BBC reports on Ukraine's battle with Russia in the Black Sea
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What is the current situation of the naval battle in the Black Sea?
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 15 hours GMT on Thursday the 6th of August. Today we have an exclusive report on Ukraine's battle with Russia in the Black Sea. Myanmar's military ruler emerges from diplomatic isolation with a visit to Thailand. And after a four-year break, Indonesia resumes exports of endangered monkeys to the US for lab testing. Also in the podcast, why wildfires can give us migraines. And... I just get bored with life otherwise. When you get old, you can't go here, you can't do this, you can't drive, you can't see.
I can't see very well. And I get a bit frustrated. So I want to do the things that I can do.
The 97-year-old wing walker who's just broken her own record. For months, Ukraine has been hitting Russia's energy sites, warehouses and supply routes to try to drive home to people there the true cost of President Putin's invasion. In the latest attack, Ukraine struck two Russian oil refineries, sending plumes of black smoke into the atmosphere. But along with the air war, Russia and Ukraine have also been battling it out at sea. Ukrainian officials say a Russian strike on the Black Sea port of Odessa overnight damaged a Guinea-Bissau-flagged ship loaded with wheat. One crew member was killed. Our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams has been given rare access to the Ukrainian Navy.
How are Russian attacks affecting civilian shipping at Ukraine’s ports?
We're going on patrol with the Ukrainian Navy out into waters made increasingly dangerous by Russian attacks in a part of the country where a drone or ballistic missile can arrive with little warning. Everyone is focused, on alert. They fire their guns every day. This morning it looks deceptively calm. With its guns, its netting and some of the other equipment on board, this vessel can look after itself more or less. But what it can't do is to stop Russia attacking civilian ships coming in and out of Ukraine's ports. Those attacks are increasing and it's a major problem. There's a war out at sea. Russia and Ukraine hitting each other's ships, hundreds of them. Normally, all of them are crowded by vessels.
Now you can see how many vessels. All we can see moving are a couple of tugboats, nothing else. Nothing else. I'm being shown round one of Ukraine's biggest Black Sea ports. For security reasons, I'm not allowed to say which. And I'm going to call my guide, Dmytro. It's not his real name. He's worked here for 20 years. The port is virtually empty. Dmytro's never seen it like this. Officially, ports are not closed, but vessels are not coming. They are scared of being hit like it was this morning in Odessa Bay. Starting July, they hit trade vessels as a primary target. Why do you think this changed? It's better to ask them, because the main thing, they want to make a blockade of the Ukrainian ports because of the economy.
Yeah, this is a really quite strange experience, driving under these enormous gantries and cranes and the pipes and the buckets and everything that you need for a busy port, and none of it, none of it is working. At the offices of Ukraine's Transport Workers Union, I meet Svetlana, a warehouse shift manager at Odessa's main port. She's limping, fragments of a Russian ballistic missile still stuck in her leg and back, following an explosion at the port a year ago. She fights back tears as she talks, and her hands shake as she describes what life is like now.
Oh, it's very difficult. A lot of sirens, a lot of drones, a lot of hits.
And for morale, it's even more difficult. People are very tense. What can I say? Look at my hands.
Back at Dmitro's port, the air raid siren sounds. We head for the nearest bomb shelter, soon joined by port workers, all scanning their phones for updates. Is that the drone or is that a Ukrainian Air Force? That's the drone.
So, you can feel by yourself how does it look working during the war on the port. Unfortunately, it became typical for our life. We're told that two jet-powered drones landed in the area, so we go looking for the scene of one of the explosions.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the current situation of the naval battle in the Black Sea?
0:00–2:23
2
How are Russian attacks affecting civilian shipping at Ukraine’s ports?
2:23–6:56
3
What does Paul Adams reveal about life aboard a Ukrainian naval vessel?
6:56–11:59
4
Why did Thailand give a warm welcome to Myanmar’s military ruler?
11:59–18:54
5
What were the circumstances surrounding the death of Ugandan football captain David Owori?
18:54–25:07
6
How do wildfire‑generated PM2.5 particles trigger migraine headaches?
25:07–28:39
7
What is Disney’s new deal with TikTok and why does it matter for creators?
28:39–29:55
8
How did 97‑year‑old Betty Bromwich break the Guinness wing‑walking record?
29:55–29:57
Speakers
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