US president Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed an “energy ceasefire” effective immediately, warning either side against breaking the deal.

The only problem was that the warring neighbours, who have made attacking each other’s energy plants a key plank of their attack strategy, appeared not to have even heard of the agreement.

The statement came after another torrid 48 hours in relations between the White House and Kyiv, during which Trump ordered the suspension of sanctions on Russian diesel exports, again blamed Ukraine for failing to end the war, and said it was time for the embattled country to “get a new president”.

Do this latest round of comments from the White House indicate a fall-off in US support for Ukraine? And what might that mean for the eastern European country as it enters a winter that promises to be so challenging that analysts have suggested a humanitarian crisis could follow?

Dan McLaughlin in Lviv reports. Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before the summer court recess George Gibney (77), former Irish Olympic swimming coach, was found guilty of sexually abusing four girls in the 1970s and 1980s.

The jury found him guilty of 39 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape of children.

One of Ireland’s most notorious paedophiles, he was extradited from Florida last year where he had escaped justice for decades.

Due to reporting restrictions he was referred to as “sports coach” but as soon as the guilty verdict was announced, he could be named.

Sentencing Gibney on Monday, Judge Mícheál O’Higgins handed down an aggregate sentence of 16 years and eight months, with 14 months suspended. This results in a sentence of 15 years and six months in prison.

More than 30 years after he first broke the story about Gibney’s crimes, sports writer Johnny Watterson was in court this week as the disgraced swimming coach learned his fate. In today's episode, he joins Bernice Harrison to discuss three decades of writing about Gibney and the long road to justice for the victims.

Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.