logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2022
44m 29s

Ukrainecast: What is Putin thinking?

BBC News
About this episode

As fighting continues in Ukraine, Victoria Derbyshire and Gabriel Gatehouse look at how the crisis is being reflected in Russia. They’re joined by Angus Roxburgh, who spent three years as a consultant to the Kremlin, to discuss whether the people closest to Putin will stay loyal to him though this conflict. And the BBC’s Liza Fokht in Moscow has been asking Russians what they think about the invasion.

Back in Ukraine, we catch up with Max, whose son and wife were injured when a missile hit their home in Kyiv last week.

This episode of Ukrainecast was made by Estelle Doyle with Natalie Ktena, Phil Marzouk and Alix Pickles. The studio director is Emma Crowe. The assistant editor is Alison Gee and the editor is Jonathan Aspinwall.

Up next
Today
The Week: How Did Labour Get Here And Where Do They Go Now?
Today, we’re looking back on a week of Keir Starmer fighting for his job as Prime Minister and leader of the Labour party.Will Andy Burnham win his Westminster seat? What’s going on behind the scenes in Number 10? And who are the other Labour hopefuls eyeing a place in an eventua ... Show More
33m 32s
May 3
Electioncast: The Mega May Run In
Today, we look at the biggest set of elections in the UK since the 2024 General Election.Laura and Paddy run through what the polls tell us, how insiders are feeling, and the challenges each of the parties face in different parts of Britain.Political correspondent Joe Pike joins ... Show More
42m 20s
May 2
Is Being Jewish Unsafe in the UK?
Today we look at how safe Jewish people feel and the political response to a string of violent incidents in which they’ve been targeted.It’s prompted a national conversation about antisemitism in the country among politicians and the public.Two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders ... Show More
33m 2s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2022
What is Putin thinking?
As fighting continues in Ukraine, Victoria Derbyshire and Gabriel Gatehouse look at how the crisis is being reflected in Russia. They’re joined by Angus Roxburgh, who spent three years as a consultant to the Kremlin, to discuss whether the people closest to Putin will stay loyal ... Show More
43m 58s
Apr 2022
Cold-calling Russia
As footage emerges that appears to show war crimes being committed by Ukrainian soldiers we speak to one of the BBC’s team of journalists working to establish if the material is authentic.We hear from a man who’s made the decision to go home to Kyiv after having fled when war bro ... Show More
34m 27s
Mar 2022
Escaping Ukraine
In the north of Ukraine, a convoy of Russian vehicles appears to be stalling as it attempts to advance on the capital Kyiv. Russian military expert at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies Dr Katarzyna Zysk tells Victoria and Gabriel why that may be and how it is impacting ... Show More
39m 21s
Mar 2022
Families at War
Eight years after Crimea was annexed, Vladimir Putin has given a speech to a packed stadium in Moscow, praising Russia’s soldiers in Ukraine.Victoria, Gabriel and Vitaly speak to the BBC Ukrainian Service’s Anastasia Gribanova. War has caused the breakdown of her relationship wit ... Show More
35m 10s
Mar 2022
Curfew in Kyiv
More Russian strikes have hit residential buildings in Kyiv. As tower blocks burn, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko has announced a 35-hour curfew, warning of “a difficult and dangerous moment”. Victoria, Gabriel and Vitaly get the latest on the ground and hear from surgeon Dr Andrey Vysot ... Show More
37m 34s
Aug 2022
‘Putin’s Rasputin’
Russia has opened a murder investigation after a journalist, Darya Dugina, died in a suspected car bombing not far from Moscow. Was she the target? Or was it her father, the ultra-nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin?Victoria, Vitaly and Gabriel Gatehouse, who interviewed Alex ... Show More
29m 22s
Aug 2022
Captured by Russia
Life inside a detention centre. We hear from Anna Vorosheva, about what it was like when she was held in a Russian detention centre in Eastern Ukraine. Victoria, Vitaly and the BBC’s Ukraine correspondent, James Waterhouse, discuss the details of the explosion at a military airfi ... Show More
33m 42s
Sep 2022
What will Putin do next?
Gabriel Gatehouse joins Victoria and Vitaly to discuss the reactions in Russia to the recent setbacks in Ukraine. While some are calling for the Kremlin to take more drastic action, others appear to question the war itself. On the ground in Kharkiv, Sarah Ashton-Cirillo explains ... Show More
35m 15s
Nov 2022
Kherson: Russian retreat?
Russia has ordered its military to pull out of Kherson, the only regional capital it captured after invading Ukraine in February. The BBC’s Jeremy Bowen gives us his appraisal of whether we can believe what Russia says about troop movements. The news came shortly after the announ ... Show More
38m 24s