Starmer boosts defence spending: Will it impress Trump and help Ukraine?

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says a "dangerous new era" is behind his decision to boost defence spending and cut the aid budget.But will it impress President Trump ahead of Sir Keir’s visit to Washington later this week? And could this move help Ukraine?Shashank Joshi from the Economist joins us to discuss this and answer listener questions on rare earth minerals.Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producer was Julia Webster. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The assistant editor is Ben Mundy. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord

Om Podcasten

The BBC’s only English language programme entirely dedicated to the war in Ukraine and its fallout, Ukrainecast is your go-to podcast which investigates the biggest issues around the conflict: Could Putin push the nuclear button? How could Donald Trump end the war in 24 hours? What is the price for peace? The podcast is hosted by Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire and BBC Monitoring’s Vitaly Shevchenko. Ukrainecast covers the most important topics around the conflict and speaks to the real people who’ve lived through several years of war. It also brings you agenda-setting interviews with special guests each week such as UK foreign secretary David Cameron, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and pre-eminent Russia expert Fiona Hill. GET IN TOUCH: You can join our Ukrainecastonline community here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord Send us a message or voicenote via WhatsApp to +443301239480 Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk You can listen to the latest episode of Ukrainecast anytime on your smart speaker by saying “Alexa, Ask BBC Sounds for Ukrainecast." If you enjoy Ukrainecast (and if you’re reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below. The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd The Today Podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r Americast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p07h19zz Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p05299nl