Zaporizhzhia under attack
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2022
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Vitaly's home town is struck
Two areas of the southern city of Zaporizhzhia have been struck by Russian missiles, leaving one person dead and three others wounded. Whilst Russian forces are centering their offensive on Eastern Ukraine, Russian forces are now in control of much of the big Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine’s South. We hear from Kostyantyn, a factory worker from Zaporizhya who describes waking up to the sound of explosions during the night.
Also, we speak to the mayor of Meritopol Ivan Federov who was abducted and held by Russian forces for five days before being freed in a prisoner swap.
And we answer listener questions on conscription and President Putin’s ambitions as well as getting the latest from Davos.
Vitaly and Lewis are joined by Kateryna Khinkulova from BBC World Service who is from Kyiv.
Today’s Ukrainecast was made by Estelle Doyle with Osman Iqbal, Louise Hidalgo and Clare Williamson. The technical producer was Emma Crowe. The editor was Sam Bonham.
You can email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments or send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 1234 220.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | Hello, it's 91 days since Russian forces invaded Ukraine. |
| 0:08.8 | And before we start, as ever, just a warning that some of what we'll talk about today |
| 0:12.8 | could be upsetting. |
| 0:14.2 | Sarah Reinsford, BBC News, Eastern Europe correspondent has been in and around Kiev, where weeks after |
| 0:19.5 | Russian forces failed to seize the capital, the bodies of Russian troops are now being |
| 0:24.2 | discovered in the villages they pass through or occupied around the city. |
| 0:29.0 | We're just looking at the remains of several Russian tanks here by the side of a road. |
| 0:34.2 | And I'm now standing looking at what is clearly a chunk of human spine and just a meteor |
| 0:41.4 | also away. |
| 0:42.4 | I can see the toes. |
| 0:44.6 | There is a smell around this whole area, very sickly smell. |
| 0:51.8 | It's grim. |
| 0:52.4 | Reality of war, of course, that thousands upon thousands of bodies are left behind. |
| 0:57.6 | But the problem here is that Ukraine says Russia is showing little interest in actually |
| 1:02.9 | getting them back. |
| 1:04.2 | The bodies that we have found show they treat their people as rubbish, as cannon fodder. |
| 1:12.5 | They don't need their soldiers. |
| 1:14.1 | They throw them here, retreat and leave the bodies. |
| 1:17.8 | Well, what's happening is that they're being moved to refrigerated trains that are operating |
| 1:23.2 | as mobile morgues of sorts. |
| 1:25.6 | Vitaly, it must be hard for Ukrainians to have to pick up the remains of soldiers and |
... |
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