Nato is deciding how to respond after a missile hit Poland, which is one of its members, killing two people. In this emergency episode of Ukrainecast, the BBC’s chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, is joined by Vitaliy Shevhenko and Sam de Bendern , a political analyst with Chatham House and a former adviser with Nato. They discuss what we know and what Nato might do next. We’ll be back with a full edition of Ukrainecast as usual at the end of the day. The producers were Arsenii Sokol...
Nov 16, 2022•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Zelensky has visited the liberated city of Kherson and spoke of a “long and difficult path” ahead. The change in control of the city is seen as a major setback in Moscow, but the Kremlin still insists that Kherson is part of Russian territory. The BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner looks at what could happen next. Also, Mark Galeotti, author of Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine, assesses the impact on President Putin and his leadership. Today’s episode was presented by Vit...
Nov 14, 2022•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast There’s jubilation on Kherson’s streets as people welcome Ukrainian soldiers to the city after Russia withdrew its troops. It’s a hugely significant moment as Ukraine takes back control of the strategically important city. BBC international editor Jeremy Bowen assesses the situation on the ground and we hear from military expert Prof Gwythian Prins, a former advisor to the UN, Nato and the Ministry of Defence, on the significance of Russia’s retreat and what happens next. Also reporter Hilary An...
Nov 11, 2022•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Russia has ordered its military to pull out of Kherson, the only regional capital it captured after invading Ukraine in February. The BBC’s Jeremy Bowen gives us his appraisal of whether we can believe what Russia says about troop movements. The news came shortly after the announcement that the Russian-appointed official in the region, Kirill Stremousov, had been killed in a car crash. BBC investigative reporter Tim Whewell tells Vitaly about the significance of Stremousov’s death. We hear from ...
Nov 09, 2022•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast We hear from BBC Panorama reporter Hilary Anderson about her documentary on the devastating siege of Mariupol. She travelled over 3,000 miles through Ukraine and Europe hearing survivors’ stories and retrieving the wiped phone footage from witnesses to the city’s tragedy. Also - for months Natalia was unaware of her husband's fate: a Ukrainian soldier, he was captured and made prisoner by Russian forces after the siege of Azovstal in Mariupol. But then she received a phone call. She tells Victor...
Nov 07, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Ukrainian school boy was beaten, detained and threatened. Victoria and Vitaly hear from the mother of a Ukrainian school boy, beaten up and detained by Russian soldiers; and how she’s now trying to get him out the occupied area. The BBC’s International Editor Jeremy Bowen brings us the latest on the Kherson offensive; and James, who has stayed in Kherson throughout the occupation, tells us about life in the besieged city and why he feels brave enough to speak out. Today’s episode was produce...
Nov 04, 2022•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast The BBC’s international editor Jeremy Bowen has been travelling around south-eastern Ukraine, to areas liberated from Russian control. He spoke to Liudmyla, a 75- year-old great-grandmother who was brutally attacked by a soldier in her own home. As winter approaches, we also hear how hard it is to survive in some places with no running water and energy blackouts. And Alexander Kamyshin, the head of Ukraine’s national rail company, Ukrzaliznytsia, describes how he and his team have been removing ...
Nov 02, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Ukrainian government has asked refugees not to come home before the spring – they’re worried about pressure on the energy system. But what does this mean for host countries? We discuss the implications with Sarah Nathan from the UK charity Refugees at Home and Stephanie Hegarty, the BBC’s global population correspondent. Also, the BBC’s Tim Whewell has an update on Viktoria Kovalenko’s situation. After losing her husband and daughter to the war, she was held captive in a basement in appallin...
Oct 31, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast The story of a Ukrainian father who survived the siege of Mariupol, only to be arrested at a Russian filtration camp and separated from his three young children, who were exiled to Russia. Ukrainecast producer Arsenii Sokolov and Nina Nazarova from the BBC’s Russian service join Vitaly to tell us more about this shocking case. The BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner takes listener questions about the latest on the situation in Ukraine: Russia’s claims on dirty bombs, how this conflict com...
Oct 28, 2022•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Norway detains a suspected Russian spy - the latest in a long string of expulsions and arrests. Victoria and Vitaly discuss Russian espionage with BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera. He explains how the war in Ukraine has made the job of a Russian spy in Europe harder. Also, we hear the poignant testimony of a Ukrainian soldier who is suffering from post-traumatic stress because of the fighting he witnessed. And as Russia doubles down on its claims that Ukraine is planning to use dirty bom...
Oct 26, 2022•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast How one man secretly filmed life in Kherson under Russian forces. Dmytro Bahnenko tells us why he and his family stayed there for months secretly filming everyday life under occupation. His footage and story have also been made into a BBC documentary called Occupied. The BBC’s Ukraine correspondent, James Waterhouse, has been talking to people in recently liberated areas. He also discusses why Russia is accusing Ukraine of planning to use a radioactive “dirty bomb,” something that the West has c...
Oct 24, 2022•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Why is Iran helping Russia? Chief international anchor at CNN, Christiane Amanpour, and BBC chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, talk through Iran’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. And, as Zelensky reports that 30% of the country’s power stations have been destroyed by Russian missile strikes, we speak to Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, boss of Ukraine’s national energy company, about the struggles the country faces. Today’s Ukrainecast was hosted by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevc...
Oct 21, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tens of thousands of civilians and Russian appointed officials are being moved out of the occupied city of Kherson, raising fears of what might happen next. Belkis Wilke from Human Rights Watch spoke to dozens of civilians from the recently liberated town of Izyum. She tells Lucy and Vitaly how they described beatings, electric shocks, and waterboarding in the hands of Russian occupiers. And, amidst reports that Iran is ramping up its military support to Russia by allegedly supplying it with dro...
Oct 19, 2022•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast Russia has attacked the Ukrainian capital with drones that loiter above a target before attacking, then detonate on impact. The BBC’s defence correspondent Jonathan Beale explains to Victoria and Vitaly why Russian forces are now using these weapons. Ukrainian author Andrei Kurkov reflects on the life and death of the Ukrainian conductor Yuriy Kerpatenko. The musician was killed by Russians occupying Kherson for refusing to take part in a concert they had organised. Also, for several days now, t...
Oct 17, 2022•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast As the Russian-installed leader of the region calls on its citizens to evacuate and “save themselves”, Vitaliy and Victoria hear about life under occupation in Kherson. They talk to Tamila Imanova, a lawyer working for Memorial, the Russian human rights organisation just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She explains why she agrees with the Ukrainians who insist the Russian people must bear collective responsibility for the war, but warns against the risk of Russophobia. Former NATO adviser and pol...
Oct 14, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Ukrainian authorities says they believe thousands of the country’s orphans have been taken to Russia for adoption. The BBC Russian service’s Nina Nazarova investigates their claims and speaks to a Russian woman who shares her mixed feelings about adopting a child from Ukraine. Vitaly and Victoria speak to Gleb Irisov, a former Russia soldier who served under Russia’s new army commander, Sergey Surovikin. He explains why Surovikin was given the nickname Armageddon. This episode was presented ...
Oct 12, 2022•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Putin says missiles targeting Ukraine are revenge for the attack on the bridge linking Russia to Crimea at the weekend and threatens more strikes. The capital Kyiv and cities from Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia in the east to Lviv in the west have all been hit. Sabina, who lives in Kyiv, tells us one explosion went off just metres away from her car. Also, photographer Serhii Korovayny describes the scene he found when he reached the site of a missile strike in the capital. Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko...
Oct 10, 2022•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Historian Orlando Figes explains why the mythologising of Russia’s past is crucial to understanding Putin’s world view and aspirations for his country. We have an update on Alice – the little girl who was separated from her mother when the Azovstal steelworks were evacuated. One her fifth birthday she got a phone call from her mum, who is being held prisoner by Russians. Russian lawyer Mikhail Benyash says young men and their families are turning to him to try to avoid being forced to fight in U...
Oct 07, 2022•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast As Russia hits the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, Vitaly reflects on the impact the war is having on his home town – and the challenges he faces as a journalist to remain impartial, while his friends suffer and die. This episode was presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko. The series producer is Estelle Doyle. The technical producer Dave O’Neill. The editor, Jonathan Aspinwall. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message o...
Oct 06, 2022•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner answers Ukrainecast listeners’ questions about the likelihood of Moscow using nuclear weapons, as the Russian army continues to suffer losses on the battlefield. And we hear from Vyacheslav Zadorenko who, together with Ukrainian forces, liberated his native village - and his mum - after seven months of Russian occupation. And BBC Russian’s Olga Ivshina joins Victoria and Frank to discuss the future of Crimea and lasting divisions in Ukraine’s occupied are...
Oct 05, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast While the Russian parliament proudly voted through its disputed annexations, the Ukrainian counter-offensive has been continuing, including the symbolic recapturing of the key eastern town of Lyman. The BBC’s defence correspondent Jonathan Beale, who’s just returned to the frontline in the Donbas, gives us his verdict on another dramatic turn of events in the country. Russian political scientist and anti-war campaigner Grigory Yudin talks to us from Moscow and explains what impact the military d...
Oct 03, 2022•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a defiant speech, Vladimir Putin declared four areas of Ukraine as Russian. Ukraine has responded by asking Nato to speed up giving it membership of the US-led defence alliance. Will Vernon, from the BBC Moscow bureau, sends us a dispatch from the Red Square, where a concert is being held to ‘celebrate’ the annexations. And Vitaly Sevchenko and Victoria Derbyshire are joined by Moscow based political scientist, Andrey Kortunov to unpick the events of the day and discuss what might happen next...
Sep 30, 2022•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast The EU believes leaks in the two Nord Stream two gas pipelines from Russia were caused deliberately. Patricia Lewis, who specialises in International Security, gives Lucy and Irena her take on the situation and explains how Europe might respond. Moscow says four occupied areas of Ukraine have voted overwhelmingly in favour of becoming part of Russia. Ukraine and its allies have denounced the referendums as a total sham, but could people living there now be told to fight in the Russian army again...
Sep 28, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast There have been protests in Russia over President Putin’s partial mobilisation plans, and an officer at a recruitment centre has been shot. The BBC’s Will Vernon in Moscow tells Lucy and Irena what people in Russia are saying to him, and Rayhan Demytrie in Tbilisi talks to some of the people crossing the border into Georgia. At the weekend, former US marine Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh returned home - he had been fighting in Ukraine when he was captured by Russian forces. He was released as part of last ...
Sep 26, 2022•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Men flee conscription into the army as referendums start in Russian occupied Ukraine. Victoria and Vitaliy take stock of an eventful week in the Ukraine war with Samantha De Bendern, a former NATO adviser and political risk consultant and former BBC Moscow correspondent, Daniel Sandford. And Vitaliy talks to Yulia Rubanova a violinist with the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra about her early life in Mariupol, her fears for her parents who were stranded there during Russian bombardment and how incredi...
Sep 23, 2022•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Putin warns the West he’s not bluffing and that he is prepared to use "all the means at our disposal" if Russian territory is threatened. The nuclear threat came as he announced a “partial” mobilisation of reserve troops to Ukraine. Vitaly, Victoria and the BBC’s Security Correspondent Frank Gardner unpick how real the possibility of a nuclear war actually is. Ukrainecast’s Ivana Davidovic talks to a recent graduate from St Petersburg, who says he wants to leave Russia to avoid being d...
Sep 21, 2022•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast On the day when most of the world’s leaders and officials are gathering in London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, President Putin is notable by his absence. He is one of only six heads of state who was not invited. Also, at a summit in Uzbekistan, Putin faced concerns by the Chinese President Xi Jinping and further admonishment by India’s Narendra Modi. Vitaly and the BBC’s former Russia correspondent Bridget Kendall unpick what this all means for the Russian President. And they discuss w...
Sep 19, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nigel Povoas is a British lawyer who travelled to the newly recaptured territory in Eastern Ukraine as part of an international team helping with war crimes. He tells Victoria and Vitaly why based on his experience of the war so far, he believes more evidence of atrocities will emerge. They also talk to Volodymyr Zelensky, who is from the city of Izyum, where a mass burial site has been discovered. He describes life under Russian occupation and the risks associated with sharing the same name as ...
Sep 16, 2022•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Many Ukrainians are celebrating the liberation of towns in the south and east of the country from Russian occupation. But these are bittersweet days - the liberation came too late for some. Anastasia from Balakliya shares the devastating story of what happened to her mother and her friends. Also, Vitaly, Victoria and the BBC’s Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse talk to Jakub Jakóbowski, an expert on China, about the upcoming meeting between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and China’s Presi...
Sep 14, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gabriel Gatehouse joins Victoria and Vitaly to discuss the reactions in Russia to the recent setbacks in Ukraine. While some are calling for the Kremlin to take more drastic action, others appear to question the war itself. On the ground in Kharkiv, Sarah Ashton-Cirillo explains us how the city went through a complete power outage after Russian forces shelled the second biggest Ukrainian thermal power plant. We catch up with Maksym Lutskyi, a 19 year old Ukrainian fighter, who describes the cele...
Sep 12, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
