Ukrainecast

Victoria, Vitaly and Frank Gardner speak to Olga Malchevska, and hear her interviews with victims of suspected war crimes. 15-year-old Yuriy describes how his father was killed in front of him and a bullet missed his own head by inches. Also, Serhiy Dibrov, deputy editor of the Odesa newspaper, Dumskaya, is on the podcast after bombing in the city. This episode of Ukrainecast was made by Estelle D...

Putin tells his troops they are fighting for their motherland. Former Russian MP Sergei Markov and advisor to Vladimir Putin gives the Kremlin’s point of view on the day his country celebrates victory at the end of the Second World War, against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine. They analyse his claims, as well as President Putin’s speech, with the help of Liza Fokht from the BBC Russia s...

Why is May 9 so important to Putin? Victoria, Fergal and Vitaliy are joined by Dr. Ammon Cheskin who explains what Victory Day in Russia is really like and whether Putin will use it to declare mass mobilisation. Also, Andrew Harding joins us from the frontline in Donbas where he is meeting people quietly expressing their Russian identity. And Ukrainecast listener Emma wrestles with different views...

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...

The EU plans a total ban on Russian oil imports by the end of the year, among other new proposed sanctions designed to make Russia pay a high price for aggression. Victoria and Vitaly speak to the economist Timothy Ash about how reliant Europe’s energy supply is on Russia and how much longer President Putin can afford his war bill. We also hear from the BBC Ukrainian Service’s Anastasia Gribanova,...

As the first evacuees arrive in Zaporizhzhia after weeks sheltering from bombs in the Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant, Newsnight’s Lewis Goodall and Vitaliy Shevchenko speak to James Elder from Unicef as he tells us about greeting these people and their stories. We also speak to the BBC’s Abduljalil Abdurasulov, who's spent time in the trenches with Ukrainian armed forces in the southern city of M...

We hear about the captured Ukrainians with the BBC's Yogita Limaye and Ukraine analyst, Mattia Nelles. And, the day after the UN secretary general met with the Ukrainian president, the BBC’s special correspondent Fergal Keane, and Vitaly chat to former Nato Ukraine officer, Sam de Bendern, about the prospect of peace in the region. Today's Ukrainecast was made by Phil Marzouk with Alix Pickles and...

We speak to Bill Browder... Lyse Doucet, the BBC's chief international correspondent, and Vitaliy Shevchenko, find out how he became an enemy of the Russian state. We learn about how a monument to Russian-Ukrainian friendship was torn down by officials in Kyiv, about UN general-secretary Antonio Guterres’ trip to Ukraine and about how Ukrainian forces are attempting to retake Kherson. Finally, we...

As fighting continues in the bombarded city of Mariupol we hear from Olha, Katarina and Maria: three women who tell us their stories after escaping. We hear from a young refugee with autism, and his sister who runs an organisation helping autistic Ukrainian children. Trauma, stress and an unknown future have thrown carers and children into unknown territory. We also hear an update from Transnistri...

The United Nations boss travels to Moscow to discuss peace with Putin. Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko are joined by Lyse Doucet, BBC Chief International Correspondent, who presents Ukrainecast for the first time. They discuss the prospect of a diplomatic solution to the conflict as the United Nations' Secretary General Antonio Guterres visits Moscow for talks with Russian Foreign Minist...

Vitaly and Victoria speak to Oleksandr Sosnovskyi, from the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, as the city prepares in case of a Russian offensive. We also catch up with Vitalii Pashchenko, a 19-year-old student, who says some lecturers have remained to teach as bombs go off around them. There’s also a roundup of the latest developments after the highest-level trip to Ukraine by US officials sinc...

The UN Human Rights Office has today described the war in Ukraine as a ‘horror story of violations against civilians’, in which respect for international law has been ‘tossed aside’. Matilda Bogner, who runs the UN's Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, tells us about the war crimes they've documented. We're also joined by the Marianna Spring, the BBC's disinformation reporter, who tells us...

The Russian President orders troops to seal off the port city. Victoria speaks to defence expert, Justin Crump, about the situation in the city of Mariupol. She also talks to a woman who had an emergency C-section in the basement of a hospital as the fighting was intensifying outside. Anastasia Platonova from the BBC Russian Service – currently based in the Latvian capital, Riga – has been speakin...

A Ukrainian marine commander in Mariupol has made what he described as his troops' "last address to the world" as they try to resist Russian forces in the city. Victoria Derbyshire, James Landale, and Olga Malchevska speak to Olena Nikulina, whose cousin Maks is among the soldiers still there. Also on the podcast, The Economist correspondent Oliver Carroll, who’s been speaking to a commander in th...

We speak to a Russian politician... Yevgeny Popov, Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, speaks to Frank Gardner and Victoria Derbyshire, and says that Russia felt “bullied” into invading Ukraine. He’s challenged on his belief that Nato is the aggressor, and his claims are analysed with the help of Sam de Bendern, a former Nato Ukraine political officer. Today...

Travelling 2000 miles from Poland to the UK... When Ukrainecast listener, Richard O’Doherty, emailed us offering to drive Vitaly's mum and aunt from Poland to the UK, we did not know what to expect. But on the Easter weekend, Alla and Irena arrived into Reading, greeted by Vitaly and members of his family. And, having followed their story since the invasion began, Victoria joined them at Vitaly's...

The Ukrainian president accuses Europe of paying for Russian oil with blood money. The Ukrainians claim to have hit Russia's flagship warship. And Finland eyes up a place in Nato. On today's Ukrainecast Vitaly and Fergal also hear how Ukrainian Railways are playing a critical role in the war effort, after having to reinvent themselves to evacuate refugees and move supplies around the country. And...

Ukraine says it has arrested one of President Putin’s allies and is interested in a prisoner swap. Viktor Medvedchuk had been under house arrest in Kyiv but escaped when the Russian invasion began. James Landale joins Victoria to discuss whether a swap is likely. There's also an update from Hussain who fled from Kherson. He’s been helping other people escape from the same city - we speak to one of...

Reflections on the horrors inflicted on the people of his city... After weeks of reports of Russian atrocities in the region surrounding Kyiv, the mayor of Bucha speaks to us and asks: “Why did they do this to us?” You may remember Sasha Makoviy, the mother who wrote pertinent information and contact details on the back of her two-year-old daughter in case the worst happened. We hear the latest. A...

The man involved in Syria and Chechnya is now reported to be in charge of operations in Ukraine. Victoria, Vitaly and Frank are joined by Reuters' former Moscow correspondent, Oliver Bullough, to discuss General Aleksander Dvornikov’s past and what this means for the war. They also speak to Oleksandra Matviichuk, a human rights worker in Kyiv who’s just found out that her dad is alive after more t...

We reflect on the horrific missile strike on a crowded train station in Kramatorsk. The station in eastern Ukraine is a major evacuation point and the attack has killed at least 50 people. Also, why does Putin need a victory by the 9th of May? Since 1945 ‘Victory Day’ has been a national celebration in Russia, marking Nazi surrender in the Second World War. Sam de Bendern, a political risks consul...

As footage emerges that appears to show war crimes being committed by Ukrainian soldiers we speak to one of the BBC’s team of journalists working to establish if the material is authentic. We hear from a man who’s made the decision to go home to Kyiv after having fled when war broke. A Lithuanian man explains how he’s trying to tell Russian people what’s really happening in Ukraine, by cold-callin...

A woman from Mariupol describes the humiliation her mother and father faced as they travelled through checkpoints out of the city. Also, Irena Taranyuk from the BBC’s Ukrainian service tells Vitaly and Lewis how she’s been accused of not being pro-Ukrainian enough. And on the day that Putin’s daughters are sanctioned, we dig into the secrecy around his family with journalist Farida Rustamova who d...

As scenes of civilian corpses strewn on the streets are repeated across Ukraine, Victoria, Vitaly and Lewis take stock of a watershed in how we are seeing the war. Kay Devlin from BBC Monitoring’s anti-disinformation unit talks us through the clues and sources they look for when verifying whether what we’re viewing is valid. We hear the first-hand account of Halyna Tovkach, who was shot, and her h...

Unarmed civilians massacred near Kyiv. As images of bodies in the streets of towns near the capital lead to an outpouring of condemnation around the world, Human Rights Watch tells us about their investigation into the alleged atrocities. We hear from Tatyana, who was travelling in a convoy of vehicles escaping the city when two fleeing residents stepped out of their car and were shot dead, while...