Putin vows revenge after oil tanker blown up in Mediterranean & EU plugs Kyiv’s €90bn budget black hole
Ukraine: The Latest
Louisa Wells / Francis Dearnley
4.8 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Day 1,394.
Today, as the dust settles on the critical overnight deal in Brussels to loan €90 billion to Ukraine, we report on another strike against a vessel in Russia’s shadow fleet – this time in the Mediterranean Sea. And later, we offer clear answers to the hardy perennial questions you’re likely to hear at Christmas parties from those who haven’t been following the war, before opening our podcast Secret Santa presents.
Contributors
Dominic Nicholls (Associate Editor of Defence). @DomNicholls on X.
Francis Dearnley (Executive Editor for Audio). @FrancisDearnley on X.
Joe Barnes (Brussels Correspondent). @Barnes_Joe on X.
Adélie Pojzman-Pontay (Journalist and Producer). @adeliepjz on X.
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CONTENT REFERENCED:
EU agrees €90bn loan for Ukraine – but won’t use frozen Russian assets (The Telegraph):
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/12/19/european-union-agrees-loan-ukraine/
Russia won’t get back frozen $300bn assets under latest peace plan (The Telegraph):
Ukrainian drones blow up Russian oil tanker in Mediterranean (The Telegraph):
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Domnickles and this is Ukraine the latest. |
| 0:12.0 | Today, as the dust settles from the overnight deal in Brussels about a loan to Ukraine, |
| 0:18.0 | we report on the latest strikes on the oil tanker fleet, this one in the |
| 0:22.8 | Mediterranean Sea. And later, in possibly one of our maddest segments yet, we answer some of those |
| 0:28.7 | hardy perennials you're likely to hear at the Christmas parties around the bazaars before |
| 0:33.5 | Francis, Adley and I share our secret centers. |
| 0:39.0 | Bravery takes you through the most unimaginable hardships to finally reward you with victory. |
| 0:48.8 | The Russian does not want peace. |
| 0:50.6 | First, we're fighting with our help for the Ukraine, |
| 0:54.1 | also our freedom and our European |
| 0:58.0 | Writers. |
| 0:59.0 | If I'm president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours. |
| 1:03.0 | We are with you, not just today or tomorrow, but for a hundred years. |
| 1:08.0 | We can not, as European, |
| 1:10.0 | let's gain the Russia in Ukraine. |
| 1:12.8 | Nobody's going to break us. |
| 1:14.8 | We're strong. |
| 1:16.1 | Where Ukraine is. |
| 1:18.4 | It's Friday, the 19th of December, |
| 1:21.0 | three years and 300 days |
| 1:22.8 | since the full-scale invasion began. |
... |
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