Hundreds of Ukrainians are waiting for prosthetic limbs after being injured in the war, according to a medic working in the US, Dr Yakov Gradinar. He works with a charity that is giving prostheses to Ukrainians who need them. He tells the incredible story of a soldier who walked almost immediately after being fitted with a new leg. The BBC’s Russia Editor, Steve Rosenberg, gives his take on the speech President Putin made at an event to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Stali...
Feb 03, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast As the seasons change, attention turns to what could happen next on the battlefield. Samantha De Bendern, an associate fellow at Chatham House, is on hand to explain what a spring offensive might actually mean for both sides. The BBC's Andrew Harding has spent the last two and a half weeks reporting on the war. He’s joined by his producer Ed Habershon to give their reflections on being on the frontline before they head back to South Africa. And Tim Stirzaker, the director of the new BBC document...
Jan 31, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast The war in Ukraine has encouraged Western intelligence agencies to share their secrets with the world. The BBC’s security correspondent Gordon Corera explains what a difference a year makes and tells Victoria and Vitaly about a German man who’s been arrested, suspected of spying for Russia. Francis Scarr from BBC Monitoring brings us Russian media reaction to the news that the West is sending tanks to Ukraine. And our tennis correspondent Russell Fuller is in Melbourne where Novak Djokovic’s dad...
Jan 27, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Russia’s new weapon in the Ukraine war: LGBT and the ‘decadent’ West. How a crackdown on political opposition is now accompanied by a crackdown on the Russian LGBT community. We hear from BBC Moscow’s Will Vernon. And Nataliya Zotova, of the BBC Russian service, talks Vic and Vitaliy through opposition politics in Russia, two years after Alexei Navalny was jailed. Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor at The Economist, answers your questions about Germany and tanks. And we get up to speed on the corrup...
Jan 24, 2023•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast A mother’s quest to bring her dead son home. Anastasiya Gribanova from the BBC’s Ukrainian Service has been talking to two mothers about the lengths they had to go to find the bodies of their dead sons. Allies fail to reach an agreement over sending German-made tanks to Ukraine. We get the latest from the meeting of Western defence officials in Ramstein and hear from historian and cold war expert Sergey Radchenko on whether Russia can be defeated. Alexei, formerly known as Jimmy or James, tells ...
Jan 20, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast At least sixteen people have been killed, including Ukraine’s interior affairs minister, after a helicopter crashed beside a nursery in a suburb of Kyiv. In this emergency episode of Ukrainecast, Vitaly Shevchenko speaks to the BBC’s Ukraine Correspondent, James Waterhouse, from the site of the deadly crash. They discuss what we know, and what we don’t know, about what caused the death of Ukraine’s highest profile casualty since the war began. Today’s episode is presented by Vitaliy Shevchenko a...
Jan 18, 2023•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast The dreams of 20-year-old student Vitalii have been put on hold. He wanted to travel abroad and become a diplomat, but now he can’t leave the country or continue his studies. Victoria and Vitaliy catch up with friend of Ukrainecast Vitalii Pashchenko. Andrew Harding spends time with a Ukrainian tank unit working with outdated equipment, he tells us why Ukraine desperately needs more help from Western allies. And we hear from the founder of Breaking the Chains, an animal rescue charity about thei...
Jan 17, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Connecting families, separated by war, with a night time message. Millions of children have been separated from their dads by the war in Ukraine but with the help of an interactive story app, the bedtime ritual can continue. We speak to Leila Popovich of Better Time Stories, and mum Alla tells us how the app helps her daughter Olivia connect with her dad in Mykoliav. Founder of Tip of the Spear landmine removal Ryan Hendrickson tells us about the dangers of cluster bombs and what drives him to r...
Jan 13, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Soledar, only 10 kilometers from Bakhmut, looks set to be the first major Russian gain since the summer. The BBC’s James Waterhouse has been in Bakhmut, the city that both countries regard as totemic in the conflict. Called the ‘meat grinder’ by the head of the Wagner Group, James found a city almost uninhabitable. But with new weapons on the way from the West, could Ukraine’s forces be about to move from defensive to offensive mode? Frank Gardner tells us they could be a game-changer. And Alina...
Jan 10, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Russia announces a unilateral 36-hour ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas, but Ukraine calls it cynical propaganda. The BBC reporter in Moscow, Will Vernon, tells us about the influence of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, who proposed the Christmas truce and the reaction it has had in Moscow. Valeriia Hesse from the Open Nuclear Network joins us to answer a Ukrainecast listener’s question about Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. And finally we clear up how to make the traditi...
Jan 06, 2023•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Moscow has blamed Russian soldiers’ for a deadly attack that killed at least 89 of them in eastern Ukraine. It said their mobile phone use enabled Ukrainian forces to work out their location. Olga Ivshina from the BBC’s Russian service brings us up to date on the deadliest attack from a single Ukrainian strike since the war began. Documentary maker Olly Lambert spent two months embedded with Ukrainian volunteer special forces as they pushed to retake Kherson. They shared what motivated them and ...
Jan 04, 2023•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Ukrainecast team looks back at 2022 and assesses what 2023 might bring. The BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet, security correspondent Frank Gardner, Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse and Olga Ivshina from the BBC Russian Service reflect on the invasion, nuclear threats, war crimes investigations and the situation in Russia. We also look ahead to 2023 to discuss how long the war could continue, what it would take for Russia and Ukraine to negotiate and the role other co...
Dec 30, 2022•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ukrainecast has been following the story of Viktoria Kovalenko, whose husband and 12-year-old daughter Veronika were killed in front of her when they tried to escape from the besieged town of Chernihiv in the early days of the war. After weeks of hiding in bunkers, Viktoria and her surviving baby daughter Varvara eventually managed to find their way to Poland. Viktoria’s dream was to get to the UK to start a new chapter for Varvara. After 191 days of waiting for a visa, they, together with Vikto...
Dec 28, 2022•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast As Ukraine prepares for its first Christmas since the Russian invasion, a friend in Kyiv tells us it’s one of struggle and defiance. It’s also Vitaly’s first Christmas with his family safely in the UK. How will they spend it? Natalia Zarytska gives us an update on her husband Bogdan’s long road to recovery since his release from Russian detention. And we speak to Oleksandr Pikalov, a friend of Volodymyr Zelensky since childhood, about the time he introduced the future president to his future wif...
Dec 23, 2022•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Zelensky is making his first overseas visit since the war began. He’s in Washington for talks with President Biden and is also due to address Congress. The BBC’s North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher gauges the level of support for Ukraine in the US and from Moscow, Steve Rosenberg explains how the Kremlin is reacting to the visit. Also BBC disability reporter Ruth Clegg has been meeting the families of disabled Ukrainian refugees in Poland. They tell her the care they have recei...
Dec 21, 2022•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Ukrainian troops liberated Izyum in the east of the country, they discovered hundreds of shallow graves in a wood outside the town. Months later, forensic experts are still struggling to identify the remains. The BBC’s Eastern Europe correspondent, Sarah Rainsford, has been talking to the pathologists and the families waiting for news of their lost loved ones. We also get the latest on today’s drone attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure as President Putin visits its ally Belarus. And Prof Mic...
Dec 19, 2022•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast When the Ukrainian army liberated Kherson, not all its residents celebrated. BBC investigative reporter, Tim Whewell, and Ukrainecast producer, Arsenii Sokolov, spoke to the pro-Russians who stayed. We get a glimpse inside the mind of the Kremlin through the lens of Russian state media, as watched by BBC Monitoring’s Francis Scarr. And entertainment reporter, Daniel Rosney, talks us through how Ukraine will be choosing its Eurovision act for 2023. Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbysh...
Dec 16, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rumoured to run to 120 miles, Russia is digging a vast trench stretching the full length of Ukraine’s eastern flank. An enormous feat of engineering, but does it mean they’re digging in or desperate? The BBC’s security correspondent, Frank Gardner, tells us that this line of defence, like the Maginot Line before it, is no guarantee against a Ukrainian advance. We also hear about the alleged use of cluster bombs. Human Rights Watch says it’s seen the tell-tale fragmentary patterns left by the exp...
Dec 14, 2022•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast A Russian soldier tells us the danger is "from our side" not from Ukraine. BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg and his team have been talking to families whose loved ones refused to keep fighting. We hear why Georgian soldiers have travelled to Ukraine - their commander explains the historic ties between the two countries and a shared fear of President Putin’s ambitions. And Ukraine says many thousands of its children have been taken to Russia. A legal expert at the Regional Centre for Human Right...
Dec 12, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast In spite of the power cuts and air raid warnings, the festive spirit is alive and well in Kyiv. Ice skating, Santa’s grotto, and mulled wine are all on offer at the city’s Winter Land, a Christmassy theme park. We hear from the team bringing a smile to the faces of families in spite of the war. When the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford last visited Kharkiv, the city was under attack. Nine months on, Sarah returns, and it’s back under Ukrainian control. The Metro that was then a bomb shelter is now the home...
Dec 09, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kyiv may be a city of blackouts and bomb shelters, but its comedians have found a fresh lease of life. Comedy clubs have taken off since the invasion with citizens seking solace in dark humour and the company of their compatriots. Also, the BBC’s Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg, gives his reflections on how the country is being changed by the war into something no longer recognisable to the one he knew a decade ago. And, the criticisms of Vitaly’s Kutia recipe just keep in coming in. Will it neve...
Dec 07, 2022•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast As troops grapple with freezing temperatures and missiles cause mass power cuts across Ukraine, the BBC’s Security Correspondent Frank Gardner assesses both sides’ military strategies. Victoria and Vitaly speak to Yaryna Chornohuz, a mother who is now a soldier on the front line. She has a young daughter, but says she feels compelled to fight. And Father Vitaliy Novak describes how he and a team of volunteers are delivering food to people across the country, some of whom are living in church bas...
Dec 05, 2022•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast The BBC’s chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, gives us her take on whether President Biden’s offer to talk may offer a moment for diplomacy, despite an apparent rebuff from Vladimir Putin. A former US marine who heads up the Mozart Group, an unarmed private military company, gives us a graphic depiction of saving civilians behind Russian lines in the Donbass and occupied areas. Jonny Dymond joins us to share his fresh insights into the Russian President as more episodes of Putin drop...
Dec 02, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast A mother in Siberia tells us how her son died at a training camp in Russia - he had volunteered to fight but never made it to the front line. The BBC’s Tim Whewell spoke to her and other families in Bratsk whose young men have gone to war. Ukraine has opened a “surrender hotline” for Russian soldiers to call. Our correspondent in Dnipro, James Waterhouse, has been talking to the people who run it. Also, we hear from volunteer Olena Budahovska about the people she’s been delivering food to in rec...
Nov 30, 2022•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast We hear from Borys Todurov, a cardiac surgeon from Kyiv, whose team used head torches to operate on a 14-year-old boy after a Russian strike knocked out the hospital’s power supply. Olena, a mother of eight from Izium, tells us how an attack near her home killed her mother and left her teenage son unable to walk. He was taken to Moscow for treatment and thought Olena was dead. And Dr Patricia Lewis, Director of the International Security Programme at Chatham House, answers listeners’ questions a...
Nov 28, 2022•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Olena Zelenska says Ukrainians will endure the winter despite the cold and power cuts caused by Russian shelling. Ukraine’s first lady told the BBC’s Lyse Doucet that Ukraine is facing many challenges, but that a blackout is not the worst thing that can happen to them. Also, one of the country’s richest businessmen, Vsevolod Kozhemyako, talks about his decision to fund a group of soldiers that has become known as the billionaire’s battalion. He’s also fighting alongside them on the battlefield. ...
Nov 25, 2022•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast A baby boy has died after a missile hit a hospital maternity ward just two days after he was born. Before the attack, Victoria interviewed the Russian ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin and asked him about the killing of civilians and war crimes committed in Ukraine. Also, BBC correspondent James Waterhouse has been meeting the people rebuilding the country’s bombed-out infrastructure. And friend of the pod, Olga Ivshina from the BBC Russian service, tells us how Russian men have been resisting m...
Nov 23, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gabriel Gatehouse takes us back to the anti-corruption protests of 2013 in Kyiv’s Maidan Square that told Moscow it was losing influence in Ukraine. Viktoria Andrusha tells us why she risked her life and her freedom by informing on Russian troops as they moved into her town. And we hear how Russia is currently reporting on the war and how the propaganda machine is presenting the recent withdrawal from Kherson. Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire, Gabriel Gatehouse and Vitaliy She...
Nov 21, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Alice, the little girl whose video of life in the bunker went viral, was separated from her mum when they were evacuated by Russian troops. We heard she was safe with her grandmother in Poland and on today’s podcast, we hear the story of her Ukrainian mum, Victoria and what happened to her. We hear the Ukrainian response to the news that a Dutch court has found three men guilty of murder for shooting down a passenger jet over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing 298 people . And we hear from Liza Fo...
Nov 18, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast After a fraught few hours, Nato said the missile that hit Poland - one of its members - was most likely fired by Ukraine in defence. The organisation says it was not intentional. We hear reaction from Ukraine, the US and Russia, with analysis from the BBC’s Security Correspondent Frank Gardner and Sam de Bendern , a political analyst with Chatham House and a former adviser to Nato. We also hear a moving account of life on the front line from a team of Ukrainian medics in the Donbas. Today’s epis...
Nov 16, 2022•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
