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Ukrainecast

Lyudmila’s story: Life in the notorious Izolyatsia Prison

Ukrainecast

BBC

News Commentary, News

4.71K Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2024

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Lyudmila Huseynova was living and working in the Ukrainian border town of Novoazovs’k when she was arrested in 2019. As a Ukrainian patriot who refused to accept Russian citizenship, her actions angered Russian-backed separatists in the area, and she was taken to the notorious Izolyatsia prison.

She tells Victoria and Vitaly about life in one of the world's most infamous prisons, and how she found out about the full-scale invasion of Ukraine while in captivity.

And Samantha de Bendern from Chatham House explains what’s been happening at the World Economic Forum in Davos, as President Zelensky addresses world leaders there.

Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko. It was made by Keiligh Baker. The producers were Arsenii Sokolov, Cordelia Hemming and Ivana Davidovic. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Lucy Boast. 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.

0:04.7

Hello, it's 692 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

0:10.7

You might remember a few weeks ago, in 2023 we heard from a Ukrainian soldier on the front line called

0:16.7

Stanford we spoke to him just before Christmas and he was telling us that he was really

0:20.8

hoping to spend Christmas with his family for the first time since the big

0:26.6

conflict began in February 2022. Well, he got in touch a couple of days ago with this update for you.

0:34.0

Hello, Stanford here.

0:37.0

I'm happy to let you know that I had a chance to spend this Christmas holidays with my family.

0:45.0

It was unforgettable.

0:51.0

I saw my daughter, I saw my daughter, my father, I saw my wife, of course, we spent a really great time together.

1:02.0

And I have even more news I was I was promoted to another position so now I have an opportunity to see my family almost on a weekly basis so

1:18.8

it was a really good I don't know, maybe a good boost for staying in touch with my family.

1:28.2

So everything fine, thank you.

1:31.5

I'm so happy for him.

1:33.0

Home, family are important.

1:35.0

Too right.

1:36.0

Daughter, wife, dad, and now he's got he's been promoted,

1:40.0

so he's really good at his job and it's just really nice to hear someone with a

1:44.8

smile in their voice. Yes and over the past three days I've spoken to four

1:50.5

Ukrainians here who have either been to Ukraine or are going to go to Ukraine to see their

1:57.6

homes because they're missing their homes.

2:01.5

On this episode we're going to be talking to a Ukrainian woman, an activist, who spent three years in detention

...

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