The Documentary Podcast Folgen

We bring together three Ukrainian students, who studied at different universities in Kyiv before the war, to hear about how they are continuing their education. One decided the solution was to do her exchange year abroad early, but the others have remained in the country and it’s not always easy to study. Plus, three Ukrainian women come together to share their stories of leaving their homes with young children. Single parent Sonia is now in Portugal with her daughter, after driving across multiple countries. Marharya is living in Switzerland with three children while her husband remains in Ukraine. Sonia has also remained in Ukraine but moved to a potentially safer area with her husband’s relatives and their daughter.

What is fake, what is real? BBC disinformation reporter Marianna Spring speaks to people caught up in the battle for the truth in the information war over Ukraine. Families and friendships are being torn apart not only by the fighting, but by the radically different versions of reality that Ukrainians and Russians are being presented with, on TV and online. And social media has become a battleground for competing versions of truth.

For weeks Volodymyr Zelensky has been leading his nation against a devastating invasion by Russia. As Ukraine continues to resist one of the most powerful armies in the world, President Zelensky has been lauded as the man of this moment. Yet the man who had spent most of his life telling jokes was a political novice when first elected. The BBC’s correspondent in Ukraine, Jonah Fisher, first met Volodymyr Zelensky in January 2019 when he was known as a comedian and actor. He charts Zelensky's incredible journey from comedian to internationally acclaimed wartime leader of his country.