War on Truth: 1. Kristina: ‘My cousin thinks we’re bombing ourselves’
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BBC
2.8 • 947 Ratings
🗓️ 14 March 2022
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What do you do when you’re Ukrainian and your cousin in Russia refuses to believe her country is attacking your home?
After spending days huddled in an air raid shelter, Kristina and her family managed to flee the capital Kyiv with just the few possessions they could carry.
Her ordeal has been made that much worse because her cousin in Russia - who’s been watching Russian TV - remains convinced that it’s actually the Ukrainian forces who are bombing their own country.
It’s a symptom of the information war over Ukraine that is raging alongside the military battle. And like the conflict on the ground, this fight also has real consequences for the people whose lives it touches.
Russia’s military assault has been accompanied by an onslaught of disinformation and propaganda from state media, trolls and influencers. With all sides seeking to capture and control the narrative, how do you tell what is fake and what is real?
In this podcast series, BBC disinformation reporter Marianna Spring investigates stories from Ukraine, Russia, and around the world, and hears from those caught up in the battle for the truth.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A group of men ran in with machetes. |
| 0:03.8 | I'm Livy Haydock, and from BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live, |
| 0:08.6 | this is gangster, the story of Georgie Pye. |
| 0:13.2 | The scene of the killing near a Chinese bookshop is being flooded with detectives. |
| 0:17.0 | Welcome to the world of the triads. |
| 0:19.6 | If the triads are coming out of you, you're done. |
| 0:21.5 | Where loyalty is sworn in blood. |
| 0:24.8 | Gangster, the story of Georgie Pye. |
| 0:27.6 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:31.2 | BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:35.7 | Okay, my name is Christina. I'm 31 years old and I'm a Ukrainian. I'm a motion designer when |
| 0:44.5 | it's no war. A talented illustrator, until a few weeks ago, she was living in the capital |
| 0:50.1 | Kyiv with her mother. Before war, I was just working every day, and I had dance class three times a week, just |
| 1:00.6 | a normal life. |
| 1:02.1 | And then, early in the morning on the 24th of February, everything changed. |
| 1:06.8 | I always work until late, so I went to bed at 3 a.m. |
| 1:12.6 | And at 5 I woke up because of explosions. |
| 1:16.6 | It was so loud, I understood immediately that the war began. |
| 1:22.6 | She found her mother. |
| 1:26.6 | And I saw her and I said, take your documents. |
| 1:30.0 | We started to pack our backpacks. |
| 1:32.9 | It was bombing outside. |
... |
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