Episode description

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived in Russia to meet president Vladimir Putin. The BBC’s Seoul Correspondent, Jean Mackenzie discusses what the two leaders want from their first get together in four years and whether the West should be worried.

Ukraine is one of the most heavily land-mined countries in the world with over 170,000 square kilometres of its territory being covered in them. The Halo Trust are helping Ukrainians remove thousands of landmines and its CEO James Cowan talks about the challenges that they’re facing and we hear from Volodymir, a Ukrainian soldier, who lost his foot on a mine during the counteroffensive.

Today’s episode is presented by Lucy Hockings and Vitaly Shevchenko with Frank Gardner. The producers were Clare Williamson, Arsenii Sokolov, Josh Jenkins, Sam McLaren and Niamh Hughes. The technical producer was Gareth Jones. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480

You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord