Special Report: On the Ground in Ukraine and Russia
Pod Save the World
Pod Save the World
4.8 • 25.5K Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2022
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As the worst case scenario unfolds in Ukraine, Ben runs through the latest on Russia’s invasion, how this attack marks a new phase of history, and what to expect in the coming weeks and months. Then Ben is joined by Ukrainian investigative reporter Tanya Kozyreva from Kyiv as it is under siege. During the interview, Tanya describes the dire situation in Kyiv, the Ukrainian peoples’ commitment to resist, and has to seek shelter after hearing explosions. Ben is also joined again by Max Seddon, Bureau Chief of the Financial Times in Moscow who shares how Russians feel about the invasion, and if sanctions could actually cause President Putin to stand down.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to Potsay the World. I'm Ben Rhodes and this is another special episode of Potsay the World |
| 0:17.0 | responding to the events in Ukraine that we've all been following. Really quite extraordinary |
| 0:24.0 | a couple of interviews actually so I really encourage folks to stay with us here. We have Tanya |
| 0:29.6 | Kuzrava who is a Ukrainian journalist. We spoke to her on the ground in Kiev and she gives |
| 0:34.9 | you an incredibly vivid sense of what's going on there. So I really encourage you to listen |
| 0:41.0 | to Tanya and then we have Max Sedden back on from Moscow who really gives us a good understanding |
| 0:46.6 | of the current dynamic in Moscow and in and around the Kremlin as well. It's been a very |
| 0:53.1 | dramatic few days. Really Thursday morning Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine with |
| 1:00.2 | Putin calling it a, quote, special military operation intended to, among other things, de-nazify |
| 1:07.0 | the Ukrainian government. And so I think from the outset it seemed quite clear that this was the |
| 1:13.0 | worst case scenario of a large-scale invasion and really an effort to decapitate the Ukrainian |
| 1:18.4 | government and install an alternative Russian-controlled, essentially, government. There have been explosions |
| 1:25.7 | across Ukraine, including in the capital, Kiev, which we must remember. And as you'll hear |
| 1:30.9 | from Tanya, it's a city of 2.8 million people, enormous human suffering already underway |
| 1:36.4 | and tragically the risk of much more. Right now there's really a battle underway for control |
| 1:42.6 | of Kiev and there have been blaster throughout the night. You'll hear a blast on our interview |
| 1:47.9 | with Tanya. And the US has been warning that Kiev could potentially be captured by Russian |
| 1:53.2 | forces in a matter of days. Putin continues to claim that it is fighting Ukrainian, quote, |
| 1:58.6 | nationalist. He's called on Ukraine's armed forces to surrender. He said, ominously, |
| 2:04.2 | today, take power into your own hands. It looks like it'll be easier for us to make a deal |
| 2:07.4 | with you than this gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis referring, apparently, to the Ukrainian |
| 2:13.2 | government in an address he made. Despite that ongoing battle in those comments, Putin |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Pod Save the World, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Pod Save the World and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.