Ukrainecast

A family of amputees learn to walk again. We talk to Natalia Stepanenko, who was badly injured in the Kramatorsk railway attack last year. Both her and her 12 year old daughter Yana lost legs, while Natalia’s husband died in a separate attack soon after. After receiving treatment in California the family are back in Ukraine, trying to re-build their lives. The BBC’s Orla Guerin explains what medic...

Three seasoned correspondents discuss the challenges of covering prolonged conflicts, in particular, the issue of “news fatigue”. Chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet, international editor Jeremy Bowen and the BBC’s Quentin Sommerville talk about their experience of reporting in places like Bosnia, Afghanistan, and now, Ukraine - and how to keep you, the audience, interested and engaged…...

Ukraine says it has damaged naval ships in the port of Sevastopol in Crimea and hit air defences. We ask Britain’s most recent defence attaché in Moscow, John Foreman whether Ukraine is stepping up its attacks on Crimea and how Russia could respond. North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un continues his state visit to Russia with a tour of an arms factory. He met President Putin on Wednesday but what did...

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. T...

The BBC’s Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg answers your questions on Yevgeny Prigozhin, pro-Kremlin talk shows and Kim Jong Un. We catch up with the BBC’s Olga Malchevska who talks us through the latest attack which killed at least 17 people in Kostyantynivka. And how McDonald’s has played a crucial role in aiding diplomacy between Washington and Kyiv. Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbysh...

Why has President Zelensky lobbied Western powers for the F-16? What are the challenges in getting them deployed? And could they shift the balance in the war for Ukraine’s skies? To discuss this we’re joined by Dan ‘Two-Dogs’ Hampton, a retired US Air Force pilot who has flown 151 combat missions in the F-16. Also, the Guardian’s Emma Graham-Harrison and the BBC’s James Waterhouse discuss the dism...

Despite the reported capture of the village of Robotyne, is Ukraine making any meaningful gains in its counter-offensive? To take stock of how it’s going, Victoria and Vitaly are joined by Riley Bailey from the Institute for the Study of War and Professor Michael Clarke, a defence and security analyst based in London. Also, veteran war reporter for CNN, Christiane Amanpour, joins us from Kyiv to d...

What is it like in the classroom during wartime? Two Ukrainian teachers, Lesia Yurchyshyn in Kyiv and Olga Hrihoryeva in Kherson, discuss their differing experiences of what teaching has been like since the war began, from remote learning to bomb shelter classrooms. New York Times correspondent Valerie Hopkins joins us from St Petersburg where she’s searching cemetery-by-cemetery to find the locat...

Does the Wagner chief’s reported death strengthen the Russian president? Lyse, Vitaly and journalist Gabriel Gatehouse unpick the latest developments surrounding Wednesday's plane crash, and the presumed death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group. And Kremlin critic Bill Browder suggests that Prigozhin’s presumed death is “the beginning of the purge” and gives an insight...

In an extra episode of Ukrainecast, Adam Fleming and Vitaly Shevchenko are joined by the BBC’s Frank Gardner and Lou Osborne from the monitoring group All Eyes on Wagner to discuss the news that the Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been presumed dead following a plane crash. The producers were Chris Flynn and Miranda Slade. The technical producer was Rohan Madison. The series producer is Tim Wal...

One woman’s story of helping to deliver 136 babies in 42 days from a warzone. Midwife Vira Tselyk tells Lucy and Vitaly about the 42 days she spent working from a bunker, helping to deliver over a hundred and thirty babies. We also talk to Emma Mateo, who got caught in the deadly attack in Chernihiv - where a six-year-old girl is among seven people who died after a Russian missile strike on the hi...

Why drones are so important in the war for both Ukraine and Russia. How do drones work? Who makes them? And, crucially, who’s winning the drone production race? The BBC’s Security Correspondent Frank Gardner and Dr Marina Miron from King’s College London talk us through it all. And, Politico journalist Eva Hartog gives her fist interview after being kicked out of Russia following a decade of livin...

Eight months in the country after losing her husband and daughter. Ukrainecast catches up with Viktoria Kovalenko, whose story we’ve followed since the early days of the war. In the most tragic of circumstances, her husband and 12-year-old daughter Veronika were killed in front of her when they tried to escape the town of Chernihiv last year. She then spent weeks hiding in bunkers while looking af...

How one Russian reporter is risking her life for journalism. We catch up with prominent investigative reporter Yelena Milashina who was severely attacked moments after flying in to the Russian republic of Chechnya. We’re also joined by the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford who’s in Poland, where there is growing concern over the Wagner Group’s presence in neighbouring Belarus. And the BBC’s Arsenii Sokolov ha...

Why one man says he’s turned his back on Moscow to fight with Ukraine. We speak to "Apostle", a member of the Liberty of Russia Legion, one of the groups reportedly responsible for the cross-border raids in the Russian city of Belgorod earlier this year. The FT’s Ukraine correspondent Christopher Miller is in the studio to discuss his new book and reflect on his time in the Pokrovsk, in Ukraine, w...

Why going back home to Ukraine is so heart breaking. Fergal Keane returns to Ukraine with a refugee family to be reunited with their husband and father; they last saw each other 18 months ago. Vitaly and Victoria catch up with Olga who has returned to Kherson after six weeks in the safety and calm of her children's home in Norway. She now faces constant shelling and her life is in danger, so why h...

One woman's story of life in the Russian capital. Moscow resident Masha describes life in the Russian capital, and security correspondent Frank Gardner examines whether, as President Zelensky suggests, war is coming back to the country. Also, we check in on how the UK’s Homes for Ukraine scheme is going. Ukrainian national Marina and her former sponsor Francis reflect on their year living together...

Aiden Aslin, the British prisoner released by Russia, discusses his time behind bars, receiving the death sentence and his plans to return to Ukraine. Also, Africa correspondent Andrew Harding and Beverly Ochieng from BBC Monitoring in Nairobi discuss the Russia-Africa summit and the continent’s relationship with the Kremlin. And what does Yevgeny Prigozhin’s reappearance in St Petersburg tell us...

Why is Russia targeting the historic port city after it withdrew from the grain deal? We hear from James Waterhouse, who has spent the weekend in Odesa and visited the landmark Transfiguration Cathedral, which was hit by strikes. And opera singer Katerina Tsymbaliuk tells us what it was like to perform in the cathedral and why her city’s residents are so resilient. Also, Nick Sturdee has been spea...

Will the collapse of the UN grain deal and attack on port cities in Ukraine affect food security? James Waterhouse joins us from a grain processing plant in Poltava and we also hear from Oksana Karabin, who works for Ukraine's biggest grain exporter Kernel. Their terminal was shelled this week destroying 60 tonnes of grain. And we return to the issue of the forced deportation of Ukrainian children...

We find out more about the bombing of the Kerch bridge between occupied Crimea and Russia. How much damage has been done and by whom? Olga Robinson from BBC Verify talks through the evidence. And is Vladimir Putin’s homophobia driving LGBT acceptance amongst Ukrainians? Mikhail Zygar, the Russian journalist, writer and film maker tells us why he hopes his own marriage will strike a blow for gay eq...

Should Ukraine be more grateful to the West for its military and financial support? After the UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said "people want to see gratitude" from Kyiv, BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera and Politico’s Lara Seligman look at the big talking point from this week’s Nato summit — and assess whether Ukraine should be pleased or disappointed by the commitments made. And we he...

What to expect from this week’s Nato summit. BBC Europe editor Katya Adler and former US general John Allen discuss what Ukraine can realistically hope for (when it comes to joining the alliance) at the two day gathering in Vilnius. Also, Russia editor Steve Rosenberg is back with the latest on the whereabouts of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and what life is like in Moscow weeks after his failed...

It’s nearly 500 days since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began and it seems nowhere is safe. The western city of Lviv, a haven for refugees far away from the front line, has been hit by Russian missiles killing ten civilians. We hear from Olga Pona, a local journalist, about her night of terror sheltering in a basement car park. We catch up with student and friend of the podcast Vitalii Pashc...

Assessing the damage caused by the Kherson floods. The BBC’s Andrew Harding updates us on the environmental, social and emotional impact caused by the Kakhovka dam breach, and we catch up again with Kherson resident Olga. Also, we find out more about the attack on independent Russian journalist Elena Milashina in Chechnya, who appeared on last week’s Ukrainecast, with the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford and...