Russian bombardment cuts power and water for hundreds of thousands
The World
PRX
4.6 • 943 Ratings
🗓️ 21 October 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Russian forces attacked an energy facility in the Chernihiv region overnight, leaving its northern part without power and in some cases without water. Power engineers are working to repair the damage and restore electricity. Also, Emmanuel “Meme” del Real, founding member of the Mexican band Café Tacvba, which redefined Latin rock with humor and experimentation, steps into the spotlight with "La Montaña Encendida" ("The Burning Mountain") — his first solo album. And, National Book Award winner Ha Jin is set to publish a new coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Plus, Italy is celebrating the 50th birthday of Pimpa, the beloved Italian children’s comic character with a penchant for adventure, this year.
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| 0:00.0 | What the hell is going on right now? And why is it happening like this? At Wired, we're obsessed with getting to the bottom of those questions, and maybe you are too. I'm Katie Drummond, the global editorial director of Wired, and I'm hosting our new podcast series, The Big Interview. Each week, I'll sit down with some of the most interesting, provocative, and influential people who are shaping our right now. |
| 0:24.4 | Listen to the big interview right now in the same place you find Wyard's Uncanny Valley podcast. |
| 0:34.7 | In Ukraine, near the Russian border, the attacks are relentless. |
| 0:39.1 | People are literally living there without windows and doors in some cases. |
| 0:43.2 | So the only one thing that is left is hope and hope for the better. |
| 0:47.5 | I'm Carolyn Beeler. |
| 0:48.9 | And I'm Marco Wurman. |
| 0:50.2 | Many feminists in Japan are feeling subdued about their first ever female prime minister. |
| 0:54.7 | She's not going to do anything to advance women's status in Japanese society. |
| 1:00.6 | Also a former French president spends his first night in prison for his connections to Libya's |
| 1:05.7 | Omar Gaddafi. |
| 1:06.8 | It started like a love affair. It started like a honeymoon period, but it went south. |
| 1:11.7 | And a big birthday for a popular cartoon dog in Italy. |
| 1:17.6 | Those stories and more are ahead today on the world. |
| 1:31.4 | This is The World. I'm Carolyn Buehler. |
| 1:40.4 | And I'm Marco Wurman. Thank you for joining us today. There are no plans for another meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in the immediate future. |
| 1:45.4 | That's according to an unnamed White House official quoted in news reports today. It is a reversal because Trump said just a few days ago that he would take part in a summit with Putin, |
| 1:50.1 | hosted by Hungary. Trump was also calling on Russia and Ukraine to stop the fighting along the |
| 1:55.2 | existing front lines. But today, the Kremlin's top diplomat dismissed that idea. Sergei Lavrov seemed to rule out an |
| 2:02.8 | immediate ceasefire because he said that would not address the, quote, root causes of the conflict. |
| 2:08.4 | He also mentioned a long-standing Russian demand that Ukraine not be allowed to join NATO. |
| 2:13.6 | Meanwhile, the Russian military has stepped up its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. |
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