What’s it like to be sentenced to death?
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 October 2023
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Former soldier Shaun Pinner was captured and imprisoned by Russian-backed forces in April 2022 while fighting in the Ukrainian military.
In that time, he says he was given electric shocks, tasered and stabbed in the leg.
He was also sentenced to death - but almost exactly one year ago, he and four other Britons were released after spending five months in a prison in eastern Ukraine.
And US Special Correspondent Katty Kay reveals why Congress ditched plans to give Kyiv another $6bn dollars, and the impact it will have on the Ukrainian front-line.
Today’s episode is presented by Lyse Doucet and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Ivana Davidovic, Arsenii Sokolov and Keiligh Baker. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480
You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | It's 587 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:12.0 | On Sunday, people across the country marked defenders day. |
| 0:21.0 | It's a recent holiday, which was established after Russia's initial invasion back in 2014. |
| 0:29.0 | And the reason why Ukraine started marking this holiday is A, to move away from the Soviet fatherland defenders day, |
| 0:38.0 | which was Soviet and Russian on the 23rd of February. |
| 0:42.0 | And also to move back to the old Ukrainian tradition of honoring troops on a religious holiday known as Bakrava. |
| 0:51.0 | And interestingly, in Ukrainian, Dane Zehysniki was Zehysniki Tsukrayene. |
| 0:58.0 | In English, the word defender can apply to both male and female defenders, not so in Ukrainian. |
| 1:04.0 | That's why, in Ukraine, they use both words for male defenders and female defenders, |
| 1:09.0 | we Ukraine, over whom there's a lot, and Ukraine is honoring them on 1st of October. |
| 1:15.0 | A modern version of a Ukrainian tradition, well in this episode, will speak with one of the men who's fought for the Ukrainian armed forces. |
| 1:25.0 | Some people may find, and we should warn you, that what he has to say is disturbing, his story is that he was imprisoned, tortured, |
| 1:33.0 | and eventually escaped a death sentence by a Russian proxy court. |
| 1:37.0 | This is a crime. |
| 1:39.0 | Ukraine costs from business. |
| 1:42.0 | Ukraine is an epicenter of unbearable heartache and pain. |
| 1:47.0 | Millions of people are without heating, without water. |
| 1:50.0 | Putin is the aggressor, he will be ready to use nuclear weapons. |
| 1:56.0 | They killed him and fled. |
| 1:58.0 | I do not know how we managed to survive. |
| 2:01.0 | I want people to know the truth. |
... |
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