Ukrainecast

Russia’s new weapon in the Ukraine war: LGBT and the ‘decadent’ West. How a crackdown on political opposition is now accompanied by a crackdown on the Russian LGBT community. We hear from BBC Moscow’s Will Vernon. And Nataliya Zotova, of the BBC Russian service, talks Vic and Vitaliy through opposition politics in Russia, two years after Alexei Navalny was jailed.

Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor at The Economist, answers your questions about Germany and tanks. And we get up to speed on the corruption scandals gripping Ukraine.

Clips from ‘The White Lotus’ made by HBO Entertainment, Pallogram, The District, and Rip Cord Productions. And from ‘Sex and The City’, made by HBO, New Line Cinema, HBO Films, The Montecito Picture Company and Darren Star.

Soviet Sports Parade footage courtesy of British Pathe.

Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaliy Shevchenko.

A mother’s quest to bring her dead son home. Anastasiya Gribanova from the BBC’s Ukrainian Service has been talking to two mothers about the lengths they had to go to find the bodies of their dead sons.

Allies fail to reach an agreement over sending German-made tanks to Ukraine. We get the latest from the meeting of Western defence officials in Ramstein and hear from historian and cold war expert Sergey Radchenko on whether Russia can be defeated.

Alexei, formerly known as Jimmy or James, tells us that life in Kherson continues to be dangerous despite being liberated in November.

And Leeds-born Ukrainian, Olga, tells listener Brent to bring his mum’s knitted hats to her community centre.

Today’s episode is presented by Lucy Hockings and Vitaliy Shevchenko.

At least sixteen people have been killed, including Ukraine’s interior affairs minister, after a helicopter crashed beside a nursery in a suburb of Kyiv.

In this emergency episode of Ukrainecast, Vitaly Shevchenko speaks to the BBC’s Ukraine Correspondent, James Waterhouse, from the site of the deadly crash. They discuss what we know, and what we don’t know, about what caused the death of Ukraine’s highest profile casualty since the war began.

Today’s episode is presented by Vitaliy Shevchenko and James Waterhouse.

The dreams of 20-year-old student Vitalii have been put on hold. He wanted to travel abroad and become a diplomat, but now he can’t leave the country or continue his studies. Victoria and Vitaliy catch up with friend of Ukrainecast Vitalii Pashchenko.

Andrew Harding spends time with a Ukrainian tank unit working with outdated equipment, he tells us why Ukraine desperately needs more help from Western allies.

And we hear from the founder of Breaking the Chains, an animal rescue charity about their work rescuing abandoned and injured animals in Ukraine.

Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaliy Shevchenko.

Connecting families, separated by war, with a night time message. Millions of children have been separated from their dads by the war in Ukraine but with the help of an interactive story app, the bedtime ritual can continue. We speak to Leila Popovich of Better Time Stories, and mum Alla tells us how the app helps her daughter Olivia connect with her dad in Mykoliav.

Founder of Tip of the Spear landmine removal Ryan Hendrickson tells us about the dangers of cluster bombs and what drives him to risk his life de-mining in Ukraine.

And as Russia claims to have captured Soledar in Ukraine’s Donbas region, Nataliya Vasilyeva of the Daily Telegraph talks us through the rise of Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group, the main force behind the push for this salt mining town.

Soledar, only 10 kilometers from Bakhmut, looks set to be the first major Russian gain since the summer. The BBC’s James Waterhouse has been in Bakhmut, the city that both countries regard as totemic in the conflict. Called the ‘meat grinder’ by the head of the Wagner Group, James found a city almost uninhabitable.

But with new weapons on the way from the West, could Ukraine’s forces be about to move from defensive to offensive mode? Frank Gardner tells us they could be a game-changer.

And Alina Revcko, an English teacher who works with the British Council in a village near Kyiv, tells us about the struggle to keep teaching amidst the chaos and disruption of the war.

Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaliy Shevchenko.

Russia announces a unilateral 36-hour ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas, but Ukraine calls it cynical propaganda. The BBC reporter in Moscow, Will Vernon, tells us about the influence of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, who proposed the Christmas truce and the reaction it has had in Moscow.

Valeriia Hesse from the Open Nuclear Network joins us to answer a Ukrainecast listener’s question about Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.

And finally we clear up how to make the traditional Christmas dish of Kutia with restaurant owner Olga Tsybytovska.

Today’s episode is presented by Lyse Doucet and Vitaly Shevchenko.

Moscow has blamed Russian soldiers’ for a deadly attack that killed at least 89 of them in eastern Ukraine. It said their mobile phone use enabled Ukrainian forces to work out their location.

Olga Ivshina from the BBC’s Russian service brings us up to date on the deadliest attack from a single Ukrainian strike since the war began.

Documentary maker Olly Lambert spent two months embedded with Ukrainian volunteer special forces as they pushed to retake Kherson. They shared what motivated them and what it was like to swap a normal life for the front line.

And author and historian Olesya Khromeychuk talks about her brother’s death and the role of culture in the war.

Today’s episode is presented by Lucy Hockings and Vitaly Shevchenko.

Email [email protected] with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480

The Ukrainecast team looks back at 2022 and assesses what 2023 might bring.

Ukrainecast has been following the story of Viktoria Kovalenko, whose husband and 12-year-old daughter Veronika were killed in front of her when they tried to escape from the besieged town of Chernihiv in the early days of the war.