Natalia’s Story: Learning to Walk Again
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 September 2023
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A family of amputees learn to walk again.
We talk to Natalia Stepanenko, who was badly injured in the Kramatorsk railway attack last year. Both her and her 12 year old daughter Yana lost legs, while Natalia’s husband died in a separate attack soon after. After receiving treatment in California the family are back in Ukraine, trying to re-build their lives.
The BBC’s Orla Guerin explains what medical provisions exist for tens of thousands of Ukrainian amputees and tells us about the diplomatic spat between Ukraine and Poland.
And we get the latest on a missile attack which hit the HQ of Russia's Black Sea navy in Crimea.
Today’s episode is presented by Lucy Hockings and Vitaly Shevchenko.
Translation was provided by Irena Taranyuk. The producers were Arsenii Sokolov, Alix Pickles and Ivana Davidovic. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. 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
TOPICS:
00:05 - Amputee mother preview 02:05 - Crimea navy base attack 05:18 - Amputee mother 17:21 - Ukraine’s army of amputees 24:10 - News fatigue
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | It's 576 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:11.0 | And in today's episode, we're going to be talking to a woman |
| 0:14.0 | who has had the most unimaginable 18 months. |
| 0:24.0 | To be honest with you, I saw her legs at the railway station |
| 0:28.0 | and there were no trainers on her legs, |
| 0:31.0 | and I had known that my child was without legs. |
| 0:36.0 | Her name is Natalia Stepanenko, |
| 0:38.0 | and she and her daughter lost their legs |
| 0:41.0 | when rockets hit a railway station |
| 0:43.0 | in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramodorsk last year. |
| 0:53.0 | At 10.30 in the morning on 8 April last year |
| 0:57.0 | as thousands of people were at the Kramodorsk railway station |
| 1:02.0 | waiting to be evacuated, fearing Russian forces. |
| 1:08.0 | That railway station came under missile attack |
| 1:13.0 | and more than 60 people were killed, including children. |
| 1:19.0 | Some of you might find some of what Natalia tells us distressing |
| 1:23.0 | because she gives some graphic details about what happened to her |
| 1:26.0 | and her daughter, but also Natalia lost her husband |
| 1:29.0 | and her mother as well. |
| 1:31.0 | But this is also a story of hope, as she and Yana her daughter |
| 1:35.0 | learn to walk again. |
... |
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