President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged in an interview published on Thursday that a victory for Donald Trump in the US election in November would be difficult for his country but Ukrainians were prepared.
Trump’s choice of Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate has underscored how Washington’s stand on Ukraine, locked in a 28-month-old war with Russia, could change if he won the election. Vance is on record in an interview as saying “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other.”
Zelensky, speaking to the BBC while attending the European Political Community meeting in London, noted the comment, but added: “Maybe he really doesn’t care, but we have to work with the United States.”
Trump’s election, he said in remarks on the BBC website, would be “hard work, but we are hard workers.”
The administration of Joe Biden has provided weapons and supplies throughout the conflict, though the flow of assistance was halted for months by disputes within the US Congress.
Trump has said during the campaign that, once elected, he would bring the conflict to an end even before taking office by securing a deal at the negotiating table. He said there would have been no conflict at all had he been in office when Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
In other comments to the BBC, Zelensky said Ukraine was thankful for pledges from its partners to supply F-16 fighter jets, most likely this summer, though they had not yet arrived.
“It’s been 18 months and the planes have not reached us,” Zelensky told the BBC.
The planes, he said, were essential to help Ukrainians resist Russia’s aerial dominance and “unblock the skies.”
He said he anticipated no change in Britain’s support for Ukraine, but hoped new Prime Minister Keir Starmer would “become special — speaking about international politics, about defending world security, about the war in Ukraine.”
Ukraine, he said, “doesn’t just need a new page, we need power to turn this leaf.”
Ukraine’s Zelensky to BBC: We have to work with the US
https://arab.news/jrhgw
Ukraine’s Zelensky to BBC: We have to work with the US
- Zelensky's comments comes as the chances of Trump’s becoming US president looks more certain
- Trump's choice of VP, Senator J.D. Vance, has said he "don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other”
Britain needs ‘AI stress tests’ for financial services, lawmakers say
- Lawmakers urge AI-specific stress tests for financial firms
LONDON: Britain’s financial watchdogs are not doing enough to stop artificial intelligence from harming consumers or destabilising markets, a cross-party group of lawmakers said on Tuesday, urging regulators to move away from what it called a “wait and see” approach.
In a report on AI in financial services, the Treasury Committee said the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England should start running AI-specific stress tests to help firms prepare for market shocks triggered by automated systems.
The committee also called on the FCA to publish detailed guidance by the end of 2026 on how consumer protection rules apply to AI, and on the extent to which senior managers should be expected to understand the systems they oversee.
“Based on the evidence I’ve seen, I do not feel confident that our financial system is prepared if there was a major AI-related incident and that is worrying,” committee chair Meg Hillier said in a statement.
TECHNOLOGY CARRIES ‘SIGNIFICANT RISKS’
A race among banks to adopt agentic AI, which unlike generative AI can make decisions and take autonomous action, runs new risks for retail customers, the FCA told Reuters late last year.
About three-quarters of UK financial firms now use AI. Companies are deploying the technology across core functions, from processing insurance claims to performing credit assessments.
While the report acknowledged the benefits of AI, it warned the technology also carried “significant risks” including opaque credit decisions, the potential exclusion of vulnerable consumers through algorithmic tailoring, fraud, and the spread of unregulated financial advice through AI chatbots.
Experts contributing to the report also highlighted threats to financial stability, pointing to the reliance on a small group of US tech giants for AI and cloud services. Some also noted that AI-driven trading systems may amplify herding behavior in markets, risking a financial crisis in a worst-case scenario.
An FCA spokesperson said the regulator welcomed the focus on AI and would review the report. The regulator has previously indicated it does not favor AI-specific rules due to the pace of technological change.
The BoE did not respond to a request for comment.
Hillier told Reuters that increasingly sophisticated forms of generative AI were influencing financial decisions. “If something has gone wrong in the system, that could have a very big impact on the consumer,” she said.
Separately, Britain’s finance ministry appointed Starling Bank CIO Harriet Rees and Lloyds Banking Group ‘s Rohit Dhawan as “AI Champions” to help steer AI adoption in financial services.
