Transcript of Zelenskyy Mending Ties, Trump In North Carolina, Saudi Arabia Gets British Support

Ukraine's president tries for better relations with Washington.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President Trump's envoy in Oslo and pushed for face-to-face talks with Vladimir Putin. Today, Steve Witkoff heads to the Kremlin.

I'm Stephen Skippe, with A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. President Trump campaigned in North Carolina and seemed to admit that Democratic candidate Roy Cooper would win the race there.

And he's going to become your senator, and it's crazy.

Republican candidate Michael Whatley is trailing By double digits. Can the president still turn out his voters?

And Britain is sending fighter jets to help Saudi Arabia defend against attacks from Yemen. Houthi strikes have already forced the kingdom to cancel its signature investment conference. Can Saudi allies help defend its airspace? Stay with us, we've got news you need to start your day. President Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff is in St. Petersburg today to talk to the Kremlin once again about proposals to end Russia's war on Ukraine. Witkoff Already met in Norway with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who President Trump accuses of obstructing a peace deal.

Zelenskyy spoke with reporters in Oslo yesterday:

Ukraine wants peace more than anyone, and it was Russia who started this war, and the decision to keep the killing going is Russia's choice and Russia's alone.

Zelenskyy says he's renewing his push for face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Joining us now is NPR's Joanna Kakissis, who is in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Joanna, so what was the outcome of this meeting between Zelensky, Whitkoff, and the leaders of Norway and Finland?

Well, Zelensky is once again trying to mend fences with Trump, who seems more comfortable around Putin. Zelensky asked for the meeting with Whitkoff in Oslo and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who actually joined online. Afterwards, the Nordic leaders and Zelensky spoke to reporters. Zelensky said the leaders talked about ways to end the war.

And we are united with our European partners. in these efforts. And we want the Americans to take these ideas to the Russians.

And one of those ideas is this face-to-face meeting between Zelensky and Putin, something that Zelensky has long been pushing for.

And now Witkoff heads to Russia. So what are Zelensky and his allies in Europe hoping that'll come out of that meeting?

Well, the leaders of Norway and Finland both say a fair deal cannot happen without U.S. engagement, and they're hoping Witkoff will come back from Russia with something constructive to lead to that. Now, the Ukrainians I've been Talking to, they do not trust the White House right now. I hear them saying every day that they believe the U.S. is siding with Russia. And in Oslo, a reporter also asked Zelensky if Ukraine was losing this war.

Of course, we're not losing this war, but we are losing people and time. And it's so pity because our children don't have real life childhood.

That's why he said this war has to end with a deal that is fair to Ukraine, and he hopes both Europe and the U.S. will help make that happen.

Joanna, you said Ukrainians are worried that the U.S. is siding with Russia. It's probably not the first time they feel that way.

No, it's not. In this latest instance, it began a little over 10 days ago with President Trump announcing that he would lift sanctions on Russian diesel, ostensibly to help bring down fuel prices. Now, Zelensky and many others said, look, this won't make fuel cheaper. It will only help Russia prolong its war on Ukraine. Then came this disruption in intelligence sharing, which made Ukrainian cities more vulnerable to Russian ballistic missile attacks. Cities are already vulnerable because Ukraine says it does not have enough U.S.-made Patriot missiles, which destroy Russian ballistics. And then there is Starshield, the military-grade version of Elon Musk's Starlink service, which has been essential to Ukrainian military operations. Now, Ukraine's military says this service has slowed down in the last week or so.

So how's the Trump administration responded to that?

Well, just yesterday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said nothing was being deliberately denied to Ukraine. Rubio and Zelensky did speak by phone, and Zelenskyy said a system warning Ukraine of incoming Russian ballistic missiles has now been restored.

All right, that's NPR's Joanna Kakissis in Kyiv. Joanna, thank you.

You're welcome.

President Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc., has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to help Republicans win the midterms just since September.

To be precise, more than $240 million, According to the group's latest Federal Elections Commission filing. Trump is also keeping up a campaign schedule. In Greenville, North Carolina, last night, he let on that things might not be going as well as he would like.

NPR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith was there last night. Tam, what exactly did Trump say?

Well, he acknowledged 2 House candidates who appeared with him at the rally are facing tough races and even said House Speaker Mike Johnson asked him to give them a special call-out at the rally because they needed a boost. But Trump lavished the most attention on Michael Whatley, the former Republican Party chairman who Trump personally chose to run for the North Carolina U.S. Senate seat. At one point, he said, I got him into this. I hope it works. And then later, when criticizing the Democratic nominee, former Governor Roy Cooper, Trump basically conceded he thinks Cooper is going to win.

And he's going to become your senator. And it's crazy.

It was a throwaway line, but it jumped out at me right away. Polls show Cooper with a substantial and durable lead here, and outside Republican groups have essentially abandoned Watley on the air and moved their money to more competitive states.

So if the president thinks it's already a loss, I mean, is he going to be able to energize his people to come out and vote anyway?

Well, certainly the people I spoke to at this rally were motivated, but this was one of the smallest Trump rallies I have ever covered. Of course, it was a school night in a relatively small town in a fairly rural part of the state, and crowd size isn't predictive. But Trump gave them a 2-hour show and dangled a few goodies for voters. And in every state he visits these days, he's making economic announcements like he's Oprah Winfrey or something. You get a project and you get a relief fund and you get red-dyed diesel for your trucks. Here he was last night.

I'm pleased to announce something else, and this is a very big one also. This is a very, very big one. The Department of War will be investing $1.5 billion to produce cutting-edge semiconductor chips right here in North Carolina. Also,

though, as with many announcements the president has made over the years, there is often less than meets the eye and details are hard to come by.

Any idea, though, if he's Promises are motivating voters to elect Republicans?

Not really, but it does give him something to announce at each stop for local media to cover. Like last night, he made a promise to North Carolinians affected by contaminated water at the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base. He said if Republicans win the House and the Senate, he would order the Department of Justice to settle all remaining legitimate claims.

So if we don't win, there's no money. If we do win, you're getting it. It's going to be finally over with that nightmare that's been going on for so many years.

Yeah, I don't know that I have ever heard a president so explicitly deliver an ultimatum to voters like this, tying government settlement funds to an election outcome, though Trump has also promised $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans win big in the midterms. but Republican candidates aren't talking about it, and it hasn't really moved the needle with voters.

All right, that's NPR's Tamara Keith. Tam, thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Saudi Arabia is getting more international support in its war against the Houthis.

Support from the U.K., which is sending fighter jets. Saudi Arabia already has military support from France, Turkey, and Pakistan, And the U.S. is sharing intelligence on Houthi targets. So what difference will all that make?

Joining us now to explain is NPR correspondent in Dubai, Aya Batraoui. So, Aya, what do we know about the mission for these British jets?

Okay, the U.K. hasn't said how many Royal Air Force jets it's sending, but says this is a purely defensive mission to protect Saudi cities and critical infrastructure against Houthi attacks. The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, they have hit Saudi airports, oil and gas sites, military bases, and even the offices of Saudi oil giant Aramco. Now, the UK made clear, however, that its air force will not be conducting offensive attacks on the Houthis, though it does have a refueling aircraft assisting Saudi jets in their bombings of the Houthis in Yemen. And there's another country that looks poised to send military assistance to Saudi Arabia, and that is Egypt. It could deploy troops there, drawing a major regional country into this war that until now has been trying to mediate an end to the fighting.

Why does Saudi Arabia appear to be struggling to defend its infrastructure, things like airports.

So Saudi Arabia spends tens of billions of dollars a year on its defense, but Houthi attacks have pierced through those defenses time and again. Now, I asked Elizabeth Dent, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, why that is. She told me the Houthis in Yemen are using new tactics that Iran also used over this past year of war. Have a listen.

I don't know necessarily that this is like a capability gap. per se, but just that the tactics have pretty drastically changed, right? Like, we've seen the Iranians employ this tactic as well, where they'll send drone swarms to sort of take out the initial line of defenses, and then we'll have ballistic and cruise missiles come in. And cruise missiles are particularly hard to track because they often fly under radar.

And an example of this was released last night by the Houthis in a video showing a swarm of armed drones fitted with cameras striking Saudi troops along the Saudi-Yemeni border. The Saudis have not commented on that. But the Houthis also claimed responsibility for missile attacks this week that the Yemeni government says killed more than 50 Yemeni security recruits in central Yemen. This is the deadliest attack in the country in years. And as this war grinds on and more people are killed, there's real consequences for the Saudi crown prince. Houthi attacks on Saudi airports forced the kingdom to cancel an annual investment forum dubbed Davos in the Desert, that was scheduled for next week. Now, this exclusive event had shown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's ability over the years to draw the world's top money managers to the Saudi capital as part of his economic overhaul of the country. But those ambitions are now colliding hard with this war.

You mentioned those attacks in Yemen. What are aid agencies saying about the situation in Yemen right now?

So the U.N. says more than a quarter million people have been displaced in recent weeks. That number continues to rise. The situation is especially concerning in the southwestern city of Taiz. Houthis have encircled that city, cutting off supplies from the government-run city of Aden. And prices there have skyrocketed for hundreds of thousands of besieged people. And the World Health Organization says hospitals in Dazs have only a few days of fuel left.

All right, that's NPR's Aya Batraoui in Dubai. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Aya.

And that's Up First for Wednesday, October 21st. I'm Emi Martinez.

And I'm Steve Inskeep. Today's Up First was edited by Tina Krya, Megan Pratz, Miguel Macias, Mohammed Elbardisi, and Alice Wolfley, produced by Iman Maani and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacy Abbott. Our technical director is Zach Coleman, and our supervising producer is Michael Lipkin. Join us tomorrow.