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Ukrainecast

A million without power: Ukraine's blackout

Ukrainecast

BBC

News Commentary, News

4.71K Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2024

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A wave of Russian strikes have hammered Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, leaving at least five dead.

We speak to Kharkiv resident Nataliya, who joins us from a special bunker in the city, where officials say 700 000 were left with no electricity.

Also, we hear from one eyewitness who lives next door to one of the targets - Ukraine's largest dam, the DniproHES, which was hit eight times according to Ukrainian officials

And we get the latest from the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in Kyiv where officials are calling this the largest missile and drone attack on infrastructure of the war so far, and Glen Grant, a military analyst explains the potential strategy behind these strikes.

Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Arsenii Sokolov, Cordelia Hemming and Ivana Davidovic. The technical producer was Sam Dickinson. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480

You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.

0:05.2

Hello, it's 758 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

0:10.3

And overnight, Russia launched massive drone and missile attacks against

0:15.5

Ukrainian people and against Ukrainian people's critical infrastructure

0:20.7

leaving up to a million people without power.

0:24.0

There is some dramatic audio you're about to hear and you will hear an individual swearing

0:30.0

as the sound of the missile goes past him.

0:34.0

This is the sound of a Russian missile hitting Ukraine's biggest hydropower dam in my home city,

0:52.4

in Zapparizia, as well as the sound of a man in shock swearing.

0:57.0

The dam caught fire there's no immediate threat of a breach as far as we understand. Officials in Ukraine say this is the biggest

1:06.4

Russian attack against Ukrainian infrastructure since the start of the full scale

1:11.8

invasion. So far, five people are confirmed to have died,

1:17.7

many more injured and that number is likely to rise.

1:22.0

And in this episode we're going to find out really about the impact these

1:25.8

strikes are having, how this fits into Russia's military strategy and whether Ukraine can continue to defend itself against such attacks.

1:35.8

This is Ukraine Kast from BBC.

1:40.8

Ukraine is an epicenter of unbearable heart rage and pain.

1:46.2

Millions of people are without heating, without water.

1:49.3

Putin is the aggressor.

1:51.3

He will be ready to use nuclear weapons. They killed him and flat.

1:56.5

I do not know how we manage to survive. I want people to know the truth.

2:04.0

Hello this is Victoria Derbyshire in the BBC radio car.

...

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