Starmer Starts Military Plans for Peace in Ukraine

<p>Today, Laura and Paddy discuss UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s virtual summit with the ‘coalition of the willing’.</p><p>Downing Street say representatives from 26 countries joined the Prime Minister this morning to discuss bolstering support for Ukraine by moving military planning to an “operational phase”. But is Russia any closer to agreeing a ceasefire deal? And how strong is a coalition with no US backstop? </p><p>And, can Keir Starmer succeed in building coalition within his own party? Laura’s been looking at different Labour factions - and potential cabinet fall-outs - ahead of cuts to welfare spending to be announced next week. </p><p>You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers.</p><p>You can join our Newscast online community here: https://discord.gg/m3YPUGv9</p><p>New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bit.ly/3ENLcS1</p><p>Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. It was presented by Laura Kuenssberg and Paddy O'Connell. It was made by Miranda Slade with Bella Saltiel. The technical producer was Hannah Montgomery. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The editor is Sam Bonham.</p>