Q&A: Laser weapons, Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ and Poland’s new president
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 June 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What do the Spider Web drone attacks tell us about Ukraine’s tactics inside Russia going forward? Could the West limit Russian oil revenues by confiscating its 'shadow fleet'? And are we any closer to seeing high-precision laser weapons on the battlefield?
We answer all that and discuss what the implications could be for Ukraine after Poland elected a new conservative president, with the BBC's chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet and diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams.
Today’s episode is presented by Lucy Hockings and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Laurie Kalus, Ben Carter and Nik Sindle. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. 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
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:04.7 | It's 1,198 days since Russia invaded Ukraine, another big week as well. |
| 0:11.3 | An audacious series of drone attacks by Ukraine inside Russia, a new, rather brief round of talks in Istanbul, and Donald Trump getting Vladimir Putin back on the phone. |
| 0:21.9 | You've been sending in your questions on everything from laser weapons to the new Polish |
| 0:26.2 | president. And as usual, we've got a fantastic team of experts here to answer them. |
| 0:31.0 | That's coming up on Ukrainecast. |
| 0:33.1 | Ukrainecast from babies and news. |
| 0:35.6 | Life is not safe in Ukraine, nor were in Ukraine. |
| 0:38.3 | We've had three years of bloody conflict now. |
| 0:40.3 | We need to get to that lasting peace. |
| 0:42.3 | We hope we can finish this war this year. |
| 0:45.3 | President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker. |
| 0:49.3 | Biden will just enemy. Trump is a rival. |
| 0:52.3 | Ukrainians will pay lives for this decision. |
| 0:54.9 | You're gambling with World War III. |
| 0:57.7 | Hello, this is Lucy Hawkins in the Ukrainecast studio. |
| 1:00.6 | And this is Vitaly Shavchenko, also in the Ukraine cast studio. |
| 1:04.1 | And I'm Lee Juset, joining them in the studio. |
| 1:06.5 | And I'm Paul Adams in Kiev. |
| 1:08.5 | Well, let's start with that attack that stunned the world, not only stunned the world, |
| 1:12.8 | impressed the world as well. |
| 1:14.3 | Operation Spider Web. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.