While talks of negotiations continue, Russia strikes a passenger train ¦

Good evening, I'm Paweł Trzaskowski and you're watching World News Tonight live from Warsaw. A renewed push for talks that could end the war in Ukraine. The US, Ukrainian and Russian delegations are set to meet early November. Europe is left out for now, but it wants in. We'll have more on that in just a moment, but first this is what else is making the head news tonight. Over a dozen killed in a Russian daytime attack on a train station in eastern Ukraine. Canada should become an EU associate member, says European Commission president. Israel is still uncertain who will govern after general elections. Europe has the cards that should grant it a place at the table for the Ukraine war peace talks. This assessment from Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski comes as Sweden and Norway's heads of state talked to Vladimir Putin and the United States again expressed interest in restarting the negotiations to end the war. A comprehensive look at the current state of diplomacy in Natalia Komarov's report. Because we have cards, we have the sanctions, we have the frozen assets, we have the security interests. That was Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski's reply to a question from TVP World on Europe's strategy regarding future peace negotiations on Ukraine. For us to agree a certain line towards the Russian aggression against Ukraine and then for us to be represented. as the entire European Union, either by the current holders of the highest offices or by someone that we appoint. That would, I think, be more representative and more likely to get Europe involved in the process. The statement comes after Finnish and Norwegian leaders held a phone call with Russia's Vladimir Putin. If you take a stance of zero contact with Russia, it means the war continues as it does, and the Americans handle the talks. I believe this is an unwise approach. In the phone call, Putin allegedly demanded that Europe respects Russia's security concerns. The Russian leader said he wants NATO to return to pre-1997 borders. If you think about it, it almost sounds like a joke that Russia would need these security guarantees, the largest country of the world with the largest arsenal of nuclear warheads. Some European leaders, like Denmark's Mette Frederiksen, criticize the renewal of contacts with Moscow. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, however, welcomes the initiative. The talks that Finland and Norway have initiated are complementary to the existing pressure. So nobody said that Europe is ready to make concessions to Russia. No, they're just trying to influence the agenda. For now, however, the Kremlin is only willing to negotiate with Ukraine and the United States. A trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi is planned for early November. Can they get in there? Europeans can come if they buy tickets, but no one is going to invite them to the negotiating table. Amid this latest push for renewed peace talks with Moscow, Ukraine has been suffering some of the deadliest Russian attacks since the war began. For TVP World, Natalia Komarov. And in Ukraine, at least 14 people have been killed and five others wounded after a Russian drone hit a passenger train at the Dnipro railway station. Ukraine's railway has recently become one of the main targets of Russian strikes and we're now going live to our correspondent in Kiev, Ors Katarzy. Hello Ors, good to see you. What more can you tell us about this latest strike? Well, President Zelenskyy likened the strike to a terrorist attack by Russia on a passenger platform, a passenger platform at Dnipro train station, a jet-powered drone targeting the platform in the morning, killing 14 people, injuring at least 14 others, that number ticked up. Throughout the course of the day, bringing the total number of killed on Thursday to 20. There was also an attack in Chernihiv that killed two teenage girls. And the number of injured up to 79 injured and attacked overall across Ukraine. But this one, particularly in Dnipro, targeting a passenger platform at a train station in the morning, resulting in such high casualties, clearly something the Ukrainians are very, very angry about. President Zelensky linked this attack to some of the recent waivers of sanctions on oligarchs and the purchasing of Russian diesel, which Ukrainians say is emboldening Putin to continue his attacks on civilians such as this and not carry out any sort of de-escalation with Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine reporting its own attacks on. Russia, the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, saying Ukraine launched at least 613 drones towards the Russian capital. Ukraine also reporting strikes on a drone storage facility in Bryansk and a military airfield in Volgograd. Ukraine, ahead of the winter months, is in a very difficult position. It is sustaining significant amounts of civilian casualties as Russia continues to target civilian infrastructure here in Ukraine. While it's well known at this point that Ukraine is suffering from a critical air defence shortage. Back to you, Pavel. Ostap Kotygiy, reporting from Kiev, Ostap. Thank you. The European Union's new relationship with Canada could open the door for other nations eager to get closer to Europe. On the eve of a landmark summit in Canada, the EU Commission president made it clear that the stakes could not be higher. Well, joining us live from Montreal is our chief international correspondent, Alex Cadier. Hello, Alex. Good to see you. You heard from Ursula von der Leyen a few hours ago. What can you tell us? Yeah, good evening, Pavel. Well, clearly the stakes are very high because this isn't just about Canada. This is about global turmoil in trade, the pressure from the US, the pressure from China. That is what Ursula von der Leyen set out in a speech earlier today. When trade becomes a tool of economic pressure, it's the families that pay the price from the supermarket shelf to the cost of a new car. We are seeing in real time our sovereignty being attacked. So we have two options here, to go it alone To see this as a zero-sum game, where each country or economy focuses on building up its own leverage, its own capabilities, with the result that everyone feels less secure and more isolated. Or we can take a more strategic approach with trusted partners that face the same challenges. Trusted partners, that key point, because, of course, the relationship of trust between the European Union and Donald Trump's administration is fraught, to say the least. Pavel, you have, of course, the huge trade deficit the European Union has with China. Hence the importance of this EU-Canada summit, wanting to work together on trade, on tech, on critical raw materials, perhaps importing more LNG from Canada in the future to bring those prices down. In exchange, Canada gets to join Horizon Europe, the EU's research programme, maybe even Erasmus, maybe even using some of the EU's satellite imagery and future satellite internet communication. It is seen as a watershed moment for the European Union, diversifying its trade partners around the world, diversifying the kind of relationships it has. It's looking at other countries, perhaps Japan, South Korea, like-minded partners who may want to get closer to the European Union. Now, there's been some quibbling over whether or not to call it associate membership or not. Some member states, namely Germany. Not entirely comfortable with that label, but the substance of what is being negotiated here is incredibly important because we've heard officials saying this could be a bit of a pilot scheme for the European Union to expand its relationships around the world when others are trying to go for a might-is-right approach and weaponising trade. The EU says actually unity and partnership and collaboration globally is the way forward and they hope that where Canada leads being the first, others may follow to diversify that trade portfolio and have better relationships around the world. Pavel. Thank you for the comprehensive report. Alex Cadier from Montreal. And as Canada is offered a way into the bloc, some are talking about getting out. The leader of Poland's conservative opposition, Jarosław Kaczyński, floats, quote, tough and risky, negotiating tactics that could include Poland threatening to leave the European Union to put pressure on the bloc to change. The government reacts with a backlash, bringing the so-called Polexit back on the agenda a full year A year before general election. Sebastian Nash has more. Jaroslaw Kaczynski is no stranger to conflict with the European Union. Before being voted out of office, his Law and Justice Party repeatedly clashed with Brussels over the rule of law. And he renewed his criticism on Wednesday night, using a speech to stress the need for changes in the European order. The European Union must be changed. This is what I believe, what my party believes, and what I think many of my fellow Poles think, that to a large extent the source of these issues is the Union, the European Commission. Kaczynski's proposed changes included curtailing the power of the Commission and reforming the European Parliament. The European Commission is a very harmful body. It should not exist. According to Kaczynski, Poland could work with other like-minded European countries to put pressure on the EU and even threaten to leave the bloc to force change. In my view, there is also one more method that could be applied, although I know it may be controversial. There are provisions in the final sections of the treaty on the European Union, and later also in those on the functioning of the European Union, provisions stating the terms under which a state may leave the European Union. It all starts with negotiations, and simply starting those negotiations. A tough method, risky, but things are really so bad, so very bad. It is worth using such a method if the others yield no results. The idea that Poland could exit the EU, even if the threat to walk out were used as a negotiating tactic, drew a negative response from pro-European Prime Minister Donald Tusk via social media. Jarosław Kaczyński has just announced that Poland should begin negotiating the terms of its exit from the European Union. This is one of the issues at stake in the struggle currently taking place in Poland. It's a tough fight. I don't intend to lose it, even if not everyone is on my side. Kaczyński has previously distanced himself from the idea of so-called Polexit. And in 2021, the party passed a resolution against leaving the European Union. But with elections just over a year away, the veteran politician's new broadside against Brussels could be an appeal to win-back voters who have drifted to far-right parties promising a tougher line on the EU. It is still unclear who will emerge victorious from the general elections in Israel, even though the votes were cast two days ago. As it stands, the results give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc a chance at forming a government. But it is a chance, not a guarantee. For more, we're going live to our correspondent in Tel Aviv, Laura Hazanov. Hello Laura, what are the scenarios now? Good evening, Pavel. Well, it appears we are in a stalemate here in Israel. The vote is now 99% complete. We have 99% of the votes counted. The situation hasn't really changed dramatically. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition of right-wing conservative religious parties are at around 53 seats. The leader of the opposition and his coalition are at around 48, and the Arab parties are at a historic 19. But every three... Every single one of these blocks will need 61 of the 120-seat Knesset to govern. So let me run through the four most likely scenarios for Israel right now. And I will start with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu-Pavo. You said that he has a chance of forming a government. I will be very clear that chance is extremely slim. While he has pulled ahead in terms of seats secured, he is still those couple. Um, missing from that critical 61, and he would need to pull those seats away from the opposition, which ran strictly on unseating him. So it seems like it's very slim pickings for Bibi Netanyahu as the point stands today. The second is, of course, the opposition and Gadi Eisenkot, the former army chief. Now, their only path to governance runs through the Arab parties. And as I said, Arab Israelis make up around 20% of Israeli society. They've come out. In huge numbers for this election, they secured a historic 19 seats. The problem is that their participation in an Israeli government remains extremely unpopular with Israeli Jewish society. Only around a quarter of people here would support such a solution. And so far, the opposition with Gadi Eisenkot have ruled out any such situation. So that brings me to our third scenario, which is a national unity government. And the problem with that is, of course, that the opposition, as I said, has run strictly on not governing with Netanyahu. So it's not looking like a viable situation anytime soon. And fourth, looking extremely likely and likelier with each passing day from the elections is, of course, another election here in Israel. It would be the seventh. Since just 2019, until that Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, would remain in his seat of power as Prime Minister, he would keep his grip on Israel for his now 19th year as Prime Minister here in Israel. So next week, we are likely to see the real haggling, the real coalition talks to start. But who, if anyone, will come out on top is yet to be seen. Back to you. Laura Hazanov reporting from Tel Aviv. Thank you very much for the update. And Serbia is still waiting for the final results of its snap general elections. In this case, it is clear that the students list won and the party of Aleksandar Vucic lost. But some votes will have to be cast again. It won't dramatically alter the results, but there might be other implications. Sonia Agatabistan explains. These Sunday scenes from Belgrade signaled the readiness of masses of people for a change. But full transformation might have to wait. Even though Serbia's former president, Aleksandar Vucic, admitted the defeat of his party to the student-led movement in the parliamentary snap elections, the official announcement of the results is postponed. As Serbia's Republic Electoral Commission announced a vote would be repeated in 53 polling stations, where the results could not have been confirmed or were annulled. Some analysts suggest there could be ulterior motives. We have certain worries that the former ruling party might be trying to get rid of some incriminating evidence. I think Mr. Vučić and his cronies will do everything they can to prolong Along the process, because it helps their situation. Ultimately, the state election committee has to come out with the final results of the elections. The postponed announcement delays the forming of the new government, but with less than 25,000 voters eligible to cast their ballots at the 53 polling stations, the repeated vote is unlikely to significantly alter the situation. The student list will still have a landslide victory, no matter what happens. According to the commission's preliminary results, the student list is in the lead by over 582,000 votes. With the votes translating to about 140 seats for the student list and 104 for Vučić's party. In turn, the student movement has not been dissuaded by the repeated vote announcement. Quite the opposite, committing the first changes since Sunday's elections, like having the director of Radio Television of Serbia resign after calls to free the country's media from political influences. And in a Thursday press conference, the student movement indicated this is only the beginning. Changes are starting now. Institutions belong to the citizens, and the law applies to everyone. Public interest must be above any individual and any political party. The two key takeaways from that press conference is the clearing of institutions from corrupt individuals and holding them accountable, as well as basically saying that any shredding of the documents is not permitted. And while numerous changes are anticipated, some of student lists' foreign policy may mirror that employed by Vučić, such as not sanctioning Russia. We are very dependent on Russia for energy. That is something that the previous government handled very poorly. We have not diversified our energy sources, and imposing sanctions on Russia would, in our opinion, destabilize the country. country. The repeated vote is scheduled for November 1, exactly two years after the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse, which killed 16 people and catalyzed the student movement. Its call for accountability, rooted in public anger over perceived corruption, grew into mass protests and, eventually, an electoral triumph. For TUP World, I'm Sonia Agatabishchyan. And when it comes to upcoming elections, the US midterms are less than a week away. If the Democrats take back control of Congress, the US could change its policies towards aid for Kyiv. Our correspondent Kazimierz Łysiak went to Hamtramck, a city in Michigan, one of the key swing states, and spoke with Ukrainian-Americans about And we are at the Ukrainian American Archives and Museum. their fears and hopes ahead of the vote. Let's go over here. We're going to talk with Olga. Olga, hello. Hello. Thank you for having us here. Thank you for having us here at the museum. Thank you. Can you tell me something about this place? So, the Ukrainians have been emigrating to southeast Michigan since the beginning of the 20th century. We, as a museum, have been here since 1958. And we can see traditional... Ukrainian outfits over here, these are called Vyshyvanki, right? Vyshyvanki, but this is primarily an exhibit about Ukrainian wedding styles. So we have the Hutsul, traditional, and then you see the more modern interpretation of Vyshyvka or Vyshyvanki. Olga tells me the Ukrainians first arrived to Hamtramck in the beginning of the 20th century, but for the past four years, the community has been preoccupied with one thing. War, and their nation's survival. Okay, Olga, so what do we have over here? So as the fifth wave of immigration, we're looking at Ukraine under threat. So we're looking at the current refugees that began arriving to the United States. And after February of 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Many of these refugees are still here in the United States. For them, the upcoming U.S. midterm elections could be the matter of life and death of their nation. But Ukraine is no longer the main topic of conversation in America. Do you sense that Ukraine is somehow part of the conversation for these elections? No. Initially, when the war started, Americans were very concerned about Ukraine. They wanted to know as much as they could. about the culture, about the people, but now it's kind of reduced in interest. And I think that maybe our Congress is more interested, our legislators are more interested than maybe our executive branches, so that's very troubling to Ukrainian Americans. As President Donald Trump is again putting pressure on Ukraine instead of Russia, I get the sense of anxiousness among the Ukrainian-Americans in Michigan. I ask a visiting scholar, Mark Yan, how he feels about the upcoming election. Do you have any fears and concerns related to the vote? Well, I'm really concerned that the American government continues supporting Ukraine, and that the executive branch spends the money that the Congress has allocated. For support to Ukraine. So I'll be voting thinking about what the Congress can do better to better support Ukraine But even if all Ukrainians vote for the Democrats in this election who promised bigger support for Kyiv There is only some 40,000 Ukrainian Americans in Michigan less than 1% of the state's population Still Ukrainian Americans here are hoping that this midterm elections It can turn the tide of the war and bring even more support for Ukraine, which is so desperately needed as Ukraine is heading to its fifth winter of this war. From Hamtramck, Michigan, Kajima Sushak, TVP World. Peace talks are back, or at least the idea of holding them, this time in Abu Dhabi. What are the real prospects that this time round a meeting of Ukraine, US and Russian delegations could produce results towards the end of the war in Ukraine? To discuss this, I am joined by Bohdan Nahylo, editor-in-chief of Kyiv Post. Hello, thank you for joining us. Good evening everybody. So, first I'd like to ask about your assessment on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is absolutely negative and 10 absolutely positive, where do you stand on the Abu Dhabi peace talks? Will we see some progress? I think I stand at 2. And what makes you say so? Because there's no indication from Moscow, from the official statements from Putin, from Lavrov, from other spokespersons, that they're interested in a peaceful settlement. Yes, they're interested in some kind of temporary measure that would prevent Ukrainians from hitting their oil refineries and chemical factories, whatever. They're interested in that and anything that is good for publicity. If you look at what they've been saying consistently, Thank especially intensifying this message in recent weeks, is the war will go on, we want all of Donbass, there will be no compromises, you and we're not interested in the ceasefire proposals that are being made by Zelensky very and via European representatives. much. You say Russia is not ready for peace talks, Russia is not ready to end the war. However, it seems that the only factor that could make Russia interested in coming to the table in earnest would be the US being seriously interested in making Russia actually sit at the table. What conditions would have to be met in order for the US to do so? Do you want me to be perfectly blunt? A different president and a different administration. I mean, you know, let's face it. Let's not kid ourselves. This president is not interested in helping Ukraine or even supporting his supposed allies in Europe. He's into making deals, business. Trying to win the Nobel Peace Prize, getting his cronies to make financial deals that will suit him and his entourage. There is no sign that he's interested in making a deal that would be acceptable for Ukraine. The only deal he wants to make is one in which Ukraine capitulates, stands on its knees and begs America not to make it worse. So do you think that the position of Ukraine in the eyes of the US would be better after the midterm elections? I think all Ukrainians, more or less. There are obviously people who are staunchly criticizing. Zelensky, some of his former aides and colleagues who seem to be influenced more by MAGA rather than by Moscow, or maybe a collusion of the two who are criticizing him for not giving in and not capitulating. But by and large, as the polls show, over 70 percent of the population, even now under this. Harsh bombing every day. Look at what happened today in Ukraine. Just in one railway station in Dnipro, 13 or 14 people were killed just one day. Right. And so the Ukrainians have fought for almost five years. They're not about to capitulate to suit somebody in Washington who wants to, as I say, get his Nobel Prize, make money and to look good. I think Ukrainians see him as a traitor. I mean, it's quite. There were, shall we say, hopes that he would come around. He made promises, which he then reneged on. There was a sort of, shall we say, an upsurge of hope when the latest sanction bill became law and that he signed it. And then, you know, he decided that he would ignore it de facto and make a deal supposedly over... uh diesel but read into that a lot more with uh russia and now with the threat of a new yalta type of uh agreement uh whether it can be imposed is another thing but a kind of yalta settlement with china russia and uh who who's the third factor america um You know, it's not looking good, and therefore it's very good that at least some Europeans Thank are speaking up and saying, hey, this cannot go on for any longer. Given this blunt assessment, as you yourself called it, why do you think that we are observing the resurfacing of peace talks now? I mean, what's the purpose? Who benefits? you. Well, Trump benefits because he wants to be seen as going through the motions. He's sending his Witkoffs and others there. He wants to be seen as doing something, particularly on the eve of the midterms, to cover up for his total fiasco in Iran and the Middle East, and to blame Ukraine as not playing along. As he puts it, if only the Ukrainians would stop bombing oil refineries in Russia. He doesn't say if only the Russians would stop bombing Ukrainian cities, infrastructure, railways, you know, and universities, hospitals, etc. He doesn't say that. And it's clear that for some reason, and we suspect the worst, that he's a kind of Manchurian candidate. And until he actually has his wings clipped and those around him, that it's... Hard times. It's really dark days for not just Ukrainians, for Europe, who have been effectively abandoned and looked down on by the White House administration. I'm not saying all Americans. And this is a chance for Americans next week to say enough. Hey, we have our pride. We have our history. We have our establishment. This cannot go on. What have we allowed to happen in our country? That's what I think Ukrainians and many Europeans hope for. My final question. You mentioned Europe trying to find its place at the negotiating table. Can you actually imagine a negotiating table without the US, with Russia, Ukraine and Europe? No, I can't, because at this stage, Putin and Trump are so much in leagues that they don't want Europe there, you know, and Putin fears talking directly with Europe. I'm glad that at least two European leaders went and talked by phone to Putin. heads of states that border on Russia, Finland and Norway to say, hey, come on, you know, enough's enough. Let's let's let's talk peace. Let's talk at least what kind of solution can we find other than your imposition of capitulation on Ukraine? And I think that that is very positive. You know, I think, you know, if we had somebody like your foreign minister, Sikorski, who was representing Europe. That would be great. But, of course, Putin would never accept that. And he's not going to accept the Finnish or Norwegian leaders. He's looking for somebody. Who would he want? Orbán? You know, You know, somebody from Slovakia? Somebody that he can say, oh, they represent Europe. But, in fact, they're kind of turncoats in Europe and don't really represent the free Europe spirit and values that we defend. My guest was Bohdan Nahaylo, editor-in-chief of Kyiv Post. Thank you very much. And I'm Paweł Trzaskowski. You have been watching World News Tonight. Good night and see you again.