The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity.

This is a global player original podcast.

It's a new year. A time of year, January, much underrated in my opinion, full of fresh promise and resolve.

It's a year with a lot of news stretching out before us and inflection points politically in lots of ways.

But there are shadows which linger from 2023, still cast even from 2022, millions of people in Ukraine and in Gaza living and dying in darkness, in war, in aggression.

Neither conflict shows any sign of ceasing.

Both will continue to shape the world's politics.

Both are connected in subtle myriad ways, great powers playing bigger games.

Throw into that in the last week or so a new theatre with a flashpoint in the Red Sea and this year starts to feel even more volatile than the last.

So with 2024 still young on this show, we take you through where we are in Ukraine, in Gaza, in the Red Sea, why they continue to rock our lives, why they're not going to end anytime soon.

It's Lewis here. Welcome to the news agents.

The Newsagents.

Here's a look at some of the top stories we are following right now.

Russia has launched more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones against Ukrainian targets.

Ukrainian officials say it is the largest attack since the war began.

Six cities were hit, leaving at least 30 civilians dead and several more injured.

That was Ukraine, only 24 hours or so ago, and it's where we're going to start.

On Tuesday, President Zelensky said that Russia had launched 500 missiles and drones against Ukraine in just five days.

Over 30 died in Kiev alone, 60 nationwide, from Kharkiv in the north to Zaporizia and Odessa in the south.

Even Western Leviv, not far from the Polish border, was hit.

Ukrainian civilians have constantly been targeted by Putin's regime,

but these are the biggest aerial attacks we've seen since the start of the war. The sound of

...