Perspective

Moscow has officially begun a "new phase" of its war in Ukraine, shifting its attention to the largely Russian-speaking Donbas. Prior to the February invasion, Russian proxies, who created pro-Moscow statelets, controlled around a third of the Donbas region. With striking prescience, novelist Andrey Kurkov explored the conflict from the perspective of a Ukrainian beekeeper who moves from the "grey zone" – the no-man’s-land between loyalist and separatist forces – to Crimea in his 2018 novel, "Grey Bees". He joined us for Perspective.

One by one, Russia's independent media outlets have been forced to shut down since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, effectively banning all but the official state narrative on the war. The crackdown has sparked a mass exodus of Russian journalists, who fear not only for their jobs but also their lives. Among them is Denis Kataev, who was a TV anchor at the independent Dozhd TV, or TV Rain. He joined us for Perspective.

With the second round of voting in the French presidential election just days away, we explore the latest twists and turns in the campaign trail with Andrew Smith, a professor of contemporary French history at Chichester University. He unpicks President Emmanuel Macron's last-gasp bid to convince supporters of defeated leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon to vote for him, if only to keep the far right out of the Élysée Palace. We also discuss Marine Le Pen's pledge to ban the Muslim hijab in public. Smith tells us it's an attempt to fire up her base – but does it risk alienating more moderate voters?

Fleeing war means leaving one's home and taking only the bare minimum of belongings; leaving one's community, school or workplace and often embarking on a dangerous journey to get to safety. The world's nearly 30 million refugees have gone through these ordeals, which often create both short and long-term trauma. And yet, psychological assistance is often overlooked. Zarlasht Halaimzai, who was once a refugee herself, has founded Amna, an organisation that provides non-clinical, psychosocial support to the forcibly displaced. She joined us for Perspective.

A Franco-American journalist and filmmaker has told FRANCE 24 of the campaign launched to try to save the life of a Hispanic mother on death row in Texas. Melissa Lucio, 53, is due to be executed later this month after being found guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter in 2007. When Sabrina Van Tassel interviewed Lucio in jail and spoke with her family at home, she discovered numerous anomalies in the case. This led her to make a film, "The State of Texas vs. Melissa", which has now led to an international campaign to save Lucio's life. The director joined us for Perspective.

An author who escaped the siege of Sarajevo in Bosnia in the mid-1990s has told FRANCE 24 how the war in Ukraine has brought many of his terrible memories back. Semezdin Mehmedinovic made it out of Sarajevo to the US, arriving there as a refugee in 1996. He then wrote an autobiographical novel entitled "My Heart: Today, it seems, was the day I was meant to die". Written in his native Bosnian, it's been translated into English and is now coming out in French. In the book, the author describes what life was like in Sarajevo, how he survived, and how what happened to him has made him who he is today. He joined us for Perspective.

Just like in 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen will be facing each other in this year's presidential run-off. Many pollsters are predicting a tight race on April 24. Macron faces a serious challenge and needs to do more than simply tell people to vote for him in order to defeat Le Pen. That's the view of our guest Andrew Smith, a senior lecturer in contemporary French history and politics at Chichester University. He joined us for Perspective.

Almost exactly a year after she lost her beloved husband, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is preparing for the culmination of celebrations marking her Platinum Jubilee. Her reign has now entered an unprecedented eighth decade. Elizabeth ascended the throne in February 1952 following the death of her father. We discuss her life and legacy to date with Robert Hardman, author of "Queen of Our Times: The Life of Queen Elizabeth II".

Delivering a chilling account of atrocities allegedly committed by Russian troops over the past six weeks in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the UN Security Council to hold Moscow accountable for its crimes. But what does the path to a possible war crimes trial look like? And how realistic is Zelensky’s demand that Russian President Vladimir Putin himself be put on trial? In Perspective, we spoke to human rights lawyer and former New York assistant attorney general Reed Brody. While warning that "we live in a world of impunity", he told FRANCE 24 that "this is the moment of truth for international justice".

In 2016, Matthieu Aikins was a journalist living in the Afghan capital Kabul. When the war finally pushed his Afghan friend Omar to flee his homeland and leave everything he knew in a bid to reach Europe, Aikins decided to join him. "The Naked Don’t Fear the Water" is the book that came out of the friends' journey, one that is both extraordinary but also painfully commonplace for the millions of Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees who have made similar gut-wrenching decisions to seek out a better life. Aikins joined us for Perspective to tell us more.