Putin opens talks with Europe, but sticks to his red lines

Hello and welcome to TVP World. You're watching the Midday Report. I'm your host, Benjamin Lee. At least 64 people have died after two trains collided in the south of Madrid in Spain. The crash occurred Wednesday morning in the province of Toledo. A high-speed train struck the rear of another train, knocking two of its carriages off the tracks. A major emergency response is underway, with fire crews and helicopters at the scene. The rail operator says the crash has forced the suspension of services between Madrid and the southern region of Andalusia. The company announced that the disruption is on social media, and Spanish authorities believe human error has caused a collision. European leaders have made a rare call to Vladimir Putin, raising hopes for a limited ceasefire in southern Ukraine. But Moscow has shown little willingness to change its demands, and Russian attacks continue. Throughout much of Russia's full-scale invasion, European leaders have avoided direct contact with Vladimir Putin. But Finland's president and Norway's prime minister spent 90 minutes on the phone with him. Their aim? To press for an end to the war. The call was made in consultation with Ukraine. Before the call, we informed key allies, including all the Nordic states. and we also informed of the content of the phone call afterwards. Today it is messages coming out of the American administration that is the only thing reaching Moscow. So these are voices from two neighboring states speaking on behalf of Finland and Norway, not speaking on behalf of others. Kiev confirms the call was coordinated with Ukraine, but the Kremlin's account offered little evidence of compromise. Putin repeated that any settlement must fully and unconditionally accommodate what Moscow calls its legitimate interests. And this has raised concerns that bringing Europeans into the conversation could serve another purpose. And now they're saying, OK, let's pull in the Europeans in, because if the US and the Europeans both exert pressure on Kiev, maybe we can get what we want. Meanwhile, a local ceasefire has begun around Russian-occupied Oleshky, intended to allow humanitarian aid in and civilians out. The agreement is the result of efforts by Paul Plea and Melania Trump. If we see results in Oleshky, this can pave the way for other steps in the peace process as a confidence-building measure. The timing matters too. America's midterm elections are just days away for Trump. The local ceasefire is a diplomatic success for Putin. It's a chance to appear ready for peace while continuing. his war. The war provides him a perfect excuse to hold power and do nothing about the daily problems and public services. But beyond the ceasefire in occupied Oleshky, Russian attacks continue to wound and kill civilians in Kiev and elsewhere in Ukraine. Putin's message could hardly be clearer. The US administration is exploring new incentives to bring Moscow to the negotiating table. The Financial Times has reported on possible deals Washington is considering following earlier reports from the New York Times. As the recent purchases of diesel fuel have shown, the current U.S. administration is open to doing business with Russia. But diesel is apparently only a small part of this transaction. According to a story in the Financial Times, Washington and Moscow have discussed a broad range of business deals as part of the ongoing Ukraine peace talks, Including going back to joint oil exploration and extraction in Sakhalin, resuming access for U.S. airlines to Russian airspace, working together on the supply of titanium, and reviving crude sales to Europe via the Druzhba pipeline. After the diesel deal was struck, Kremlin's representatives were upbeat about holding business talks. President Putin today also mentioned capacity of Russia to supply fertilizer to the U.S. market. We also are discussing different projects such as data centers, many projects in energy and energy cooperation. And the list goes on. The story from the New York Times shows that dropping sanctions on the Russian wealth fund is on the table, as is the sale of Lukoil's international assets, which is one of Russia's biggest oil companies to investors linked to U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoys, Witkoff and Kushner. The U.S. administration is adamant that all deals discussed can only go through once the war in Ukraine ends. But their Russian counterparts beg to differ. It is significant that this is happening right now, rather than waiting for the special military operation to end. In fact, we are currently implementing projects with the United States, and we will continue to carry out these and other initiatives before the end of special military operation. It remains to be seen whether the diesel deal will be a one-off. Polish authorities have arrested a Ukrainian man in Warsaw on suspicion of helping prepare an arson attack in Romania. The suspect, identified only as Artem S., was wanted under a European arrest warrant issued by Romanian authorities. Poland's Central Bureau of Police Investigation and Romanian authorities say he is suspected of helping prepare an arson attack on September 14 at an industrial site in central Romania. The site is near a state-owned arms manufacturer. Romanian intelligence officials and prosecutors say the Ukrainian suspect and two Belarusian nationals were part of a sabotage network coordinated from Russia. German authorities detained the two Belarusian suspects as they were allegedly preparing similar attacks. Romania is seeking the extradition of all three suspects. Poland has been chosen to host a European Missile Service Center for the American-made Patriot air defense system. Polish Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk says the decision is the first step towards producing Patriot systems in Poland. This project will affect Poland for years to come, also in terms of the prospects it brings. This maintenance hub for Patriot missiles is going to be the first outside the United States, and for us it's also a step toward launching a joint production of the missiles here in Poland. When the Polish delegation visited the US in May, we conveyed a very simple, yet important message to the White House and to the Pentagon. To date, Poland has invested approximately 65 billion dollars in the United States by purchasing equipment and building industrial infrastructure in our country. We are also aware of what is happening in connection with the war in the Middle East, that Washington's ammunition reserves can be depleted very quickly. The United States needs an industrial base in Europe. We already have such capabilities and we're expanding them. And that is why, in the final stages, Poland was chosen to be a partner of Lockheed Martin and the US government in building this maintenance hub in our country. Canada could soon have closer ties with the European Union than ever before, stopping just short of a membership. Officials have outlined the prospect ahead of the EU-Canada summit tomorrow and Friday. Our chief international correspondent, Al Jazeera joins us live from Montreal. So Alex, what would this new relationship look like and what could it mean for the European Union? afternoon, Ben. Well, it could be a blueprint, perhaps, for other countries that want to have a closer relationship with the European Union. Of course, Prime Minister Carney has been asked, and his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, was also asked if they wanted to be the newest member of the European Union. Of course, that is not an option for Canada because they are not geographically, of course, in Europe. What is being cooked up behind the scenes can only be described as everything but a kind of very close partnership between Canada and the European Union, partnership on digital trade on other trade issues building on the existing trade agreements perhaps even Canada joining things like Erasmus or Horizon Plus we also we've already seen Canada joining that major European institution of Eurovision of course so there's a real push a political will from both sides to get closer to be unified to align on trade to align on standards to align on AI on digital services there's also perhaps a possibility for more Canadian LNG being shipped to the European Union of course that in stark focus at the moment because of the energy crisis and the rising costs both in Canada and across the EU there is that political will of course in the context of the hostilities coming from Canada's southern neighbor from the Trump administration with their tariffs with their hostility there's also unity between Canada and the European Union on Ukraine there's a possibility as we've seen previewed in the last few days and weeks that Canada could join the EU's Ukraine loan in a kind of collective debt with EU countries to continue financing for Ukraine as Russia continues its aggression and its illegal war in that country there are a lot of common points between these two and there are a lot of uh there's a lot of desire politically to make that happen there are so many different options but let's go back to that notion of associate membership that has been floated my understanding is that in the summit we will hear from the leaders who say look we will define exactly what that looks like in time for the next summit in 2027 now that may seem like a long way away but it could also be very valuable for other countries that want to be aligned with the European Union that want to have a closer relationship it could form some kind of blueprint for other countries and of course Canada being aligned being a western democracy having the kind of trade the EU is interested in could be a real uh kind of uh pilot for a change in that relationship with the EU now it's not without its frustrations even here in Canada we've heard the premier of Quebec the province of course where we're in here in Montreal complaining that Although he was invited to the summit, he will not be allowed to speak. We also know that behind the scenes, the EU is having some discussions, not to say arguments, with member states about the exact wording, about the exact objectives of how this will look like. Of course, that friction will happen. Of course, that friction is normal when you have these big agreements between the EU and other countries. But it is certainly a sign of the political will on the European side, political will on the Canadian side to get closer than ever, as we've heard from officials, build a new relationship, particularly in the context of hostility from the United States, Ben. I definitely have to see how this relationship shapes out, but in the meantime, thank you for the update. Appreciate it. Israel's general election has yet to produce a clear winner. Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his main rival appears on course to secure a majority, raising the prospect of difficult coalition talks. Our correspondent, Lara Hassanov, joins us live from Tel Aviv with the latest. So, Lara, what are the results telling us so far? Good afternoon, Ben. Well, Israel voted in record numbers, but has woken up to an unclear picture. There is no clear winner and no new government in sight. So Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing conservative religious bloc are now polling ahead. After months of polling suggesting that he would fall behind, he has now clawed his way back up. He's at 52 seats compared to the opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot at around 49 seats. But to govern, both of those coalition blocs would need 61 seats, and neither of them are close. So who holds the key to governance here in Israel? It is an often overlooked demographic. It's Israelis, Arab citizens. Around one in five citizens of Israel here are of Arab descent, are Arab people mostly Muslim now they have turned out in record numbers yesterday securing an absolutely historic 18 seats in the Knesset as the polling stands as of today now the twist here is that the coalition trying to unseat Netanyahu have so far ruled out working with the Arab parties even though it could hand them those coveted 61 now Israeli citizens Israeli Jews are highly skeptical of working with Arab citizens. It's a highly contentious, highly controversial issue on why that may be the case. We asked the architect of the Oslo Accords and a former deputy foreign minister. It's racist. It's wrong. There is no reason to do something like that. There are equal citizens in Israel and they have all the rights and we cannot prevent them from playing the political role they should be because they are 20% of our society. So what now? Late ballots, including soldiers' votes, are due to come in all throughout Wednesday. They could shift the electoral landscape to the right, a pivotal seat or two. What is certain, as we stand here right now, is that we are set on course for months or weeks of tough coalition negotiations. and if they fail, another election in 2027. But until a new government comes in, Benjamin Netanyahu keeps his grip on power. Right, definitely have to see how that shapes out. But in the meantime, thank you so much for the update. Appreciate it. Poland could face an early blast of a winter with one forecast model predicting temperature as low as negative 14 degrees Celsius in the first half of November. The U.S. global forecast system predicted on Tuesday that Arctic air could move into Poland from the northeast around November 10. Southern Poland, including the Tatra Mountains, could be hardest hit. The Arctic blast could pose a challenge for Polish authorities as the country prepare to celebrate Independence Day on November 11. Snowy winter conditions could replace the milder autumn weather usually expected at this time of year. Thank you.