390. The Invisible Frontline: Power, Trauma, and Resilience in Odesa
Battleground
Goalhanger
4.5 • 824 Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
You can watch this video on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/Khbr9JD_q98
In this special episode from Ukraine, the Battleground team visits Odesa to document the devastating impact of Russia’s winter strategy on the city's critical infrastructure.
We go inside a key electrical substation—one of over 40 hit by drone attacks—to witness firsthand the "horrendous" damage caused by waves of Shaheed drones and speak with the resilient workers keeping the lights on in freezing conditions.
The episode also explores the war's "harder to see" wounds through a visit to a discreet clinic in Odesa. There, we meet Olga, a former London-based professional who returned home to establish a unique rehabilitation centre.
She shares her mission to treat the psychological trauma and physical scars of returning soldiers and their families, operating under extreme conditions where even the clinic’s location must remain a secret for safety.
If you would like to support Olga and her team you can do so here - https://www.caresukraine.com/vsesylini_donate/
Join the Conversation: If you have a question about the war in Ukraine or any of the conflicts we cover, email us at podbattleground@gmail.com
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Producer: James Hodgson
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to another one of our specials from Ukraine. |
| 0:15.8 | We're still in Odessa and we're visiting what has been one of the key front lines in this war. |
| 0:21.5 | Russia's winter strategy of targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure with devastating effect. In the |
| 0:27.2 | port city of Odessa alone, more than 40 electrical substations have been struck by drone attacks. |
| 0:33.8 | We visit one of them, a facility destroyed by a wave of Shahid drones. |
| 0:38.3 | We're in a substation in Odessa, which was hit a couple of months ago. |
| 0:44.3 | Actually, it was first hit, I think a month before that, Julius, by a couple of Shahid drones, |
| 0:50.3 | which did a lot of damage to the building we can see at the back there, |
| 0:53.3 | and then a second attack by I think up to 15 |
| 0:56.2 | Shaheed which has totally destroyed this substation one of more than 40 that have been hit in Odessa I mean it's pretty horrendous damage isn't it |
| 1:06.8 | it's horrendous it's also sad I mean you know you've got this brand new equipment that was put in here in 2021. |
| 1:12.6 | You know, they were clearly building up their country and then bam, the war came along. |
| 1:16.6 | And another thing that strikes me is that, you know, this is a front line. We think of the front line as being trenches and fortifications. |
| 1:23.6 | And, you know, that's where the sort of infantry and the drones collide. |
| 1:29.3 | But, you know, Putin's real effort this winter has been to bring down the Ukrainian populace, |
| 1:35.3 | and that is basically by hitting places like this, you know, these substations. |
| 1:39.3 | And you get here and you look at this, and you of feel you feel that you feel the damage you can |
| 1:44.5 | still smell the burning you can see all the the broken up metal and uh just on the way and i |
| 1:50.1 | talk to just now actually as we were coming back in we've been in and out a couple of times because |
| 1:54.8 | of the air raid alerts i talked to one of the workers and they've got this you know i said to him |
| 1:59.2 | isn't this dangerous don't you feel aren't you scared and he said no I'm not scared and then I said well why aren't you |
| 2:05.7 | scared he said well you know they don't shoot at us all the time and it's that kind of you know |
... |
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