Four years of war: can Ukraine continue to defy Putin?

四载战火:乌克兰能否继续抗衡普京?

The Story

2026-02-24

36 分钟
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单集简介 ...

Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine is still fighting – but the strain is visible. How has the conflict changed since those first days of war? Why would a free and fair election in Ukraine be so difficult? And is peace even conceivable? This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory Guests:  Anthony Loyd, special correspondent for The Times.Neo, Ukrainian drone unit commander.Anastasiia Romaniuk, researcher based in Kyiv.With thanks to our Ukrainian voices from the ground: Iryna Bortniuk, Pavlo Tkachenko, Natalia Zubar, Logan & Ostap. Host: Manveen Rana. Producers: Harry Stott and Julia Webster. We want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.com Read more: War diary: love and desperation on Ukraine’s front line Further listening: A new peace plan, and a critical moment for Zelensky Clips: BBC Photo: Photo: Paul Brookbanks, Getty Images. This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  • From The Times and The Sunday Times, this is the story.

  • I'm Manveen Rana.

  • It was the story of a simple, ordinary Ukrainian family in their own home,

  • in their own country, on their own soil, trying to escape Russian occupation.

  • Four years on since the war in Ukraine began,

  • we're all trying to make sense of the geopolitics and the peace negotiations.

  • But as the veteran war correspondent at The Times, Anthony Loyd, knows only too well,

  • it's often the stories of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances

  • that really tell the story of the war.

  • He's just come back from Ukraine, and if you want to understand what's happening on the front line,

  • the tragic and graphic tale of this one little family is illuminating.

  • The couple's names were Valentina and Valerii Klotchkov.

  • They were in their early 50s, they'd been married for over 30 years,

  • and they were from the village of Hrabovske.

  • And just before Christmas, a Russian infiltration group had managed to capture this village,

  • but not everybody had been captured by the Russians.

  • A handful of civilians hid in their cellars, Valentina and Valerii Klotchkov amongst them.

  • Now, on January the 27th, driven by appallingly cold temperatures and hunger,

  • Valentina and Valerii decided to escape.

  • And what happened next was witnessed by Ukrainian observation drones as they tried to escape, and filmed too.