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From Our Own Correspondent

Ukraine’s unified resistance

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s one month since Russia first invaded Ukraine, under the pretext of denazifying the country. But Putin’s calculation that his troops would be greeted as liberators by Russian-speaking Ukrainians has proved to be wrong. Nick Sturdee has found that the invasion appears to have unified the disparate parts of the Ukrainian population. Romania's Prime Minister pledged “unconditional political support” for Ukraine in February and so far, has welcomed more than half a million refugees. Jen Stout has been to one of the border crossings and finds the arrival of the Ukrainians has helped locals forget their own differences. In Washington, the process of holding those responsible for the storming of the US Capitol last year has reached a new phase, as the first trial - Guy Reffitt, of Texas came to court earlier this month. Tara McKelvey spent time with the defendant’s relatives at the federal courthouse and saw the impact of the political divisions on that family and across the US. Ecuador’s president this year signed a declaration to expand the boundaries of the Galapagos Marine reserve by more than 23 000 square miles. It's being seen as a victory for wildlife conservation and for local fishing communities, as the area had been vulnerable to overfishing by mainly Chinese trawlers. But, finds Mark Stratton, these were not the only threat to the region’s eco-system. The Caribbean island of Martinique is an overseas territory of France. Today it has a semi-autonomous status, but over the last decade, relations have deteriorated with their old colonisers. Lindsay Johns remembers his father, a soldier from Martinique, who fought proudly for the French whilst enduring racial oppression. Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Serena Tarling Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Serena Tarling and Polly Hope Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts

0:05.3

Today we're in Dubruja in Romania, a cultural melting pot just across the Danube from Ukraine.

0:12.8

In Washington, families are divided as the first trials get underway of the Capitol Hill

0:17.7

rioters. We go to a nature reserve in the Galapagos Islands, which is helping to protect

0:24.0

both local livelihoods as well as marine life. And we hear the story of a soldier from

0:29.5

Martinique, who once fought for France in Southeast Asia.

0:33.8

First, it's been one month since Russia first invaded Ukraine, under the spurious pretext

0:40.9

of denocifying the country, and amid claims the local ethnic Russian population was being

0:46.7

oppressed. The treatment of ethnic Russians has preoccupied Vladimir Putin since 2014,

0:53.6

and a pro-EU revolution pushed Kiev further to the west. But Putin's calculation that

0:59.9

his troops would be greeted as liberators by Russian-speaking Ukrainians has proved to be

1:05.4

very wrong. Nick Sturdy has found that the invasion appears to have unified the disparate

1:11.8

parts of the Ukrainian population in seeing Russia as an aggressor.

1:17.4

The woman breathes heavily as she rushes through the white metal gate, past a child's

1:22.2

toy car, and up a slope. She's filming on her phone as she goes. She presses on purposefully,

1:29.0

her steps, panting, and the barking of dogs the only sounds in the morning air. She reaches

1:34.8

the top of a railway embankment and stops. She catches her breath for a moment,

1:39.7

but it quickens again as she sees the train. Quietly, bitterly, passionately, she begins to swear

1:48.2

in Russian. Each syllable and consonant spat out with vitriol cursing the train and

1:54.4

those on it. You can see the heavy weaponry, carriages for soldiers, and a green locomotive

2:00.5

a large white letter-Z screwed on its side, pulling the instruments of the invading Russian

2:06.2

army inexorably closer to Kiev. As it draws level, the woman's voice rises to a crescendo,

...

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