A Listener to the Rescue
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 April 2022
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Travelling 2000 miles from Poland to the UK...
When Ukrainecast listener, Richard O’Doherty, emailed us offering to drive Vitaly's mum and aunt from Poland to the UK, we did not know what to expect. But on the Easter weekend, Alla and Irena arrived into Reading, greeted by Vitaly and members of his family. And, having followed their story since the invasion began, Victoria joined them at Vitaly's house the morning after, to talk through this momentous journey and what it means for everyone involved.
This special episode of Ukrainecast was made by Emma Crowe. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The assistant editor was Sam Bonham.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:04.6 | Hello, it's the 53rd day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:09.5 | And you will know, as a Ukraine castleist net, how Vitaly has been desperately trying to |
| 0:13.9 | get his mum, Ella and his auntie severely disabled auntie Irina, out of Ukraine to safety, |
| 0:20.4 | to Vitaly's home here in the UK. |
| 0:24.8 | The last night after a journey of 2,000 miles, the took 35 hours crossing five European |
| 0:34.2 | countries, the sisters finally arrived. |
| 0:38.0 | Yeah, thanks buddy, hey here. |
| 0:44.0 | Vitaly, how do you feel about the fact that your mum and your auntie are here? |
| 0:48.2 | It's still sinking in, I'm still trying to understand what happened, the momentous nature |
| 0:53.7 | of it, it feels absolutely unbelievable, because last week we were getting a bit desperate, |
| 1:01.3 | it was really difficult to find the right sort of vehicle to transport my aunt. |
| 1:08.2 | And then Richard got in touch, and that's when it turned into a fairytale. |
| 1:15.3 | On this episode of Ukraine cast, we're going to speak to Ella, and Ella is going to |
| 1:20.0 | talk on behalf of her younger sister Irina, because Irina listeners will know is severely |
| 1:25.3 | disabled. |
| 1:26.3 | And we're also going to explain how this escape mission was only made possible because |
| 1:33.4 | of the kindness of Richard, a Ukraine cast listener, a man called Richard Odochety, who |
| 1:43.7 | heard Vitaly's story on the podcast and stepped forward to help. |
| 1:50.3 | He drove Vitaly's mum and auntie all the way from Poland to the UK in his motorhome. |
| 2:10.0 | The question for us now is to be or not to be. |
| 2:19.6 | I'm ordering the Ministry of Defence to put the strategic nuclear forces on special alert. |
... |
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