BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.

Hello, I'm James Reynolds.

Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

In this special edition of BBC Conversations, we're remembering Ukrainians who lost their lives during four years of war.

In Kiev today, a frightening new dawn for Europe and Ukraine. This city of three million

awoke to sirens and an invasion.

Soon, a panicked exodus from the Ukrainian capital as the EU spoke of one of the darkest hours since World War II.

Just before dawn, on the 24th of February 22,

Russia launched its full-scale attack on Ukraine. Since then, it's estimated that hundreds of

thousands on both sides have been killed. We'll hear from families of fighters, civilians and

journalists about their loved ones and the impact on those left behind. When you hear about

somebody being killed,

but it's some unknown person to you,

it's one thing, it's abstract.

You don't even really feel it as real

because it's a random person you've never heard of.

And then when you see somebody speaking in front of you

and they're saying that this is my friend,

this is somebody I worked with,

the abstract becomes real and therefore it feels

tangible. And I think that's something that hopefully will speak to people better because it's

all about making sure that people remember. We'll also feature music like this, written and

...