Life as a BBC bureau chief in Moscow and Kyiv
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In today’s episode we do something slightly different. You’ll be familiar with some of the names and voices of the correspondents who’ve covered the Ukraine war for the last three years - James Waterhouse, Lyse Doucet, Sarah Rainsford and more - who regularly appear on this podcast.
But you’ll be less familiar with the people doing the work behind the scenes. Today, we hear from one of them. Kate Peters spent more than 30 years with BBC News and she spent a lot of time producing and running bureaus in Moscow and then Kyiv.
Kate reflects on her career, discusses the challenges of working in a war zone and talks with Jonathan Beale, a BBC defence correspondent who worked with during her time in Ukraine.
Today’s episode is presented by Vitaly Shevchenko. The producer was Ben Carter. The editor was Max Deveson. 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. |
| 0:04.8 | It's 1,150 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:12.3 | Yesterday saw US and European delegations meet in Paris to discuss plans to end the war in Ukraine. |
| 0:20.2 | And we're going to talk about that on the podcast next week. |
| 0:24.1 | But today, we're going to do something slightly different. |
| 0:27.8 | You'll be familiar with some of the names and voices of the correspondents |
| 0:31.7 | who've covered the war for the last three years. |
| 0:34.9 | James Waterhouse, Lees to Set, Sarah Rainsford and others, who regularly |
| 0:39.6 | appear on this podcast. But you'll be less familiar with the people doing the work behind |
| 0:45.5 | the scenes. Today, you're going to hear from one of them. Kate Peters spent more than 30 years |
| 0:52.5 | with BBC News, and she spent a lot of that time producing and running bureaus in Moscow and then Kyiv. |
| 1:00.9 | We're going to reflect on Kate's experiences, discuss the challenges of working in a war zone, and talk with one of the correspondents she worked with during her time there. |
| 1:10.9 | This is Ukraine cast. |
| 1:13.3 | Ukraine cast from BBC News. |
| 1:15.8 | Life is not safe in Ukraine. |
| 1:18.0 | Nowhere in Ukraine. |
| 1:18.9 | We've had three years of bloody conflict now. |
| 1:20.9 | We need to get to that lasting peace. |
| 1:23.0 | We hope we can finish this war this year. |
| 1:26.1 | President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Zucker. |
| 1:30.1 | Biden will just enemy. |
| 1:31.6 | Trump is a rival. |
... |
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