Explaining Ukraine to children: A special episode with Newsround
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 November 2025
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What do kids want to know about the war in Ukraine? On this special edition of Ukrainecast, we’re teaming up with Newsround (the BBC's children's news programme) to find out. To mark World Children’s Day, we took a panel of BBC experts to Hammersmith Academy, a secondary school in London, to respond to questions from a live audience.
Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko are joined on this episode by Newsround presenter Ricky Boleto, and Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse. Why did the war start? Are there really any safe places in Ukraine? And who is working towards making peace? They answer all that, and we hear from some of those Ukrainian children who have been forced to start a new life in the UK.
The producers were Laurie Kalus and Lauren Parker. The executive producer was Lewis Vickers. The series producer is Chris Flynn. The Newsround editor is Lewis James. The News Podcasts editor is Sam Bonham.
If young listeners found any parts of this episode upsetting, you can find advice and support on the Newsround website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround
This programme is also available as a visualised episode, on iPlayer in the UK, and worldwide on the BBC News YouTube channel.
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
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.0 | It's 1,366 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:12.9 | And I'm here with Ricky Belletto from the BBC's Children's News Programme. |
| 0:17.7 | News Round. Hi, Ricky. |
| 0:19.3 | Hi, Victoria. Yes, today we're here at the Hammersmith Academy |
| 0:22.8 | in West London, a secondary school. We're going to be speaking to children who have come from |
| 0:27.8 | Ukraine to live in the UK. We're going to be finding out about what's been going on in Ukraine, |
| 0:33.1 | how the conflict has impacted their lives and answer questions from children. |
| 0:38.2 | And we are, I suppose we are trying to explain why this whole thing began. |
| 0:43.9 | We're trying to hear experiences of the impact on children. |
| 0:50.0 | And obviously, much of today is about hearing from children in their own words. |
| 0:55.5 | And we hope this is something that children can listen to with their parents, their grandparents and something that they can share together. |
| 1:02.5 | This is a special edition of Ukrainecast with Newsround. |
| 1:06.3 | Ukrainecast from BBC News. |
| 1:18.8 | I am looking out over an audience of around 80 students today. |
| 1:20.0 | Hello. |
| 1:21.3 | Hello! |
| 1:24.3 | Thank you so much for being here. |
| 1:25.7 | You are so welcome. |
| 1:27.3 | I'm Victoria Derbyshire. It's lovely to meet you, |
| 1:29.0 | and I am sitting alongside a group of fantastic BBC journalists. Hi, I'm Vatilish |
| 1:36.0 | Chonko. I co-host Ukrainecast, and I report about Russia and Ukraine for the BBC. |
... |
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