Summary
Russian forces have detained the mayor of Kherson, Ihor Kolykhayev, after he refused to work with them. The BBC’s Tim Whewell spoke to him a few days before his abduction.
Meanwhile, the BBC Russian service’s Liza Fokt explains to Victoria and Vitaly, how in another occupied city, Severodonestsk, some people do welcome the Russian forces.
And Roman, who helped evacuate dozens of people from Mariupol, tells us why he’s now going back, despite the risk of being arrested once he gets there.
The series producer is Estelle Doyle. The producers are Ivana Davidovic and Osman Iqbal. The planning producer, Louise Hidalgo. The technical producer, Michael Reegard. And the editor, Jonathan Aspinwall. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 0330 1239480.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts Hello, it's 128 days since Russia began its invasion |
| 0:12.6 | of Ukraine. |
| 0:13.6 | And today, the BBC's Ukrainian service is marking its 30th anniversary, and I remember |
| 0:20.8 | that day very well. |
| 0:22.6 | I was sat in Eastern Ukraine in Zapparizhya listening to the first ever broadcast of the |
| 0:29.0 | Ukrainian service. |
| 0:36.8 | And we have the head of the BBC Ukrainian service with us, Marta Shokalo. |
| 0:41.6 | Hello. |
| 0:42.6 | Hi, tell us about what you had about that day 30 years ago. |
| 0:48.3 | I think there was very timely, because Ukraine gained its independence in 1991, and BBC |
| 0:55.6 | started the broadcast in Ukraine in 1992. |
| 1:07.3 | But then, it felt like the BBC finally acknowledged Ukraine's aspirations of proper independence, |
| 1:16.5 | because until that day, audiences in Ukraine were served by the Russian service. |
| 1:22.0 | Although we had many Russian speakers, as we do now still, but the main language in Ukraine |
| 1:29.3 | is Ukrainian, and at that time, that was very important, just to show that Ukraine is different. |
| 1:36.2 | It's a different country, it's a different nation, they have the different language, and |
| 1:41.4 | when we are talking to Ukrainians, we need to talk in their native language. |
| 1:47.0 | Would you say that the Ukrainian service has now rediscovered its purpose, its identity, |
| 1:55.4 | because of the war, because it was set up to spread democracy, and then Ukraine became |
| 2:01.0 | a democracy, and one opinion I've heard expressed very often is, do we really need the |
| 2:08.0 | Ukrainian service, because there are plenty of independent media in Ukraine. |
| 2:11.4 | Yeah, we had at some point, we had that sort, and we got some worries, are we going to |
... |
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