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From Our Own Correspondent

Ukraine’s conscription crisis

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Kate Adie reports stories from Ukraine, China, US, Canada and Senegal

Ukraine is facing one of its most perilous moments since the start of the full-scale invasion. Russia. The Ukrainian army desperately needs more troops and has turned to enlistment squads to bolster numbers. This has pushed those who don’t want to fight into hiding, as our correspondent Jean Mackenzie reports from Odesa.

Youth unemployment in China has reached record levels in recent years. Some graduates have ended up selling products online, but it’s not always clear what products they are selling. Some have accidentally stumbled into the growing online market for synthetic opioid drugs. Danny Vincent has followed the story.

November’s presidential election will hinge on just a handful of states. One of them is Michigan, home to Detroit, which has suffered from decades of industrial decline. In 2016, it voted for Trump; in 2020, it was a critical swing state that voted in favour of Biden. And while crime is down and the economy has improved, many of its residents are struggling to see the benefits as Mike Wendling discovered.

Haida Gwaii is an archipelago off British Columbia’s west coast with a population of around five thousand people, half of whom are the indigenous Haida people. Sally Howard went there and learned how their totem poles, of huge cultural significance for the community, are seeing a renaissance.

We visit the West African nation of Senegal, home to Africa's biggest jazz festival and many other cultural events. But this celebrated hub has been jolted by the arrival of a new president and some political wrangling, as Natasha Booty reports

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.

0:05.0

Today in China we hear how young graduates are supplementing their income

0:11.0

by selling synthetic opioid drugs online to a Western market.

0:16.8

The US City of Detroit recently revamped its historical railway station amid a brighter economic outlook, but residents aren't all seeing

0:26.0

the benefits. The Haida First Nations people in Canada hold a sacred place in the country's society. We hear how their traditional totem poles are seeing a renaissance.

0:38.0

And finally, we're in Senegal for the annual jazz festival in St Louis at the hub of the country's art scene,

0:47.4

but why are some artists disgruntled?

0:51.4

First Ukraine is facing one of its most perilous moments since the start of the

0:56.6

full-scale invasion. Russia with its superior manpower is on the offensive. The Ukrainian army desperately needs to enlist war men if it's

1:06.5

to stay in the fight. But more than two years into the war it's struggling to find

1:11.6

willing volunteers.

1:14.0

Ukraine has embarked on a new round of mobilisation.

1:18.0

Men aged between 25 and 60 now have until the middle of July to log their details on an electronic database

1:26.8

so they can be called up. The enlistment squads have a fearsome reputation.

1:32.2

They've been known to drag men off the streets

1:34.8

and buses and cart them straight to conscription centres to register. This has pushed

1:41.0

some of those who don't want to fight into hiding as our correspondent

1:46.1

Gene Mackenzie has been finding in the southern city of Odessa.

1:51.0

First to emerge from the bottom of the dark stairwell is a slight young girl with

1:56.5

long brown hair. Hi she says to me smiling I'm Antonina welcome to to our home. Her father, Vova, with his shaved head and slight protruding

2:07.7

stomach, then sticks out his hand. As we scurry up the stairs, he tells me he won't leave his apartment without Antonina these days.

2:17.0

He's hiding from conscription officers who prowl the streets of Odessa hunting for eligible men to fight. And Vova knows they can't take him away while he's with his daughter.

...

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