390. The Invisible Frontline: Power, Trauma, and Resilience in Odesa

Battleground

Goalhanger

History

4.5 • 820 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 Follow us on: X - @PodBattleground Instagram - podbattleground TikTok - battlegroundukraine Producer: James Hodgson A Goalhanger Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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.
0:26.6	Russia's winter strategy of targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure with devastating effect. In the port city of Odessa alone, more than 40 electrical substations have been struck by drone attacks.
0:33.6	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
0:54.2	attack by i think up to 15 shahid which has totally destroyed this substation one of more than 40
1:02.3	that have been hit in odessa i mean it's pretty horrendous damage isn't it it's horrendous it's
1:07.6	so 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.
1:19.6	We think of the front line as being trenches and fortifications, and, you know, that's where the sort of infantry and the drones collide but you know Putin's real effort this winter has been to bring down the Ukrainian populace and that is basically by hitting places like this you know these these substations and you get here you look at this and you kind of feel you feel that you feel the damage
1:44.2	you can still smell the burning you can see all the the broken up metal and just on
1:49.6	the way and I talked to just now actually as we were coming back in could have been
1:53.2	in and out a couple of times because of the air raid alerts I talked to one of
1:56.8	the workers and they've got this you know I said to him isn't this dangerous
2:00.1	don't you feel aren't you scared and he said no I'm not scared and then I said well why
2:05.3	aren't you scared he said well you know they don't shoot at us all the time and
2:10.1	it's that kind of you know I hate to use the word resilience because it's so
2:13.4	overused but it's that just getting on with it and keep it going it's very
	...

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