(An earlier version of this podcast was deleted due to a problem with the audio file. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.)

As the conflict in eastern Ukraine grinds towards its fifth winter, there’s still no sense of how it will end. Thirty days of martial law have been announced by President Petro Poreshenko after Russia seized three Ukrainian naval ships and captured their crews at the weekend. It has sparked fears of an attack by Russian, but what caused the clash? Dan McLaughlin reports on this and the emergence of a rift between the Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox churches as Kiev prepares to secure independence.

Plus: the race to succeed Angela Merkel as leader of the Christian Democratic Union party is on. Derek Scally introduces us to the candidates, one of whom could end up as Chancellor sooner than expected.