Episode description

Victoria and Vitaliy speak to executive director of Disability Rights International Eric Rosenthal about their investigation into how Ukraine’s disabled children have been abandoned by their carers in institutions that don’t know how to look after them.

A 21-year-old man from Donetsk tells us how he left his home, his friends, his life in order to avoid forced conscription into the Russian forces by Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas region.

Ukrainecast listener, commercial airline pilot and social media star Captain Denys tells us how his livelihood was swiftly lost as Russian’s entered Ukrainian airspace and of his new life in a remote Ukrainian village.

And we get the latest updates from the eastern front as a crucial bridge in Dnipro is destroyed as the Russian military attempts to disrupt Ukrainian army supply routes.

This episode of Ukrainecast was made by Estelle Doyle with Osman Iqbal, Miranda Sawyer and Phil Marzouk. The technical producer was Emma Crowe. The editor is Jonathan Aspinwall.

Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voicenote via WhatsApp to +44 0330 1234 220.