A Moscow car bomb and Putin’s telethon
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 December 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There’s lots of news from Moscow where a Russian general died on Monday morning after an explosive device planted under his car was detonated.
He is the third military official to be killed in such an attack this year alone, with authorities pointing the finger at Ukraine's intelligence services.
Also, Vladimir Putin said in his end-of-year press conference that there will be no more wars after Ukraine, provided Russia is treated with respect - he dismissed claims that the Kremlin is planning to attack European countries as "nonsense".
The BBC’s Russia editor Steve Rosenberg was in the room to ask a question. He joins Victoria and Vitaly to discuss the president's answer, and the surreal moment a Russian TV channel mistook another journalist for him.
Plus, Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse is in the studio to chat about Europe's eleventh-hour deal to fund Kyiv, and all the latest on peace talks from Miami.
Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Laurie Kalus and Julia Webster. The technical producer was James Piper. The series producer is Chris Flynn. 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
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:07.2 | We get it. Life is busy. You want to keep up with the news, but there's just too much going on. |
| 0:13.0 | Which is where newscast comes in. We do the work, and when you're ready to dig deeper into the day's news, you just pop us into your ears. |
| 0:22.3 | It does mean we have to put in the hard work, though. Listen to newscast every day on BBC Sounds. Hello, it's 1,399 days |
| 0:29.5 | since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And we want to say thank you, because we have |
| 0:36.2 | been overwhelmed by all the messages you have been sending us in the last seven days or so. |
| 0:42.3 | And well what can I say? I'm genuinely humbled. |
| 0:46.3 | I'm going to read some names of you who've written in because we appreciate it so much. |
| 0:50.3 | But let me read this one from Guy Woodland who's in Norfolk here in the UK. |
| 0:59.3 | This is just an extract from his email. I've been a regular listener to the podcast since it began. The reporting is exceptional and the educational value incalculable. The podcast still has an |
| 1:05.4 | important role to play. I'd like to thank the whole team for all their hard work over nearly |
| 1:09.7 | four years. |
| 1:15.1 | Your professionalism and humanity are an example to all broadcasters, |
| 1:17.9 | wishing you all the best for the future and a Merry Christmas. |
| 1:20.0 | Guy, thank you so much for that. |
| 1:27.4 | There's Andy in Shropshire and Daniel Ross and Paul Anderson in Queensland on the Gold Coast, Nick in Flanders, Mary Cracknell, Christine, Tim Kelly in Gateshead. |
| 1:33.1 | So many of you contacted us and we are really grateful and it really moves us as well. |
| 1:41.5 | David in Edinburgh, Keith in County Down, I could go on and on and on. I'm not |
| 1:44.9 | going to read everybody's name. I just wanted to thank our listeners. Yeah, well, some of them |
| 1:50.2 | have helped me personally, helped evacuate my family from eastern Ukraine. Thank you, Richard. |
| 1:55.3 | That's true. Thanks to many others whose names I don't even know, but they have helped. I've made quite a few |
| 2:02.8 | friends along the journey. Hello, Jakub in Prague. Yeah. It's been quite a journey. It's been |
... |
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