Hello, this is Jeremy Bowen, the International Editor of BBC News, and I'm here because I want

to talk to you about an event I'm doing with Intelligent Squared on the 2nd of November in London,

and I'm going to be talking about the more than 30 years that I've spent reporting on major

events in the Middle East with my great friend and colleague over many, many years, Justin Webb.

And I'm sure we'll talk about a few other things as well, Justin and I started at the BBC on

the same day in 1984. So, if you'd like to join us either in person or online, then visit

IntelligentSquared.com to find out more. Welcome to the Intelligent Squared podcast.

I'm producer Catherine Hughes. Today, we're bringing you part one of our live event with the

South Bank Centre. The war in Ukraine, how does it end? This event was hosted by the BBC's Clive

Myri, who was joined by four leading historians, Orlando Fijers, Max Hastings, and Applebaum,

and Alessia Croméchuk. The event began with a reading from Alessia Croméchuk from her book,

The Death of a Soldier, told by his sister, which we will hear at the top of this episode.

Part 2 and Part 3 of this event are available ad-free for subscribers now,

and for our listeners who don't subscribe, Part 2 will be available in our next episode.

This event took place in March 2023, and is part of Intelligent Squared's live debate partnership

with the South Bank Centre.

Good evening. Thank you so much. I will read a very short extract from my book, The Death of a

Soldier, told by his sister, and the events that I will describe in that extract happened six

years ago exactly. The book is about my brother, Valodya, who died in action in 2017 in

Lohansk region, and tomorrow is his sixth anniversary of death.

So I'd like to read this in memory of my brother, but also all of those

servicemen and women and civilians who are perishing in this genocidal war that Russia is

...