Q&A: Russian POWs, counting casualties and DIY bomb shelters
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 12 June 2025
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How are Russian POWs treated in Ukrainian captivity? Is Kyiv’s claim that Russia has suffered more than 1 million casualties during the war accurate? And during WW2 Britain used flat-pack bomb shelters - could they also now work in Ukraine?
These are just some of the questions you’ve been sending in to the Ukrainecast team. Jamie and Vitaly are joined by Olga Robinson from BBC Verify and Olga Ivshina from BBC Russian to answer them.
Today’s episode is presented by Jamie Coomarasamy and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Arsenii Sokolov and Polly Hope. The technical producer was James Piper. 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
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.6 | It's 1,205 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:10.4 | This week, a potential glimmer of light amid the fog of war, |
| 0:14.1 | the bodies of more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers were returned from Russia |
| 0:17.9 | as part of a prisoner exchange agreement between the war in countries. |
| 0:22.0 | In return, Russia received 27 bodies. |
| 0:25.4 | But despite the exchanges, the fighting has continued large-scale air attacks on cities across Ukraine, |
| 0:32.1 | including Kiev, Kharkiv and Odessa. |
| 0:35.1 | And you have been sending in lots of questions, |
| 0:37.4 | so we have assembled a |
| 0:38.8 | top team to try and answer them in this episode of Ukrainecast. |
| 0:43.6 | Ukraine cast from BBC News. |
| 0:46.1 | Life is not safe in Ukraine, nowhere in Ukraine. |
| 0:49.1 | We've had three years of bloody conflict now. We need to get to that lasting peace. |
| 0:53.2 | We hope we can finish this war this year. |
| 0:56.4 | President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker. |
| 1:00.4 | Biden will just enemy. Trump is arrival. |
| 1:03.2 | Ukrainians will pay lives for this decision. |
| 1:05.4 | You're gambling with World War III. |
| 1:08.5 | Hello, this is Jamie Kimmer Asami in the Ukraine Car Studio. And this is Vitaly Shofchen Kimara Sami in the Ukrainecast studio. |
| 1:11.7 | And this is Vitaly Shavchenko, also in the Ukrainecast studio. |
| 1:15.0 | I'm Olga Robinson, also in the Ukraine cast studio. |
... |
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