind week of diplomacy. We're expecting to hear and
hoping to hear from Merz and Volodymyr Zelenskyy maybe any minute now.
Are we gleaning any idea of what what's been going on behind closed doors?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. And I think we will have to wait to hear from these leaders coming out of it, not just the Europeans. And as
you say, we expect to hear from Merz and Zelenskyy. We may hear from other European leaders as well.
But I think watching president Trump's rhetoric out of this, we may get, of course, posts on Truth Social and other appearances will be absolutely
critical.
Because we have seen earlier in this week, after several weeks of much tougher criticism of Vladimir Putin, he directed some criticism earlier in
the week at President Zelenskyy, saying that he severely disagreed with him.
Suggesting even that he was responsible for the war starting and criticizing him for not being willing, based on the Ukrainian constitution,
to cede any land to Russia.
So that was certainly alarming for European leaders and Zelenskyy himself. So I think watching his rhetoric coming out of this will be crucial,
because, of course, we're just two days out from this Alaska summit.
This really is a last-ditch effort for European leaders to try to bring Trump around to their perspective, make sure that Europe, which, of course,
is supposed to be fronting any security guarantees of an eventual peace deal, and Ukraine are not sidelined in any deal.
MACFARLANE: Yes, important to remember what's at stake for Europe here as well. And to your point, I mean, in the leadup to Friday, president Trump
appears to be really downplaying expectations, right. Talking about this now being a listening exercise, which does raise the possibility that
nothing might come from this summit.
SEBASTIAN: Well, precedent would suggest that Russia isn't planning to give any ground at all. And in fact, we heard today from the Russian
foreign ministry and they said, look, we're sticking to our original goals.
They referred back to a speech that President Putin gave in June 2020, for which they constantly refer back to as the fullest explanation of his
goals.
Where he literally says that Ukraine needs to withdraw not only from the territory that Russia occupies in those four regions Donetsk, Luhansk,
Zaporizhzhya and Kherson that it illegally annexed in 2022. But all of those regions, even the parts that Russia doesn't occupy yet.
Obviously that is unacceptable to Ukraine. Zelenskyy has said that ceding any territory is unacceptable to Ukraine. So I think it's very likely that
President Putin will stay, as he has been throughout all of this, consistent.
I think the big question is what will Trump do?
MACFARLANE: Yes. And this is all coming as we are hearing about gains being made on the front lines by Russian troops as early as today.
So with every passing day, the situation is getting more and more critical for the people of Ukraine and the people, of course, living in that Donbas
region, which is being talked about as part of these land swaps.
SEBASTIAN: Yes. I mean, two things, right. Russia wants to take as much land as it possibly can ahead of potentially something happening along the
line of contact as a potential deal. But also, this is a way of putting pressure on the talks. We saw this back in 2014-2015 with the Minsk
accords.
[10:05:00]
The fighting continued right up to -- and in the case of the Minsk accord during the signing of that deal. This is how they try to push through
concessions militarily. So that is crucial to note.
I want to take a note, though, of those live pictures that we're seeing of the room, where Zelenskyy and mount six (ph) are expected to give their
statement, because I think it's quite pointed from the from the point of view of the Ukrainian president that we see not only the Ukrainian and
German flags but also the E.U. flags.
Because I think there's an element of counterprogramming here. This is, of course, a huge part of the point for Ukraine of fighting this war is to
take its place in Europe. And we've seen these flags throughout the day as he's been visiting Germany.
So I think crucial optics, this is not just about an audience of one president Trump but I think the Ukrainian people as well.
MACFARLANE: And we know that as part of this series of meeting the coalition of the willing will be -- will be held, which, of course, between
France, Germany and the U.K. as well.
And to your point about the European flag there, we have seen president Trump kind of delay, walk back. We don't really know where he is on the
issue of secondary sanctions right now on Russia. And if that doesn't move ahead at all, then the ball will be in Europe's court to pick that up and
decide what they want to do.
SEBASTIAN: Yes, I mean, look, big picture for the first three years of this conflict, Europe and the -- and the U.S. moved in lockstep on
sanctions. We always saw coordination. After Trump took office, we saw them diverge.
Europe has put in several packages of sanctions, while the U.S. hasn't. Now look, obviously, the deadline for more secondary sanctions last Friday came
and went with nothing happening.
But we have heard this morning from the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, who said that sanctions are essentially still on the table; depending on
what comes out of this, they could go up. They could go down. I think the U.S. does, on paper, still see this as a lever that they can pull.
MACFARLANE: And as we consider, you know, the conversations that might be being had now behind closed doors, what leverage do the Europeans have to,
you know, to force president Trump to listen to their point of view in the runup to this summit?
SEBASTIAN: So they have to be really careful, I think, because on the one hand, they do have leverage as the countries that, by the U.S.' own design,
will have to front the security guarantees.
But they can't do that. And they've been pretty clear, without the U.S., they need at least some U.S. input, be it intelligence sharing, be it some
kind of coordination, logistics role. So there's that.
There's also sanctions where Europe has leverage, of course, because they've put in a lot of sanctions. So any wholesale lifting of sanctions
will have to, by its very nature, involve Europe. But, of course, trying to force Trump to do something could backfire.
And we've seen how damaging it is for Ukraine. If the U.S. starts to feel like it's being pushed into a corner on this -- we saw this in February in
the Oval Office, which, of course, led to the U.S. for a week suspending military aid to Ukraine.
MACFARLANE: Yes. And there's been a lot of -- I don't know if we'd classify it as anger but discontent from the Europeans toward the U.S.
delegation because of the role that Witkoff has played in this.
And we don't still yet know what arrangements came from that meeting last week, do we?
SEBASTIAN: No, I mean, you know, there was a sense perhaps that maybe there was some misunderstanding from Witkoff over what was offered up by
Putin; confusion, I think one European official called it amateurish, the way it was handled by the U.S.
Again, we heard today from the foreign ministry in Moscow, which said that they are sticking to their original goals, which means that they want
Ukraine to withdraw from those four regions, including parts that Ukraine still control.
So Russia's, you know, demands in this war, throughout these efforts by the Trump administration, to come to some kind of diplomatic arrangement, they
have only become more maximalist. And I think that's worth bearing in mind because, as that has happened, we have also seen the violence escalate.
MACFARLANE: Yes. Clare, stand by. We'll, of course, be bringing you this press conference as and when it happens and reacting to that.
Russia, meanwhile, is dismissing those European consultations ahead of Friday's summit as, quote, "insignificant." Moscow goes on to accuse the
E.U. of trying to sabotage the diplomatic efforts of the U.S. and Russia.
And on the battlefield, as we've been saying, we've been hearing that small groups of Russian troops have pierced parts of Ukraine's defenses in its
Eastern Donetsk region. That's coming from local officials.
A monitoring group says Russia is trying to encircle the key strategic city of Pokrovsk. Moscow appears to be making an 11th hour push to gain as much
territory as possible ahead of Friday's summit. CNN's Fred Pleitgen brings us the view now from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the things, though, Christina, that also seemed very important that the
Russians said earlier today -- and this is that same spokesperson for the foreign ministry.
And that is that the Russians seem to pour cold water on one of the things that president Trump has been saying over the past couple of days, which is
that idea of territorial swaps between territories currently controlled by the Russians and territories currently controlled by the Ukrainians.
That spokesperson there saying that Russia's territory, as he put it, is enshrined in Russia's constitution. And so therefore, Russia is going to be
dealing out of its national interests.
Of course, we know that the Russians have annexed, as they put it, Zaporizhzhya, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and they don't control
all of those territories. So if Vladimir Putin is going to take a hard line, it's very difficult to see him come to some -- come to some
compromise with president Trump on that issue.
[10:10:07]
But certainly the official line right now from the Russians is that, all of those territories, they consider those to be theirs. And that's the
position, their starting position, as they go into that summit, Christina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: That was Fred Pleitgen there.
Well, Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister and co-chair of the European Council of Foreign Relations, joins me now live.
Thank you for your time. As we wait for this press conference to happen, I'm curious to get your view on what might be happening in that room. This,
as we know, represents perhaps the last, best chance for Europeans of getting president Trump to be tough on Putin.
What do you think those discussions are?
And do you think it's going to work?
CARL BILDT, CO-CHAIR, EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Well, whether it's going to work, that we will see on Saturday or the days after
Saturday. There's no way of predicting that. Trump is notably very difficult to predict.
What they will do is, of course, to elaborate further on what you've seen coming out of different statements in the last few days, the basic European
position of support for Ukraine.
Not only the principle of territorial integrity long-term and in principle but also that support for what Mr. Trump has been saying. President Trump,
in calling for a ceasefire and saying that ceasefire should, in that particular case, be based on the existing front lines.
So I think they will repeat these arguments. Different European capitals and Mr. Zelenskyy and see what they can get out of Mr. Trump on what kind
of intention he has, he has with this rather uncertain meeting, to put it mildly. I mean, it's a damage limitation exercise, you might say, from the
European point of view.
MACFARLANE: I mean, you've been in rooms of influence like this before. And we've just been talking just now about how the Europeans have to walk a
bit of a cautious line here in their discussions with president Trump.
What should European leaders and Zelenskyy be saying right now to the U.S. administration that is going to make a difference?
BILDT: Well, I think it is important that they underline the support for the basic Trump position, which is ceasefire. And I mean, go back to the
very beginning of his presidency. He talked about ceasefire, ceasefire, ceasefire and has been returning to that theme several times.
So basic support from the European side and from Ukrainian side for that particular position, that, I think, is absolutely key. That says also to
Trump, we are on the same page as you on this.
But then on what is beyond the ceasefire, peace deal, although that is extremely unrealistic at that point in time, or principles that will be
elaborated, perhaps by Putin and Trump, then they must respect the principles of territorial integrity and the sovereignty and independent
future of Ukraine.
Which is really basically beyond the territorial issue, what it would take.
MACFARLANE: What do you make of the White House tamping down expectations for Friday's summit with Putin by now saying this is primarily a listening
session?
BILDT: Yes, yes, I did notice that. And I think that I fear that might be the case. Putin has, of course, a tendency to go into fairly lengthy
historical exposes on the way he views this particular situation. I don't think Trump has been exposed to those as of yet.
So I think he will be exposed to a lengthy listening exercise with Mr. Putin. And Putin, who has never met -- well, the second term Trump -- will
absolutely use the opportunity to impress on Trump his version of the entire conflict and where the resolution is coming from, the delusional
imperial vision that seems to be driving him.
MACFARLANE: Yes. And the concern is, of course, that this is going to be just two leaders and possibly their translators in a room together. And we
know how malleable president Trump can be. Carl Bildt, it's great to have your analysis as we wait for this press conference to happen there in
Berlin. Thank you so much.
BILDT: Thank you.
MACFARLANE: The world has watched as desperation grows in Gaza and we hear from a U.N. worker in Gaza City about how women and girls are affected and
about her own personal nightmare with displacement.
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MACFARLANE: We want to take you now live to Berlin, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and Chancellor Friedrich Merz are speaking
after meeting behind closed doors with European leaders and Donald Trump.
Let's listen in.
FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: (Speaking foreign language).
MACFARLANE: Unfortunately, as you can hear there, we don't quite have the translation at this moment. We will, of course, bring you this as and when
we get it, this important moment occurring here in Berlin with Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
We have the translation now. Let's listen in.
MERZ (through translator): Welcome. I'm very happy that you're here today so that we were able to have these video conferences.
Today is the 13th of August and that is the day that the wall was built in 1961. Now 64 years later, we know that this was the image of the division
of Germany and of Europe and that we were able to overcome that division.
But since for the last 3.5 years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the full-scale war, we have once again had new divisions. U.S. president Donald
Trump has been having talks about peace, wants to have talks about peace in Ukraine. That will be on Friday in Alaska, where he will be meeting with
President Putin.
And there could be major decisions made in Anchorage. We Europeans are, therefore, doing everything that we can in order to lay the groundwork to
make sure that this meeting goes the right way.
We want president Trump to have success on Friday in Anchorage.
It was important for me in the runup to this meeting in Anchorage to meet with our colleagues from the E.U. as well as our friends in Ukraine and the
U.S. to make sure we talk about the conditions for this meeting.
We first talked in detail about with France, the U.K., Poland, Great Britain and Finland and Italy, as well as Antonio Costa of the European
Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Mark Rutte.
We also involved Zelenskyy from the very beginning and we are very happy to have done that. Working together with president Trump, we spoke with him
and we will also talk about the in the Coalition of the Willing with President Macron and Prime Minister Starmer.
We will be moving forward in a number of different conversations. We have been speaking -- we've also been speaking in a number of different formats
in Alaska. We need to make sure that we maintain E.U. and Ukrainian security interests in Anchorage.
And that is something that we wanted. That's the message we wanted to convey to president Trump. And we wanted to make sure that we assess the
starting position as well as the attainable goals for Friday, make sure that we agreed about those.
We wanted to make sure that we are strong in Europe. Germany itself, since 2022, has invested around 40 billion euros in military aid for Ukraine.
There have been 18 sanctions packages. We've been very active in crisis diplomacy and we want peace to come back to Europe.
We have also already, on Saturday, in a joint statement, made clear that the European Council, also who has also signed on to this statement.
In all details with the U.S., we have discussed all of them and the American president knows that if the U.S. wants peace in Ukraine, then, and
wants to maintain E.U. and Ukrainian interests in that, then he can depend on our full support for that.
[10:20:08]
We made a number of points clear for negotiations. We made it clear that Ukraine must be at the table at the next meeting. We want things to go in
the right sequence. We want a ceasefire at the very beginning and then a framework agreement must be drawn up.
If Ukraine is prepared to talk about territorial negotiations then -- but then we need to make sure that there are no violent changes to the border.
We need robust security guarantees for Kyiv. And there need to be Ukrainian forces there in order to defend the sovereignty of the country.
And that is that. And they also need to be able to depend on Western aid for that. Also, we need a transatlantic strategy. And, if they can, this
strategy needs to depend on strong support for Ukraine and necessary pressure on Russia.
There has been no movement on the Russian side. If there is no movement on the Russian side in Alaska for that, then Europe needs to increase its
pressure. Donald Trump knows these positions and shares most of them.
And we had an extremely constructive and discussion with one another. We wished Donald Trump all the best. And immediately after the meeting with
Putin, he will meet with the Ukrainian president.
And then afterwards, the European heads of state and government, who are united in this. There is hope for movement. There is hope for peace in
Ukraine. And as a common European view, we say that -- and I say that on behalf of Germany -- we need to take every opportunity to find a diplomatic
end to this horrible war.
Thank you very much.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Thank you, Friedrich.
Thank you, Germany, for inviting us. We're working today with the chancellor in four formats. First, it's our two-side track. Thank you for
all the points that we discussed. We're very grateful to Germany for this assistance and strengthening of our country, of our security, of our air
forces.
Straight from the beginning of this war, we worked on the level of the European leaders. And third track was the talk with the U.S. president. And
we're -- will -- then we will talk about the future security and the Coalition of the Willing format.
I want to thank all the partners for supporting Ukraine. And we spoke with president Trump today. Mark Rutte, President Emmanuel Macron, president of
France, and head of government of Italy and Meloni, president of Poland the whole week.
As of last Wednesday, we were communicating quite intensely among the European leaders between Europe and the U.S., between us and the
representatives of other parts of the world who want one thing: peace in Ukraine, peace in Europe.
Today our common positions were discussed with the president of the U.S. Before that we had a coordination talk. We talk about five common points,
which Friedrich mentioned.
I want to thank you for your leadership in this direction. This is the format of our negotiation. Everything about Ukraine will be discussed with
Ukraine. We have to get prepared the three-side format of the conversation.
There should be a ceasefire first, then the security guarantees, real security guarantees. And by the way, president Trump expressed his support
for that.
Also among those principles, Russia cannot have a veto as to European or NATO perspectives of Ukraine. And we have to combine the negotiations with
the pressure against Russia.
Sanctions should be strengthened if Russia will not go for a ceasefire in Alaska. It's very important for these things to work. Of course, we
discussed the battlefields today.
[10:25:00]
Told president Trump and all our European allies, Putin is bluffing. He's trying to push before the Alaska meeting on all directions of our front
line. Russia wants to occupy the whole of Ukraine. This is his wish.
And Putin is bluffing that sanctions is nothing and they don't work. In fact, sanctions are hitting Russian war economy hard. It's true. Russia has
a lot of weapons many times over than we have; artillery, let's say, for three times, three times more.
But they are sustaining three times more losses. And I said about it to our European friends, to president Trump, that Putin definitely does not want
peace. He wants to occupy Ukraine. And we all understand that Putin cannot fool anyone.
We need future and further pressure and European and American sanctions against Russia. And together, a union of partners can stop war of Putin's.
We spoke about the Alaska summit. We hope that the central topic will be the ceasefire, immediate ceasefire.
President Trump was mentioning it many times. He suggested that, after the Alaska meeting, we will have a contact and we'll discuss all the results,
if there will be results and we will decide our next common steps.
We will have the meeting of the Coalition of the Willing. And this is our aim. That's why we work.
Thank you everyone who helps us.
Thanks, again, Friedrich.
Glory to Ukraine.
QUESTION (through translator): The question to Mr. Zelenskyy, you mentioned yesterday talking to Ukrainian media, that Ukraine will not leave
Donbas in exchange of ceasefire.
Did you change your position after today's negotiations in Berlin?
And the question to Chancellor Merz, the -- is one of the preconditions, of ceasefire, is that weakening of sanctions against Russia?
And what security guarantees Europe can agree upon?
ZELENSKYY (through translator): Thank you for your question.
As to my position, it's unchanged because it has a ground, in a view, in the form of a Ukrainian constitution; until its constitution is changed,
that my position is not changing. We discuss these difficult issues.
Any issue which deals with territorial integrity of Ukraine cannot be discussed just like that, without looking at our constitution, our people
and the will of our people. Thank you.
MERZ (through translator): Of course, we have discussed the topic of a ceasefire. President Trump has also said that he wants to make this one of
his priorities on Friday, when he talks to President Putin.
I hope that there will be an agreement on that, because, so far, all talks that we've had in the last 3.5 years with Putin have always resulted in an
even harsher military response. And that needs to be different this time.
Otherwise, the talks that we've had that have not been credible and not successful, we assume that president Trump will also try to make that
happen.
QUESTION (through translator): Mr. Chancellor, a question on security guarantees.
Did I properly understand that president Trump has agreed to give Ukraine its security guarantee?
How would that look?
And are Europeans also prepared to be part of that militarily as well?
And then a question to President Zelenskyy.
Once again, when it comes to land swaps, what conditions would you be prepared to talk about a land swap with President Putin and what would be?
Is that a historic moment on Friday or is this going to be one of many meetings?
MERZ (through translator): We spoke briefly about security guarantees.
[10:30:02]
We know that Ukraine needs security guarantees. We -- I also said in my initial statement that we would -- that we need to continue to support the
Ukrainian army. How security guarantees would look and what countries would be involved was not something we discussed today. But that would be part of
the path to peace.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): You know, I think the success of any negotiations depends, first of all, on the results and the mood. Our mood
is united and unified. It was very positive mood.
All the partners demonstrated one voice, one wish; one wish, one will and one principle and one vision. This move is a very important prop, step
ahead. As to the historical meaning of the moment, I wouldn't like to use loud words. Let's wait for the result.
In any case, the key issues which, you know, obviously we're asking, as to our principles, as to our territorial integrity, in the end will be decided
on the level of leaders. Without Ukraine, it's impossible to achieve. And by the way, everyone supports that.
MERZ (through translator): Thank you very much.
MACFARLANE: That was Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German chancellor Friedrich Merz speaking in Berlin after their virtual summit
with other European leaders and the U.S. president.
Many things touched on just in that meeting, which was called extremely constructive by the chancellor, which followed some communication from
President Zelenskyy outlining five common points that were discussed.
To talk about this more, let's bring Clare back in.
Clare, I thought it was interesting that Zelenskyy laid out those five points and it did seem, from what we heard there, that president Trump was
receptive to some of this.
SEBASTIAN: Yes, I think overall we're getting a relatively positive tone. They was still fairly severe on the key points around ceasefire and the
sequencing of events and how pressure needs to be ramped up if Russia doesn't sign on to that.
But overall, as you said, extremely constructive is how Chancellor Merz described it. President Zelenskyy just said, you know, the mood was really
important. All the partners demonstrated the fact that they were unified, united. He said they spoke with one voice, one will, one principle. And
that in itself is a very important step ahead.
I think the optics of this for Ukraine, as we discussed earlier this hour, are really important to demonstrate to the Ukrainian people that they're
still committed to taking their place in Europe and also as a counter program to the -- to the summit coming up on Friday.
The end, in many ways, of Russia's isolation at the hands of the West. So I think in that sense, we are getting broadly positive noises out of these
leaders.
MACFARLANE: And what was mentioned over and over again, primarily by Merz, was the need for a ceasefire first. Now this is important, isn't it,
because president Trump has been talking about negotiations and then -- followed then by a ceasefire.
And he was saying just then that that the outcome needs to be different this time. And that is why that is one of their key priorities.
SEBASTIAN: Yes. The sequencing, I think, is really important because, of course, Russia has ruled it out. They have said we don't want any ceasefire
before peace talks. They want to keep the pressure up on the battlefield. They feel right now that they have the upper hand and can militarily force
concessions.
Whereas, of course, Ukraine signed on five months ago to a U.S. unconditional ceasefire plan. And, you know, pressure has been put on
Russia by Europe since then to try and get them to sign on but to no avail.
So I think that sequencing will be really important. They feel that they cannot negotiate under the gun. This has happened in past peace deals. And
I think that's why we see that big push from today on that regard.
MACFARLANE: And I suppose what's needed if that ceasefire is to move forward is real security guarantees. Again, something that was really
discussed just then. But how those security guarantees look was not something that was on the table.
SEBASTIAN: Yes. It seems that they haven't -- they didn't get into a whole lot of detail on this. We know that the U.S. has been pretty reticent about
any participation. They've basically said that they feel that Europe should front this.
Russia has said a condition, that they say they don't want any foreign troops on the ground in Ukraine, that, even if they're not under a NATO
banner, if they are from a country that belongs to NATO, they would be considered NATO forces in Ukraine.
So I think, you know, clearly the position has been outlined. It's now up to president Trump how hard he can withstand the Russian persuasion, which,
of course, will be calling for the exact opposite of what we've just heard.
MACFARLANE: And we know, of course, that Putin is pushing very much for land swaps, for the taking back of the Donbas region.
It was really interesting to hear President Zelenskyy there reiterate that that is not on the table. His position remains exactly the same in the idea
of not giving up any of that.
[10:35:02]
I mean, how receptive do you think Donald Trump -- or how important is it really for Donald Trump to hear that, going into these meetings, so that
the cards are on the table here?
SEBASTIAN: I think that's where we saw a hint of the difficulty of these discussions coming through and how President Zelenskyy talked about that,
because, of course, we heard criticism earlier in the week.
President Trump saying, you know, criticizing essentially the fact that President Zelenskyy is saying he cannot agree to any ceding of territory
because it would be against the Ukrainian constitution. So he stuck to that line, President Zelenskyy.
But he did seem to give across the fact that these are difficult discussions. And I think that's where you see that balancing act that we've
been discussing coming through, that he needs to stick to that position. But, of course, the risk on the flip side, of upsetting Trump, especially
two days out from these talks, is extremely high.
MACFARLANE: Yes. And I think important, too, for those in the room to impress on Trump, as we heard Zelenskyy saying there, that President Putin
is blushing, that, you know, that sanctions are nothing. They don't work. And that to actually apply sanctions on Russia would hit them hard.
SEBASTIAN: Well, so I think the unspoken here that they won't say out loud but is apparent to all of us watching, is that president Trump is
susceptible to persuasion. Right?
So we've seen in the past, after phone calls that he's had with president Trump, he's come out and echoed what appeared to be Kremlin talking points.
For example, he called Zelenskyy a dictator earlier this year, having spoken to President Putin, who, of course, continues to reiterate that he
feels President Zelenskyy is illegitimate.
Because, of course, Ukraine couldn't hold elections during a time of martial law. So you know, I think that is the big challenge for Europe, is
to try to get their point across as persuasively as possible to avoid the risk of president Trump being persuaded by Putin.
And, of course, the big fear here is that president Trump and President Putin will agree to something. Then Ukraine will have to reject it. Then
Ukraine will get blamed for standing in the way of peace, which is, of course, another Kremlin talking point.
MACFARLANE: Yes, Clare. Thank you.
Let's bring in Stephen Collinson, who I believe is standing by with reaction to this.
Stephen, I mean, this was described by Chancellor Merz as an extremely constructive meeting. It does appear that president Trump was in listening
mode here. And we know how influenced he is when he is face-to-face with meetings with leaders in the room.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I think it's interesting that this is an attempt by the Europeans, a very clear attempt,
to apply their leverage to try and cut off some of the more disadvantageous possibilities that could emerge from the summit ahead of time.
I think, presumably, behind the scenes in that call, there was plenty of flattery, of leaders praising Trump for taking this step; putting faith in
him, rhetorically, in his ability to pull this off.
Because that's the way you have to deal with Trump, to Clare's point, and not antagonize him before the -- before the summit. I think there's a real
concern here that what happens when Trump and Putin get in that room and it's just the two translators, Trump talks about being in listening mode.
Well, almost every American president who meets Putin has to be in listening mode, because if you talk to people that have been in those
meetings, Putin typically starts off with a screed about Russian history, disinformation about the situation at hand, as I'm sure he will, about the
origins of the Ukraine war.
And really tries to impose his position. I think the problem, however, that is coming out of that meeting in Europe today is that a lot of the things
they're calling for, a ceasefire before there's talk, concern about land swaps, the idea that Ukraine needs to have a credible military force after
the end of the war.
All of that is completely contradictory to what Putin will tell the president at the summit and what he may be able to accept.
So in that sense, I think, although this meeting was intended to close some of the gaps ahead of a summit to which the Europeans weren't even invited,
along with the Ukrainians, it does lay bare some of the real problems that are going to emerge if this peace process goes forward.
MACFARLANE: Yes. And all of this raises questions, too, like, so where are the backstops here?
We talked about Chancellor Merz talked about the need for real security guarantees. He actually said that president Trump had expressed support for
that. But as Clare was saying earlier, that is not something the U.S. had been willing to commit to in the past.
So the buck will fall, will it not, to Europe, if any, if, indeed, any sort of ceasefire arrangement is agreed to?
COLLINSON: Yes. And the problem with this argument has always been -- and it came up when President Macron visited Trump earlier this year -- was
that the Europeans could potentially put troops into Ukraine, perhaps to monitor the borders.
[10:40:00]
But logistically, in terms of intelligence, in terms of heavy lift, transportation and in terms of the ability to get out of there if something
bad happens, they can't really do this without a strong U.S. backing.
And the question then becomes, how much is president Trump willing to do that?
What would Putin accept in terms of a credible monitoring force, for example, along some of that vast border?
You know, the Europeans, this idea that land swaps are such a big problem, the Europeans acknowledged privately, as far as a year ago -- I've been in
some discussions with them.
And they understood that there was going to have to be probably some accepting of the fact that Ukraine could not win back all the territory
that Russia seized. And there's going to have to be some formula, perhaps, whereby, Russia gets to keep that territory but it's not formally
recognized by the rest of the world.
Putin is trying to take aim at that idea as well. He wants the recognition of the territory he's taken. So you know, a lot of this is deeply detailed.
The hard thing is that Trump and the White House seem to think that the summit is an end in itself. And they're winging it, if you like.
They don't seem to have the kind of level of detail and they're not able to talk about it, at least publicly, people like the White House press
secretary or the president himself, at the level which the Russians will be talking about it with their multiple scenarios and preparations.
So it's going to be really interesting to see what Trump says when he comes out of that meeting and what he briefs the Europeans and the Ukrainians.
MACFARLANE: Yes. All we can do now, I guess, is wait and see what the outcome of Friday's meeting will be and whether any of this has worked.
Stephen Collinson there, appreciate your analysis.
And also Clare Sebastian here with me in London.
Thank you both.
And we'll be right back after this quick break. Stay with us.
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MACFARLANE (voice-over): Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD. Here are your headlines.
The Ukrainian and German leaders addressed the media in Berlin after a virtual meeting with U.S. president Donald Trump and E.U. leaders both
called for a ceasefire before any deal.
It comes just days before president Trump meets Russian president Vladimir Putin for a summit in Alaska on Friday. President Zelenskyy says a union of
partners working to oppose Putin's goals in Ukraine can put an end to the war.
The White House is undertaking a review of the Smithsonian. The institution runs the United States' major public museums. And now the Trump
administration wants to make sure it exhibits are in line what it with its view of what it calls American exceptionalism.
Members of the National Guard are joining police and federal agents as the Trump administration cracks down on crime in the nation's capital.
[10:45:03]
The White House says more than 20 people were arrested on Monday, the first day of the administration's law enforcement surge on Washington, D.C.
Last week, Israel's security cabinet approved a military expansion in Gaza. Now it seems a blueprint for that operation is coming together. The Israel
Defense Forces says its chief of staff has approved a main concept of a new battle plan for Gaza.
Meantime, Israel is keeping up its aerial bombardment against militant targets. The IDF revealing it struck a group of men who were posing as aid
workers from the World Central Kitchen. Israel does not allow international journalists into Gaza to report independently.
CNN's Nada Bashir has been gathering details and joined me here from London in the last hour.
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NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have heard from the Israeli authorities, who said they reached out to the World Central Kitchen, they
appear to have confirmed that the
vehicle had no connection to their operations in the Gaza Strip. We've also reached out to the World Central Kitchen ourselves.
They sent CNN a statement. I'll just read you a bit from that, saying we strongly condemn anyone posing as World Central Kitchen or other
humanitarians, as this endangers civilians and aid workers, the safety and security of our teams is our top priority. And, of course, this has raised
consent given the already deeply insecure situation on the ground for humanitarians and aid workers that are permitted to operate in the Gaza
Strip.
Of course, important to underscore that very few are now permitted to operate within Gaza or able to, because of the security situation on the
ground, as well as blockades on humanitarian groups actually accessing the ship. And, of course, this comes at a time where there have been growing
calls for more humanitarian access.
Not only to allow more humanitarian workers to operate on the ground safely and securely through safe routes and safe distribution points but also, of
course, for the allowance of aid to be permitted to cross through land border crossings, as opposed to the air drops that we've seen over recent
days, which, of course, come with their own danger.
So real questions as to what this will mean for those calls and whether or not the Israeli authorities may loosen those restrictions in the near
future. This is something that the Israeli military has said in the past, that they believe that these restrictions, in their eyes, are a security
measure.
But, of course, as we know, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is only growing more dire. We've been hearing those alarm bells being sounded again
by U.N. officials and other humanitarians around the risk of acute malnutrition amongst the vast majority of Gaza civilian population,
including some 300,000 children now said to be at risk of acute malnutrition.
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MACFARLANE: Dozens of high-ranking members of Mexican drug cartels have been sent to the U.S. as part of an agreement between Washington and Mexico
City. We'll break down the implications of the deal after the break.
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[10:50:00]
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MACFARLANE: Mexico has sent 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the U.S. in a deal struck with the Trump administration to ratchet up pressure on drug-
smuggling criminal networks.
Mexico's attorney general confirmed the transfer after the U.S. Department of Justice promised prosecutors would not seek the death penalty. The U.S.
has designated one of Mexico's most powerful cartels, the CJNG, as a terrorist organization.
Let's bring in Valeria Leon from Mexico City, who's been tracking this story for us.
So tell us more about those who've been extradited and how big a blow this signals for the cartels.
VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christina, this is the second time that Mexico this year has handed over more than 20 high-ranking cartel
figures to the U.S., underscoring a major deal with the Trump administration and increasing pressure on its southern neighbor.
And here's an interesting detail. This time, it was the U.S. Justice Department, the one that released the name of the criminals. Well, Mexican
authorities kept the names secret.
Now we know that the list includes figures linked to the Sinaloa cartel, particularly the faction known as Los Chapitos, led by Joaquin "El Chapo"
Guzman's sons. Among them is Juan Carlos Felix, who happens to be the son- in-law of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, one of the founders of the Sinaloa cartel, who is now also in U.S. custody.
Also, Abigael Gonzalez, brother-in-law of Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera, the founder of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. And there's also La Tuta, one
of the founders of this powerful cartel known as Caballeros Templarios.
So Christina, this happens in the midst of intense negotiations between both governments about this tariff trade deal that Mexico happens to extend
it to 90 days until October. Christina.
MACFARLANE: I guess this latest round of extraditions would make it seem like us Mexico relations are strengthening. But we also know that Trump has
been threatening tariffs and has spoken about sending in the U.S. military to Mexico to fight these cartels, which is something president Sheinbaum
has abjectly refused to agree to.
Have things changed on this?
Where do Mexico City and Washington stand now?
LEON: Well, Mexican authorities haven't confirmed yet if this extradition of this 29 new kingpins sent to the U.S. is related to the negotiations,
the trade negotiations, that they have established with the U.S. government.
But this has much to say in terms of the second time that this happens between Mexico and the U.S. as an historic extradition.
So now, in a few hours, the security -- Mexico security minister will hold a press conference with more details about this, while Mexico's president
Claudia Sheinbaum hasn't said anything during this press conference this morning, Christina.
MACFARLANE: All right. Valeria Leon there with the latest. Thank you.
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MACFARLANE (voice-over): Let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now.
Typhoon Podul swept across parts of Taiwan earlier, canceling school and flights and knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers. But no
major damage was reported. Officials say one person is missing as a result of the storm.
The wife of South Korea's jailed former president Yoon Suk-yeol has been arrested over various suspected crimes, including bribery, stock
manipulation and meddling in the selection of a candidate. It's the first time in the country's history that both the former president and the former
first lady have been held at the same time.
And you can call it a Pokemess. Piles of uneaten food appeared in Japan after customers ordered McDonald's Happy Meals in bulk just to get an
exclusive set of Pokemon cards. Goodness me, they kept the cards and, as you can see here, ditched the food. The promotion was supposed to last
three days. The cards were gone within hours.
And the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they're staying with media giant Netflix under a new multiyear deal. Under their previous agreement,
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle produced several projects, including the lifestyle series "With Love, Meghan," which is the most watched culinary
show on Netflix.
The contract extension is expected to give Netflix the option to preview and select any future projects from the couple.
[10:55:09]
Well, I, for one, enjoyed her series.
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MACFARLANE: And that is it for us here on CONNECT THE WORLD. Do stay with CNN. "ONE WORLD" is up after this quick break.
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