Could drones change the course of the war?
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2024
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There’s been a spike in drone attacks by both Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainians have recently targeted Russian oil refineries, while Russians have used drones to target the port of Odesa.
So could drones change the course of the war?
Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse and drone expert Samuel Bendett unpick the strategies and technologies behind drone warfare.
And we hear from drone operator Ruda, a mother-of-two, who trains Ukrainians how to pilot drones.
Today’s episode is presented by Lyse Doucet and Vitaly Shevchenko. It was made by Keiligh Baker. The producers were Arsenii Sokolov and Ivana Davidovic. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. 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. |
| 0:04.7 | It's 755 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:11.0 | On Monday, President Vladimir Putin addressed thousands of people in Moscow's red square, |
| 0:17.0 | after claiming that landslide election win. It was not really what was raspi. |
| 0:25.0 | What are one of the |
| 0:27.0 | it's clear to the next? |
| 0:28.0 | It was a celebration of Vladimir Putin, his policies, Russia under him, the annexation of Crimea |
| 0:39.6 | 10 years previously and it wasn't really surprising. We had seen it before. It's an event |
| 0:48.0 | that Vladimir Putin likes addressing, he likes being showered with admiration and praise and he's addressed the crowds there speaking |
| 0:58.2 | about how Crimea and I quote has returned to its home harbour and he spoke about a new Russia that is he's building |
| 1:06.9 | and at various points during the concert crowd started chanting Russia. |
| 1:13.2 | Russia. |
| 1:14.2 | Russia! |
| 1:15.2 | Go see them! |
| 1:17.2 | Astonishing, it's already 10 years and I remember so vividly Vitali, you know being in |
| 1:28.9 | Kiev during the full-scale invasion and Ukrainians always saying it didn't start now. It didn't start in February of |
| 1:36.8 | 2022. Russia invaded in 2014. |
| 1:41.5 | So that's why we keep saying it's 700 and whatever number of days since the start of the full-scale invasion when Russia openly said, yeah, we're doing it. |
| 1:50.0 | Ten years before they denied it. |
| 1:52.0 | And then those scenes from... it. |
| 1:53.0 | Those scenes from Red Square, no hiding it now, absolutely packed. |
| 1:58.0 | Flags waving, performances on stage, and President Putin St. Crimea has returned to its home harbor. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.