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From Our Own Correspondent

On Kharkiv’s Frontline

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ukraine saw further indiscriminate attacks across the country this week, including an attack on a theatre sheltering civilians in Mariupol. The city of Kharkiv, like Mariupol, has been under constant attack; bodies line the streets as its often too dangerous to bury them. Quentin Sommerville reflects on the horror unfolding on the ground. The tactics the Russians are using in Ukraine are familiar to countries not just in the former Soviet domain – but also Syria. Vladimir Putin’s military support for President Assad in the country’s civil war helped raise cities to the ground. Leila Molana-Allen spoke to some of the people who have lived through that war Western intelligence sources have expressed concerns about Russian activity in Moldova, which neighbours Ukraine. Moldova is also a former Soviet state, with a Russian-speaking separatist insurgency in the east. Newsnight’s Sima Kotecha spoke to Moldova’s Prime Minister about her fears for what may lie ahead and how the country is struggling to cope with the influx of refugees. In rural Kenya, most of the population live and work on the farms that are the backbone of the country’s economy. But access to electricity is sparse. So in one village, a young entrepreneur decided to give himself a crash course in engineering, so he could supply power to the residents in his village. Mercy Juma went to Kenyanjeru. Last year, Chile elected a radical left wing, ex-student leader who won a landslide victory. The new President, Gabriel Boric, keen to diverge from the style of his predecessors, has embarked on a property hunt in a working-class district in downtown Santiago. Jane Chambers went to explore his new neighbourhood. Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Serena Tarling and Polly Hope Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts

0:05.2

Today the bombing of hospitals and shelters in Ukraine echoes the brutality seen in Aleppo.

0:11.7

We hear from Syrians who lived through it.

0:14.7

In Moldova worries that the conflict in Ukraine will spill over into their small country.

0:20.7

We're in Kenya where a young entrepreneur brought electricity to his entire village using

0:27.4

bicycle wheels, scrap metal and an old motor.

0:31.2

And in Chile, a presidential property hunt with a difference far removed from leafy suburbs

0:37.2

and luxury residences.

0:39.5

First, this week's or further gruesome attacks on civilians in Ukraine, a theatre sheltering

0:46.2

as many as 1200 civilians was bombed in Mariupol.

0:50.8

The word children had been marked on the ground next to the building to deter Russian jets

0:55.9

to no avail.

0:57.3

The city of Kharkiv, like Mariupol, has been under constant attack with at least 240 people

1:04.4

killed there, including children.

1:07.3

Bodies line the streets as it's often too dangerous to bury them.

1:11.6

Quentin Somerville reflects on the horror unfolding on the ground and the difficulty and

1:16.6

danger of reporting from the conflict from climbs.

1:21.0

The two bodies were hanging from a makeshift jibbit on the side of the road east of Kharkiv.

1:26.9

It looked like too many, wrapped up in winter clothing with bulky jackets and woolly

1:31.2

hats.

1:32.2

As our car was passed, I saw that they had been strung up with thick rope.

1:37.6

A sign attached told the Russians explicitly where they should go.

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