Ukraine: Four years of war
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 February 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kate Adie introduces stories from Ukraine, Iran, the United States and India.
February marks four years since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Around 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in that time and a large number are considered officially missing. Sarah Rainsford has witnessed the war since the beginning, and on her latest visit to Ukraine she met soldiers and civilians who shared stories of grief, resistance and a desire for peace.
The Iranian government recently put on a show of strength to mark the anniversary of the revolution that saw the return from exile of Ayatollah Khomeini - and the dawn of the Islamic Republic. But 47 years on, Iran has once again experienced widespread unrest, as millions of people took to the streets in nationwide anti-government protests. Lyse Doucet was recently given rare permission to report from Tehran, on condition that none of her material is used on the BBC's Persian Service.
February is traditionally Black History Month in the United States – and this year marks 100 years since the country’s first black history commemorations. Lindsay Johns recently embarked on a road trip across the Deep South, beginning at the Alma Mater of Martin Luther King in Atlanta.
BBC Budapest correspondent Nick Thorpe found himself in northern India recently when he got the news that Sir Mark Tully – long-regarded as 'the voice of the BBC' in India, had passed away. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Sir Mark as a 'towering voice of journalism'. Here, Nick pays his own tribute to Mark – and his interest in human fate, and faith.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello, today we're on the ground in Iran, measuring the mood of the country since protests rocked |
| 0:12.8 | the Republic last month. We take to the road in America's deep south, crossing state lines |
| 0:19.0 | from Georgia to Alabama, on the trail of the civil rights |
| 0:22.4 | movement. And in Varanasi, India, we hear a meditation from the banks of the Rheva Ganges |
| 0:29.3 | on suffering and impermanence. But first, February marks four years since the start of Russia's |
| 0:37.0 | full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:39.8 | Around 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in that time, |
| 0:44.6 | according to the President Vladimir Zelensky, and a large number are considered officially missing. |
| 0:51.3 | Moscow has been reluctant to detail its own casualties, but the BBC has confirmed |
| 0:57.3 | the names of almost 160,000 people killed fighting on Russia's side. Despite this, Vladimir Putin |
| 1:06.1 | has been reluctant to agree to any ceasefire terms, seemingly holding out for Ukraine to capitulate over |
| 1:13.5 | territory now occupied by Russia. Sarah Rainsford has witnessed the war since the beginning. |
| 1:20.8 | It's four years since I was woken in eastern Ukraine by the sound of explosions, and the |
| 1:26.2 | realization that Vladimir Putin had launched the war I |
| 1:28.9 | once thought impossible. Now, the unthinkable happens in Ukraine all the time. I just got back |
| 1:35.6 | from Kiev, where I met a woman re-burying her husband. Natalia had had Vital's body exhumed and |
| 1:42.6 | moved halfway across the country from eastern Ukraine |
| 1:45.1 | because she was afraid their hometown could soon fall to Russian forces. |
| 1:49.9 | The couple were from Slaviansk in the Dombas region. |
| 1:53.3 | It's where they met as teenagers and fell in love. |
| 1:56.4 | It's also very close to where I was back in 2022 when all this began. The night before those |
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