Is Nato ready to shoot down Russian jets?
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 September 2025
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As world leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly, repeated Russian violations of Nato airspace have prompted warnings from some Nato countries that Russia should expect jets to be shot down if they continue.
Secretary general Mark Rutte has insisted allied nations are ready to defend "every inch" of Nato's borders. Victoria and Vitaly discuss how serious they are, and, they’re joined by the Czech Foreign Minister, Jan Lipavský, who gives his perspective on Nato's response to the incursions.
And, we react to the return of the Intervision international music contest in Moscow. Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko.
The producers were Laurie Kalus and Julia Webster. The technical producer was Ben Andrews. The social producer was Grace Braddock. The series producer is Chris Flynn. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:06.0 | Hello, it's 1,308 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:12.8 | And we're in a period of time, Vitale, where Russia is absolutely testing NATO countries' borders to see how they'll respond. |
| 0:21.7 | There's been a lot of flying objects, aircraft, drones from Russia in NATO airspace. |
| 0:30.5 | First drones over Poland two weeks ago, then a drone in Romania, |
| 0:36.3 | then three Russian fighter jets in Estonia. So a lot's |
| 0:43.3 | been going on, a lot of concern being voiced by NATO member states, Ukraine's allies. But in |
| 0:51.6 | terms of action, I've not seen much. Well, have a listen to the Polish Deputy Prime Minister Radislav Sikorski at a meeting of |
| 0:59.6 | UN members, including Russia, on Monday, sending out a very clear message. |
| 1:04.6 | We will not be intimidated. I have only one request to the Russian government. |
| 1:10.7 | If another missile or aircraft enters our space without permission, |
| 1:16.3 | deliberately or by mistake, and gets shot down and the wreckage falls on NATO territory, |
| 1:23.6 | please don't come here to whine about it. |
| 1:26.2 | You have been warned. Well, let's see if Russia pays attention to whine about it. You have been warned. |
| 1:27.5 | Well, let's see if Russia pays attention to this warning. |
| 1:31.3 | This is Ukrainecast. |
| 1:33.3 | Ukraine cast from BBC News. |
| 1:35.3 | Life is not safe in Ukraine, nor are in Ukraine. |
| 1:38.3 | We've had three years of bloody conflict now. |
| 1:40.3 | We need to get to that lasting peace. |
| 1:43.3 | We hope we can finish this war this year. |
| 1:46.2 | President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker. |
... |
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