Episode description

Eight years after Crimea was annexed, Vladimir Putin has given a speech to a packed stadium in Moscow, praising Russia’s soldiers in Ukraine.

Victoria, Gabriel and Vitaly speak to the BBC Ukrainian Service’s Anastasia Gribanova. War has caused the breakdown of her relationship with her pro-Russian parents in eastern Ukraine and with her cousin who’s fighting for the other side. She's in Lviv, which was targeted for the first time today and is also where Vitaly’s mum and aunt have just arrived.

And the BBC’s World Affairs Editor, John Simpson, gives us a special insight into the one of the latest rounds of diplomatic calls – this time between President Putin and Turkey's leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan – and what it suggests about Putin’s state of mind.

This episode of Ukrainecast was made by Daniel Wittenberg with Natalie Ktena, Alix Pickles, and Phil Marzouk. The technical producer was Emma Crowe. The editor is Jonathan Aspinwall.