Peace Talks with Russia; Mexican Street Sweeper Becomes a Star
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Today on State of the World, peace talks with Russia and a Mexican street sweeper becomes a star.

You're listening to State of the World from NPR, where the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Monday, February 17th. I'm Greg Dixon. In a few minutes, an ordinary man in Mexico becomes a singing sensation overnight. But first, in Saudi Arabia this week, the Trump administration will hold talks with Russia about a possible peace deal with Ukraine.

But missing from those talks are the Ukrainians. European nations aren't involved either, even though they, as a whole, give more aid to Ukraine than the United States. Europe has been rattled by this and by statements Vice President J.D. Vance made over the weekend. Many in Europe think the relationship with the U.S. is in peril. We're going to hear about all of this from NPR correspondents covering Ukraine and Russia, but we start in Paris, the meeting place for an emergency European summit.

I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris, where European leaders gathered after a disastrous Munich security conference saw them shut out of talks to negotiate an end to the war on their own continent.

The shock is absolutely enormous after the Munich conference. That's Hans Stark, Franco-German specialist at the Sorbonne University. He says the Europeans must come up with a strategy in the new geopolitical reality where they can no longer count on their American ally as before. He says they must find common positions on strategic issues like...

the deployment of European troops in Ukraine, under which conditions, how many, to speed up the building of a European defense industry, how to finance it,

French TV news channels commented the arrival of eight key European leaders to the French presidential palace. There was Poland, that knows Kremlin domination well, and Germany with the continent's largest economy. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has already agreed to send troops to Ukraine to secure a ceasefire, though Germany said it's inappropriate to discuss that at this stage.

Presidente, è fiduciosa sull'incontro? Presidente! Reporters yelled out as Italy's Giorgia Maloney arrived late. She's a key player, a Trump ally who also supports Ukraine.

Everyone here was stunned by President Trump's friendly phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week without even notifying his allies in Europe. Macron telephoned Trump to inform him of today's meeting. Europeans congratulated themselves on being the good diplomats.

Europe is at a crucial moment as Russia grows more aggressive and the U.S. steps back. There is fear that Trump will give away too much to Putin. European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen summed up the sentiment on social media. Europe's security is at a turning point, she said. Yes, it's about Ukraine, but it's also about us. We need an urgency mindset. We need a surge in defense, and we need both of them now.

I'm NPR's Ukraine correspondent, Joanna Kekesis, in Kiev. President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to be in Saudi Arabia this week, but not to meet with top diplomats from the U.S. and Russia.

Zelensky was in the United Arab Emirates on Monday and he spoke to reporters in Ukraine via video link. He told them he's in the region for official visits focused on humanitarian and economic issues. He said Ukraine did not know about the Russia-U.S. meeting. Ukraine regards any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine as one that have no result.

We cannot recognize any agreements about us without us. Zelensky is pushing to bring Europe to the negotiating table. He's expected to make his case on Thursday to Keith Kellogg, the retired general President Trump has appointed as a special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.

Zelensky says he hopes Kellogg will be in Ukraine for at least two or three days. And during that time, he hopes to take Kellogg to the front line to see the effects of Russia's war on Ukraine firsthand.

In Ukraine's capital, the snowy chill captures the mood of this critical moment. Maria Ivanova, a 54-year-old engineer, says people are tired and really want negotiations to start. Meanwhile, Valery Melnikov, a 23-year-old physical therapist,

says it's no longer clear how the U.S. actually sees Ukraine. They say bad things today, good things tomorrow, and then maybe the next day they will say something else, he says.

We have no choice but to keep listening. I'm NPR's Russia correspondent Charles Maines. The Kremlin has said the talks will focus on making peace, not war, and announced Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will head the Russian mission to Saudi Arabia. Addressing journalists in Moscow, Lavrov said his job was to listen to the American proposals and report back to the Kremlin.

Yet Lavrov also rejected in advance any notion of returning land annexed by Russia back to Ukraine. They say we should probably give territorial concessions. But what for, said Lavrov? So ethnic Russians who live there can be destroyed?

His comments come as the latest sign that with Russian forces making gains on the battlefield, Moscow is in little mood to compromise. And U.S. negotiators may find themselves boxed in before the talks even begin by their own president. We had a great call.

And it lasted for a long time. Following his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, President Trump said a lasting peace demanded Kiev and its NATO ambitions and relinquished territory seized by Moscow to key Russian demands. In fact, she can accept all.

demands of Vladimir Putin. Sergei Markov is a former Kremlin advisor. He says Trump's desire to end the conflict is widely admired by Russians, but so too is Trump's America First agenda, so far as it views continued support for Ukraine as distant to core American security interests. The only thing which Trump is concerned about is his image. He has image of the strong guy.

Perhaps with that in mind, Putin has extended an invitation for Trump to visit Moscow, leading to speculation Trump could join Putin on Red Square this May when Russia commemorates the end of another war, World War II. That was NPR's Charles Means, Joanna Kikisis, and Eleanor Beardsley.

In Mexico, a 23-year-old street sweeper with a golden voice has captured the public imagination. In just two weeks, Macario Martinez has racked up millions of views with his rags-to-riches story, becoming a pop star. NPR's Eder Peralta introduces us to him. Even before the sun rises, this is what you hear in Mexico City.

About 2,000 men and women sweep the streets of this mega city using handmade brooms. And even though they keep this place running, they are mostly invisible and poorly paid. They make $13 a day. But at the end of last month, something magical happened. ♪

One of those workers, a 23-year-old with a mop of black hair and a thin mustache, posted a video on TikTok. It was him in his fluorescent green uniform riding on the back of a trash truck just before sunrise. The city, beautiful and gleaming, rushes behind him. And in text, a simple plea. I'm just a street sweeper who wants the world to listen to my music. ♪

The song is also a plea. He's lovelorn, begging his ex for some clarity. The video struck a nerve. It got more than 30 million views on TikTok.

how I wish to know the truth, he sings, because as soon as I met you, all I wanted was to make you happy. I wanted to make you happy.

Suddenly, Macario Martinez was on TV and in newspapers. When he heard his song on the radio, he wept. When a TV station had him on with his mom, he cried on her shoulder. Suddenly, the street sweeper had become a folk hero. Good Lord.

I meet Macario Martinez in the middle of Mexico City on one of the same streets he used to clean. Except today, he's about to play a big outdoor concert. This whole experience, he says, is a battle cry for hope. Because we all dream about something, he says. His dream was for people to listen to his music.

When he was on that trash truck, he was thinking about the beauty of the city, about the stories of the people in those buildings. And he was dreaming. I used to watch a lot of old videos from my favorite bands in the 2000s, he says, and they toured. They got to leave their cities, some even left their countries. And right now, he says, I'm closer than ever to reaching my dreams.

As we talk, his old cleaning crew shows up in their bright green uniforms and the crowd begins to build. Alejandro Castillo was front and center. We Mexicans love soap operas and the truth is, he says, we're all Macario.

We are all that character who wants to excel and take on the whole world with a single bite. And with that, Macario takes the stage, the city towering behind him, the world ready to listen to his music. Eder Peralta, PR News, Mexico City.

That's the state of the world from NPR. Thanks for listening.

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