Russia steps up attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Zelensky accuses Moscow of using the coldest days of winter to terrorise Ukrainians, as temperatures drop to -20 degrees celsius. Also: French police raid the Paris offices of the social media platform, X. Spain becomes latest country to consider banning social media for children. Iran's president says he will pursue talks with US. Only five patients cross the border out of Gaza, as the Rafah crossing reopens for first time in nearly two years. And the Italian authorities investigate claims that an art restorer painted the face of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on an angel in an historic church.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | This is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:11.6 | I'm Alex Ritson, and at 18 hours GMT, these are our main stories. |
| 0:17.7 | Russia steps up its attacks on energy infrastructure in frozen Ukrainian cities ahead of |
| 0:22.8 | planned peace talks. Paris prosecutors raid the French offices of Elon Musk's ex. The son of |
| 0:29.6 | Norway's crown princess denies rape as his criminal trial begins. Also in this podcast, Spain's Prime Minister moves to protect young people from |
| 0:40.8 | what he calls the Digital Wild West. Our children are exposed to a space of addiction, abuse, |
| 0:48.2 | pornography, manipulation, violence. We will no longer accept that. |
| 1:01.5 | We start in Ukraine, where overnight on Monday people had to endure the most powerful Russian strikes on the country's energy facilities this year. |
| 1:05.0 | Ballistic missiles and drones were used in the attacks across Ukraine, with the air raids |
| 1:09.6 | lasting several hours. |
| 1:13.9 | It comes as both sides prepare for a second round of talks. |
| 1:18.1 | President Zelensky said the work of his negotiation team in Abu Dhabi would be adjusted accordingly since Russia did not take diplomacy seriously. |
| 1:22.9 | So what's the latest on the ground in Ukraine? |
| 1:25.5 | I spoke to our correspondent, Sarah Rainsford, who's in Kiev. |
| 1:28.7 | The first explosions were just after midnight, about half past 12, I think. |
| 1:32.9 | I heard the first blasts in the distance. |
| 1:35.0 | And then the air raid sirens went off and the alert lasted through the entire night for more than seven hours. |
| 1:41.0 | And there were repeated explosions. |
| 1:43.2 | It was a massive attack. And looking at the numbers given by officials today, |
| 1:47.2 | it's quite clear that there were a lot more missiles included in this barrage than usual. |
| 1:52.6 | So more than 70 crews and ballistic missiles fired across Ukraine as well as 450 attack drones |
... |
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