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From Our Own Correspondent

Ukraine’s living nightmare

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Millions of lives are being uprooted, or destroyed as Russia's bombardment of Ukrainian cities widens. Fergal Keane has covered the conflict with Russia and its proxy forces since 2014 – and has followed the story of a beekeeper from the Donbas, and his wife. Ukrainian journalists covering the crisis at a distance have been watching the horror unfold and grappling with its implications on friends, colleagues and loved ones. Irena Taranyuk, of the BBC’s Ukraine service, tells of her experience of putting the story out on the night the invasion began. Russia is becoming increasingly isolated internationally, with western companies stopping operations there. Thousands of Russians are packing up and leaving. Many say it’s because they have political concerns about the sort of country Russia will become; others fear of the imposition of martial law or worry that the economy will crumble. Caroline Davies spoke to some of them. More than 180 million voters went to the polls in 5 of India’s states this week, including the country's largest - Uttar Pradesh. The governing BJP has a firm hold on the state, and its chief minister – a hindu-monk-turned politician, Yogi Adityanath is emerging as a favourite to succeed Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But during his leadership, he has been criticised for anti-muslim rhetoric. Rajini Vaidyanathan followed the campaign trail. It's 20 years since James Helm arrived in Dublin as BBC Correspondent there, with his wife Charlotte and their young son. The original posting was for a year, but the family stayed on in Ireland for almost a decade - a period of enormous change for the country. After several years away, James and his sons recently made a return trip. Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Serena Tarling Editor: Emma Close

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts

0:05.1

Today amid the 24 hour cycle of news updates on Ukraine, we hear what it's like to cover

0:11.1

a war raging in your home country.

0:15.0

In Moscow, the propaganda machine may be worrying, but not all Russians are buying the story.

0:21.8

In India, its state election season and one chief minister, a saffron rogue monk, is

0:27.6

being tipped as Narendra Modi's successor.

0:31.2

And we're taking a dip in the icy cold waters of the Irish Sea, where our correspondent

0:36.6

remembers his own immersion in Irish life.

0:40.4

First, Chenive, Mario Paul, Chachive and Chasson have all become synonymous with wide-scale

0:47.2

destruction and loss of human life, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues.

0:53.2

NATO has backed away from any requests for a no-fly zone to be enforced amid fears of a

0:59.3

wider escalation.

1:01.6

Peace talks have so far yielded nothing, and yet millions of lives are being uprooted

1:07.7

or destroyed.

1:09.7

Fergalkein is now a new Ukrainian city of Lviv.

1:13.8

He's covered the conflict with Russia and its proxy forces since it began in 2014, and

1:19.3

witnessed the upheaval many have faced.

1:22.8

I have found myself searching the crowds, and praying I would not find them.

1:28.0

Anatolian Svetlana, the beekeeper and his wife, my friends from pesky in the Donbas, whose

1:34.3

tenderness for each other has been a constant counterpoint to the brutality of eight years

1:38.8

of war in Ukraine.

1:41.0

The last time we met a year ago now, he looked at her and said in front of all of us gathered

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