Peace Talks with Russia; Mexican Street Sweeper Becomes a Star

NPR | By Eleanor Beardsley,

Joanna Kakissis, Charles Maynes, Eyder Peralta, Greg Dixon

Published February 18, 2025 at 9:05 AM EST

Macario Martínez meets his new fans at first big concert in Mexico City.

Members of the Trump Administration will meet with counterparts from Russia this week to discuss a possible peace deal with Ukraine. Notably, the Ukrainians are absent from these talks. Other European nations are also not invited, even though as a whole Europe gives Ukraine more aid money than the United States. We get updates from three NPR reporters covering various parts of the story.

And we meet a street sweeper in Mexico with a golden voice who became an overnight pop star.

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Eleanor Beardsley

Eleanor Beardsley began reporting from France for NPR in 2004 as a freelance journalist, following all aspects of French society, politics, economics, culture and gastronomy. Since then, she has steadily worked her way to becoming an integral part of the NPR Europe reporting team.

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Joanna Kakissis

Joanna Kakissis is a foreign correspondent based in Kyiv, Ukraine, where she reports poignant stories of a conflict that has upended millions of lives, affected global energy and food supplies and pitted NATO against Russia.

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Charles Maynes

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Eyder Peralta

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.

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Greg Dixon

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