Q&A: Trump vs Medvedev, a US defection and revisiting the minerals deal
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 July 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On Thursday, Ukraine’s parliament waved through a bill reversing controversial changes to domestic anti-corruption bodies. The near-unanimous vote wiped out any remaining uncertainty over the future of the institutions, after Zelensky had largely caved to pressure following widespread demonstrations last week. Meanwhile - despite a shorter-term deadline set by President Trump for a ceasefire - Russia has continued its aerial campaign on Ukrainian targets, with strikes on more than two dozen targets in Kyiv on Thursday killing at least eight, and injuring more than 130 others.
This week, Lucy and Vitaly are joined by the BBC’s Ukraine correspondent, James Waterhouse, to discuss army infiltration, the American family who defected to Russia, and what happened to that highly publicised minerals deal. Plus, our very own Olga Robinson tells us about BBC Verify’s latest deep-dive into Russian disinformation.
Today’s episode is presented by Lucy Hockings and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Laurie Kalus, Julia Webster and Polly Hope. The technical producer was Hannah Montgomery. 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, voice note, or video 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. |
| 0:04.8 | It's 1,254 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:10.8 | And during what was dubbed a working holiday in Scotland, President Trump said he would |
| 0:14.6 | slash the deadline for Vladimir Putin to make peace in Ukraine. |
| 0:18.7 | And on the flight home, on board Air Force One, |
| 0:21.6 | he told us what that new date would be, August the 8th. |
| 0:25.3 | And then came an escalation of sorts on social media. |
| 0:28.0 | We saw this spat with Russia's ex-president Dmitri Medvedev. |
| 0:32.0 | Meanwhile, in Kiev, President Zelensky |
| 0:34.0 | continued to manage the fallout from a short-lived attempt |
| 0:36.8 | to overhaul domestic anti-corruption bodies, |
| 0:39.9 | and Russia showed no signs of slowing down its aerial campaign on Ukrainian targets. |
| 0:45.6 | We'll be answering your questions on all that and more on Ukrainecast. |
| 0:49.8 | Ukraine cast from BBC News. |
| 0:52.3 | Life is not safe in Ukraine, nor are in Ukraine. |
| 0:55.3 | We've had three years of bloody conflict now. |
| 0:57.3 | We need to get to that lasting peace. |
| 0:59.4 | We hope we can finish this war this year. |
| 1:02.5 | President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker. |
| 1:06.6 | Biden will just enemy. |
| 1:08.0 | Trump is a rival. |
| 1:09.4 | Ukrainians will pay lives for this decision. |
... |
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.