Ukraine attacks Moscow with drone strikes | Global News Podcast

This is the Global News podcast from the. BBC World Service. [music] I'm Celia. Hatton and at 14 GMT on Tuesday the 18th. of August, these are our top stories. As. Russia and Ukraine exchange strikes, a. senior officer in the Ukrainian military. tells the BBC that long range attacks. deep inside Russian territory will. continue. Moscow warns Britain that. there'll be consequences [music]. following revelations that British. drones were used by Ukraine to strike. Russia. and a cousin of the deposed.

Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has been. sentenced to death for [music] a series. of crimes including murder and torture. Also in this podcast, >> I therefore. declare. s. to be presidentele. The. >> president of Zambia wins another term in. office, but the opposition says the vote. wasn't fair. >> [music].

>> Let's start with Russia's war with. Ukraine. The Ukrainian authorities have. ordered the evacuation of more than. 2,000 families with children from the. region of Denipo Petrovsk near the front. line following an increase in Russian. strikes. Overnight, both sides carried. out attacks on each other, Russia and. Ukraine. At least 10 people died in a. Russian missile strike in northeastern. Ukraine's region. On the other side of. the border, the mayor of Moscow says. more than 600 Ukrainian drones targeted. the Russian capital on Monday evening.

It's part of a campaign by Keefe to try. to take the war deep into Russia by. destroying military supply lines and. infrastructure facilities. In a secret. location in Kev, our Ukraine. correspondent Dan Johnson talked to the. country's deputy chief of military. intelligence Vadin Skitzki about how. Ukraine is trying to combat Russia. Dan. spoke to me about the interview, but he. started by talking about the latest. Russian attacks on Ukraine. >> There were five rounds of air alerts in.

Kev, but also deadly attacks in Hark. this morning. A missile attack there is. reported to have killed uh 10 Ukrainians. and wounded more people there. Also. reports of deaths in Hersan, in Sunumi. and in Zaporia too. So the current death. toll stands at 17 we understand uh. because of those attacks last night. It. underlines again the challenge that. Ukraine faces in defending itself. against Russian attacks. >> Dan, you've spoken to Ukrainian military.

intelligence. What have they told you? >> Yes, we sat down to talk to the deputy. chief of Ukraine's intelligence. organization. He's called Major General. Vadim Skiitzki. And I started by asking. him about Ukraine's long range drone. attacks into Russia. Uh they've been. successful in targeting a number of. sites, a number of facilities including. oil refineries and warehouses, distribution centers and he told me he. thought those attacks were justified.

It's one of the element of the logistic. system of Russian Federation to wage the. war including for example through. wildberries some military military. equipment military components and. another elements that Russian Federation. uses for war. Will those deep strikes. continue? Uh unfortunately. >> even if more Russian civilians are. killed. >> it's [clears throat].

we uh first of all I said we must we. must must uh destroy and disrupt the. main elements of the uh wage of war of. Russian Federation not civilian people. >> Dan looking ahead what do the Ukrainians. expect this winter to look like? Because. in past winters, Russians have targeted. infrastructure like power facilities. >> Yes, the situation last winter was. particularly grim for many Ukrainians.

It was very cold and they were for long. periods without heating, lighting, electricity. And the major general said. that he feared, in fact his greatest. fear looking ahead was that that. situation would be repeated and would be. even worse. I asked him, "What concerns. you most?" I thought he may say the lack. of Patriot missile interceptors that. they need to defend the skies. He. acknowledged that shortage, but he. actually said he worries most about the. misery Russia may inflict in the coming. winter. The destroyer, disrupt water.

supply system, heating system, electricity system and another another. objects and facilities for normal life. of of civilian population. >> And do you have the intelligence that. those sorts of attacks are being planned. by Russia? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Due to our capability, defense intelligence of Ukraine, we uh. absolutely understand the plans. We can. obtain a lot of information about the. preparation and of course it's very.

important concerning the targets. >> What about accusations that the. Ukrainian side might be hitting civilian. targets in Russia? Now, >> yes, Russia has claimed that there have. been civilian deaths linked to this. campaign of long range drone strikes. The deputy head of Ukrainian. intelligence said that Ukraine does not. target civilians, but that he considered. the sites they have been hitting to be. legitimate because they are supplying. the military. I said given the prospects.

for this winter and the number of. Ukrainian civilians who are being hurt. and killed, did he actually consider. that Ukraine was winning this war? >> Have not another way for surviving. because we independent state. It's our. territory. It's our land. It's our. culture. It's our history. And we we. must to fight to prevent the full. occupation of Russian Federation. uh by. Russian Federation our territory.

>> Do you think you are winning, succeeding? >> I think yes. I think yes. >> Staying with the war, Moscow has. threatened Britain with consequences. following confirmation the UK has. supplied Ukraine with drones that have. been used to hit targets deep inside. Russia. As we've been hearing, Kee is. launching an increasing number of drone. attacks across Russia, particularly on. infrastructure targets. Some reports. suggest this is the first time British. technology has been used to hit Russian.

targets. Our UK political correspondent. is Damian Grammaticus. >> This follows newspaper reports the. weekend that for the first time drone. technology from the UK was used in these. strikes against Russia uh confirmed uh. from sources to the BBC. Now some of. those reports talked about strikes on. oil facilities in southern Russia, Yaraslaval near Moscow. What uh the. Russian embassy here in London has uh. put out as a statement saying that. London is deliberately opting for.

escalation in Ukraine. It said Russia. said the UK was trying to contain. Russia, inflict maximum damage on it by. a proxy and those actions will. inevitably carry consequences for which. London will have to answer. Now in. response, we've heard from the Ministry. of Defense here. They have put out their. own statement. and the Ministry of. Defense spokesperson saying, "Britain. stands shoulder-to-shoulder with. Ukraine. It will continue to supply. Ukraine with the equipment it needs to. defend itself against what they say is. Russia's illegal invasion uh of Ukraine.

Russia should be in no doubt about the. resolve of the government to stand. against Russian aggression. And that's. also a message that Andy Burnham, the. prime minister, delivered. His first. foreign visitor here when he became. prime minister a few weeks ago, was. president Zinski of Ukraine and he said. he would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with. him.". >> Interesting. Damian, we're used to. hearing how far Keev has come in in. making its own drones, using its own. drones on the battlefield, but how much. military technology does the UK supply.

to Ukraine? >> Well, increasing amounts. Uh, and the UK. has in the past supplied cruise. missiles, storm shadows. They cost about. a million dollars each. They have been. used against military targets in Russia. before. That's worth saying. But what. we've seen is ramping up particularly. drone technologies as western militaries. are defend developing as well. This year. the UK signed a record package of. support for Ukraine. Uh about 4 uh. billion US dollars worth that was.

120,000 drones in that package just to. give you an idea. It includes these long. range strike drones uh reconnaissance. drones, naval drones, heavy lift drones. Now that is a significant amount of. support for Ukraine and also significant. technology because part of it too is. devices that are attached to drones to. enable them to evade electronic jamming. to reach their targets. So Ukraine I. think still provides the creates the. bulk of its own drones but the UK.

support is significant and it is worth. saying it is two-way because these these. drones are being tested and used by. Ukraine and then incorporated back into. the British military which is already. buying and starting to have these in its. own stock piles. So it is a sort of. two-way thing. The UK providing and also. benefiting from the experience. >> Now to Syria. You might recall that a. week ago, the former dictator Bashar. al-Assad was handed a death sentence in. absentia for his role in overseeing a.

brutal 14-year civil war in his country. He fled to Russia when his regime fell. at the end of 2024. Just a short while. ago, one of Assad's cousins was also. sentenced to death, but he appeared in a. courtroom in Damascus. Standing inside a. cage wearing a standard striped prison. uniform, Wasim al-Assad was convicted of. crimes that included multiple murders. and torture. This was the moment when. the court handed down that sentence.

>> Our Arab affairs analyst Sebastian Usher. told me more about Wasim al-Assad. >> We've been found guilt as you said uh of. just some of the crimes that he was. charged with, the ones to do with. murder, ones to do with torture. I mean. essentially he was an enforcer for the. Assad regime. He was someone who would. gather militias to fight on behalf of. President Assad eastern Gouta which is. on the outskirts of Damascus which is. still an utterly devastated area. I. visited it not long ago. Nothing has.

been done to rebuild it since its. destruction essentially during one of. the major battles. He was involved in. that. But what he wasn't convicted of. and the court said this is because of. lack of evidence was what many people. associated him with most which is the. drug t uh uh the drugs the trafficking. the networks the captagon which is uh an. amphetamine which during the Syrian. civil war became a major industrial. enterprise which essentially kept the. regime going financially for years. And.

he was almost certainly from what most. people believe a part of that. And he. very much lived that lifestyle. He. showed himself off as a kind of drug. warlord uh with his big cars, his fancy. clothes, his fancy houses. So I think. people would be slightly surprised that. that wasn't one of the elements of which. he's been convicted. >> So what does this all mean then? Does. this draw a line under the horrors of. the Assad regime or is there more of a.

reckoning to come? >> I think there's more of a reckoning to. come. I think you can't draw the line. under those horrors because obviously. they're still visible to people. They're. still visible both physically, as I'm. saying, like in Eastern Gouta, and still. visible in the human cost. I mean, you. you you meet people who psychologically. are shattered, families, thousands, hundreds of thousands, totally. shattered. And people haven't returned. from abroad either. So those uh wounds. are not likely to be healed at any time. soon. It is though part of the. reckoning, part of the accountability. that the new authorities have promised.

So in that sense, it's being welcomed. and they're saying this is by no means. the end of it. When Wasim Alasad was. arrested last June, that was seen as a. watershed moment. They were able. actually to get one of those key movers. in captivity and there he was in his. cage today. H we've mentioned that. Bashar al-Assad is still living in exile. with his close members of his family in. Russia. Does he still have supporters. inside Syria today? >> I don't think he has a huge amount of. supporters. I mean um the fact if you.

compare it to Saddam Hussein for example. who went to ground then he was captured. So he remained in Iraq as a kind of. symbol of what he represented and as. time went on people became more. forgiving of some of the excesses. because Bashar Assad basically cut and. ran. He deserted his country, deserted. the people around him. He is seen not. just by those who loathed him, those who. suffered under him, but even some of. those who supported him as a coward, who. didn't stand behind them, who left them. essentially to pay the price for what. he'd done. So, I don't think he.

personally has uh great support. I don't. think the Assad regime has great. support. It had exhausted that if it. ever really existed beyond the police. state that kept it in power. The issue. is though that uh Syria still remains a. very divided country and the new Syrian. authorities are still seen as very. controversial in a lot of the things. that they're doing. So their support in. that sense against the new authorities. but it doesn't go towards Assad. I don't. think he will gain from this. I don't. think he has any more part to play in. Syria's future. Scientists have warned.

that the impact of rising global. temperatures on the health of older. people has been significantly. underestimated. Researchers at Stanford University in. the United States say previous studies. have focused on younger people who are. able to sweat more effectively and have. stronger hearts. Our global health. correspondent Dominic Hughes told us. more about the study and how it differed. from previous ones. >> The past research looked really at the. effect of heat on the health of younger.

populations, people who were younger, fitter, who could manage the. temperatures better perhaps. So what. this research has done is they've. concentrated on new findings, new data. from what are called wet bulb. experiments that measure both heat and. humidity. Those experiments were. conducted in the US. They tested how. people over 60 tolerated both heat and. humidity. Older people really struggle with that. combination because they tend to sweat. less, their blood vessels respond more.

slowly, their heart has to work harder, they may have pre-existing health. conditions, and all of these things can. feed into their ability to cope with. high temperatures and high humidity. Now, then the researchers applied those. new models to how heat would impact on. older populations by varying degrees of. global warming. And what they found was. that countries most at risk from global. warming include India, Pakistan,

Bangladesh, Nishair, countries where. poverty and limited access to cooling. really really increases vulnerability. So, for example, a 1.5. degree warming of the of the climate. would see 22% of older adults facing. unsafe heat for at least a month. And. [snorts] they found that um South Asia, the Persian Gulf, if there was a 3°ree. rise in those areas, that would lead to.

around 3 months of solid dangerous heat. exposure for those older people. >> Okay. So Dominic, now that we have this. new research, we know more about the. real dangers. What more can be done to. protect older people? >> Yeah. Well, the authors of this uh. study, which is published in the Lancet, uh they call on governments really to. develop what they call heat emergency. plans and to also improve access to. cooling and also heat warning systems to.

give people the ability to actually take. shelter from that heat if you like and. to prepare adequately for it. But they. also say, of course, that cutting. emissions remains absolutely essential. in order to reduce older people's risk. of prolonged roundthe-clock heat danger. because it's not just during the day, but it's during the night as well when. our bodies might have a chance to. recover from a day of heat if it's. really hot at night. That can have a. serious impact on our health as well. >> Still to come in [music] this podcast, the global price of sheep fleces has.

gone up. Good news for farmers in Wales. The limited supply that we have. including the increased demand is. increasing obviously the competition in. the auction which farmers are going to. see the benefits of that. [music]. To Zambia now where it's been confirmed. that President Hakayinda Hitilemma has. been reelected for a second 5-year term. Election officials say he secured 60% of. the valid votes cast. This was the. moment the result was announced.

>> I therefore. declare. Hak. >> to be presidentele. >> But in a country that's long been. credited as one of Africa's most stable. democracies. It's a system that's facing. some challenges. Mr. Hichi Lema's main. political rival has questioned the. credibility of the process and called. for an investigation into alleged. irregularities. Just a few days ago,

police arrested 11 people, including. leading opposition figures in a raid. Let's cross over to the capital, Lusaka, and our reporter, Dingendaba Jonah. Buoya. First, was his victory expected? >> Well, for a very long time, he was uh. because a lot of things have happened. building up to this election and one of. the things that happened was the death. of one of his main challenggers, former. President Edongu last year. He died in. June. And that sort of sent the. opposition in a in limbo cuz nobody was.

sure which way this would go. And from. that point on this was largely. considered Hagenda's victory. But things. sort of changed in May when Brian Mundle. came onto the scene because nobody. really thought he would have garnered as. much support as he has having 1.8. million votes in the last election. Interestingly, that's the same number of. votes that former President Ed Galumu. got when he lost the election in 2021, 1.8 million votes. And Hagenda in 2021.

got 2.8 million votes and this time. around he's added around 100,000 more, 2.9. >> Interesting. Uh, I mentioned it before, but the opposition is challenging the. result. Can you tell me more about what. they've been saying? They say that there. are irregularities in in the contest. Yesterday, opposition candidate Brian. Mundil issued a statement where he said. there were inconsistencies in the. documents that certify the victory. They.

claimed that these documents were being. changed before reaching the national. results center or in a sense the figures. were being changed before re reaching. the national results center then. altering the outcome of this election. They're also saying that the suspension. of voting that happened on the 14th of. August, the day after voting happened, the suspension of counting rather. counting of votes and announcement of. results was an attempt at manipulation. The electoral commission said that it. was because there were pockets of.

violence reported and a theft of ballot. boxes containing marked ballot papers. And that is what they're contesting that. this election lacks that integrity to. give President Hijma a convincing win. >> You're speaking to us from the capital. What's the mood across the country? >> Shortly after Haguma was announced. president-elect, there were people on. the streets that were celebrating. Most. of them dressed in the ruling parties.

regalia. a lot of students from which. president has support at the University. of Zambia took to the streets to to. celebrate. It's fair to mention that. there are a lot of people that are. dissatisfied with the process as well. They've been feeling quite unhappy about. it. There is presence of law enforcement. agencies especially in densely populated. areas increased security patrols and. this is because there has been an. anticipation of some sort of uh possible. unrest that uh could have happened and.

that's why the law enforcement agencies. decided to deploy including the Zambia. army actually have been patrolling. >> Football news now. The global football. body FIFA has sacked its chief operating. officer Kevin Lamore just weeks after he. strongly criticized FIFA's president. Giani Infantino's plan to sell stakes in. its competitions to private investors. That plan was shelved hours after Mr. Lamore spoke out. Before joining FIFA,

Kevin Lamore was deputy general. secretary at the governing body of. European football, UEFA. It's UEFA which. has been leading the charge against Mr. andino. David Bernstein is the former. chairman of the English Football. Association and has been one of the most. prominent voices calling for reform of. FIFA. Henry Zeffan began by asking him. what he thought of Kevin Lam more. sacking. >> I think it's probably inevitable. You. can't have a chairman and chief. executive who sort of.

where there was a clear loss of. confidence and for the situation to. continue. So, I'm not really surprised. at that. But I don't think in a way it's. particularly significant because the. challenge to infantino isn't going to. come from within FIFA. It has to come. from outside and particularly from UEFA. who have maintained a strong position so. far. But we need to see now whether they. will really walk the walk and and face. Infantino down because if they don't, I. think he will continue in position for.

the moment. >> Well, what does walk the walk mean? Because of course there is Giani and. Fantino's reelection effort coming up. next year, but UEFA are still talking. about a boycott of FIFA competitions. Of. course, we've just had the men's World. Cup, but it's the FIFA Women's Under. 20's World Cup kicking off in Poland on. September the 5th, less than a month. away. Six European countries are due to. take part in that, including England. Should England be taking part in that? >> No, I don't think they should. Well, not. on our own, but as as part of UEFA ban,

I think UEFA have to go through with. their threat not to participate. I'd be. very sorry for the, you know, the. competitors and so on, but um this is a. a very tough situation and Infantino has. to be eyeballed um here. And if UEFA and. the other um confederations go sort of. soft now, then you can see the the. opposition sort of just drifting away. and uh you know people get bored about. these issues. It'll it'll lose its.

momentum and uh you can see him staying. in place until next year. Well, speaking. of people getting bored of these issues, when you were FA chairman, you, the. English FA, abstained from the 2011 FIFA. presidential election in which set. Blatter was reelected for his third. term, and by the end, it was a pretty. lonely mission for you and for the FA, wasn't it? Does it feel different to you. this time? Sorry, go on. >> Sorry. Sorry. It was I I spoke out at. the FIFA Congress in front of 2,000. delegates against Blatters uh being um.

we we put a position unopposed because. it became a a coronation in his case. So, you know, I am one for actually. following up very aggressive words with. action otherwise it's all pretty. meaningless. Um but we'll we'll we'll. have to see if UEFA don't stay tough and. don't stay firm and the only the main. force they've got is boycotting FIFA uh. events. I have to say also that sponsors. have a role to play uh because if.

sponsors start to withdraw their support. that will put huge pressure onto FIFA. but it won't come internally. I think. Infantino will have his own people lined. up behind him. And last, some good news. for sheep farmers. Wool prices have. increased sharply over the past year. Here in Britain in recent years, the. number of sheep has been falling, and. that's also pushing prices up. It's a. big change. Prices were so low for wool. at one point that some farmers were even.

choosing to burn fleces. Our Wales. correspondent, Howell Griffith, has this. report. The rolling hills above Sanvanon. play a tiny part in a big global. commodity boom in the price of wool. >> Come on. >> These sheep were sheared in the spring. as temperatures rose. Their fleeces. fetching around 70% more than they would. have a year ago. It all helps win. Williams who seen the cost of farming.

rise rapidly too. Well, it helps to. cover the costs. You know, we've got. shearers coming in, professional. shearers, experienced. It's not. everybody that can shear. And most. importantly, we have to sheer users uh. from an animal welfare uh and health uh. perspective. You know, who would want a. big big strong winter coat still on with. the excessive heat that we've got at the. moment? Just as the best shearers can work and.

compete around the world, wool trade is. international. During the pandemic. years, demand dropped, prices slumped. Now things have started heading in the. opposite direction. If we look at the. global markets, there's less sheep in. Wales, less sheep in the UK producing. less wool. The limited supply that we. have, including the increased demand, is. increasing. Obviously, the competition. in the auction, which farmers are going. to see the benefits of that. >> At this depot in New Town, they sort. through 68 different types of wool, all.

destined for different products. From here, the wool can go into almost. anything, not just clothing and carpets, but bedding, flood defenses, compost, even slug pellets. Turning fleces into. fibers is still a hands-on manual job. Barry says he can work through 2,000 in. a day. >> With the grave fibers in this fleece, obviously you can't dye it any color.

other color rather than gray or black. because of the fibers in the fleece. Whereas, if you've got a nice white. fleece like that one, you're able to dye. that pink, green, blue, whatever color. you want. So, there's more value to this. fleece than there is this one that will. go into like men's knitwear, so like. your suits and stuff like that. Whereas. this type of fleece that will tend to go. into a carpet blend and stuff like that. because of the color. >> So you'll wear one and walk on the. other. >> You'll wear one and walk in the other. Yeah. >> It's only a couple of years since some.

farmers were burning fleces in despair. at low wool prices. There is now at. least some more hope on the horizon. >> And that's it for this edition of the. Global News podcast. If you'd like to. get in touch, our contact details are. below. I'm Celia Gahhatan. Goodbye.