one “War Against Truth”

Do you remember Marianna Vyshemirska? The Mariupol maternity hospital was bombed by Russian troops and Marianna was the protagonist of the emblematic photo of that moment, captured by the Associated Press. With her hair pulled back, looking directly at the camera, bruised and wrapped in a duvet, Ella Marianna became living proof that Russia had directly targeted civilians. Until social networks were filled with reports that Marianna would be a man of influence paid directly by the Ukrainian government to organize the moment.

Marianna’s story was dissected by another Marianna, Marianna Spring, a BBC reporter who since the beginning of the war produced this podcast about Russian disinformation. There are three episodes of “War on Truth” centered around this story, culminating in an interview with her. Vyshemirska is in fact man of influenceBut she was one of several pregnant women and new mothers at the Mariupol maternity hospital who fell victim to the blasts. This is one of the examples of the excellent podcast of BBC research that goes beyond the tweet Y robots and it helps distinguish what is true and what is false in the other type of warfare in this conflict: information warfare.

Where: BBC website, iTunes, Spotify
For whom: He still does not believe that Russia promotes disinformation campaigns

two “Ukraine: the latest”

Every day The Telegraph team, supported by correspondents in the field, produces a podcast of undeniable quality about all the latest developments in Ukraine. In episodes that are less than half an hour long, focusing on more than one story, “Ukraine: The Latest” tackles all the important points of the past few days without getting into the subject matter.

The result is of indisputable quality. Whether it’s the conversation with Iryna Ukhina, a translator for one of the Telegraph’s own reporters, or the report by James Kilner, correspondent in Moldova, you can’t help but be more informed. With the added bonus of quality audio editing, which prevents conversations from becoming monotonous.

Where: iTunes, Spotify, Youtube
For whom: That friend who follows all the development of the war on Twitter

3 “Confronting Putin with John Sweeney”

John Sweeney is not your typical reporter. For more than 20 years he was a BBC journalist and was the subject of several controversies, including the last one that led to his dismissal, after being caught on video saying inelegant words. But Sweeney is an unquestioned authority when it comes to Putin: In 2014, he even managed to approach the Russian president during a trip to Siberia and ask him an uncomfortable question.

Now, in an independent format, the veteran has produced a podcast which fuses his experience in kyiv from the beginning of the invasion with the past of the Russian president. Putin’s tactics in the Kremlin range from attempted poisoning to sexual blackmail of enemies and alleged war crimes. Ever since he covered the Chechen war 20 years ago, Sweeney has wanted to show the brutality of this Russia. “At that time no one was listening to me,” she says now. This time, just put the headphones.

Where: iTunes, Spotify
For whom: You’re just now discovering that Putin has a history of poisoned adversaries and complicated wars

4 “Expert Opinions: Russia, Eurasia”

The Harriman Institute, Columbia University’s Eastern Europe department, has long fostered a podcast interesting information about everything that concerns Russia and neighboring countries. But with the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the team dedicated themselves to a new project: it is called “Voices from Ukraine”, it is led by Masha Udensiva-Brenner and every week she brings us an interview with an expert who is looking for new angles on the conflict.

The sixth episode, with linguist Yuri Shevchuk, starts from the premise “How do you pronounce kyiv correctly?” and it turns out to be an extraordinary lesson on the history and culture of Ukraine. To show that there are no boring subjects.

Where: iTunes, Spotify
For whom: You want to know more about the recent history of Ukraine than the number of times it won Eurovision (it was 3, by the way)

5 “Invaded: Voicemails from Ukraine”

Naliia, Vera and Olga are some of the protagonists of “Invaded” and, after a few episodes, we not only immediately recognize their voices, but also want to know their whereabouts. In short episodes, these and other Ukrainians give short updates on their life in the midst of war. Alone with a cell phone, without much production or interview, they record small diaries where they tell what it is like to run away from home, endure a bombardment or reunite with a relative.

In the midst of a war in which we are saturated with information, “Invaded” is a real breath of fresh air. The pauses, the sighs and the tone of voice convey a humanity that no interview can capture and remind us that there are people in every shelter, with their own universe that has been suspended. In addition to the daily record, each story sometimes evolves in unexpected ways: like when teacher Naliia wonders how the history books will portray this moment.

Where: iTunes, Spotify
For whom: He no longer gets emotional over every report of war casualties.

6 “Rachman’s Review”

Gideon Rachman is a veteran. The Financial Times’s leading international commentator has worked as a journalist for the BBC, the Sunday Times and The Economist and has traveled the world. He is attentive to all corners of the planet and is the author of The age of the strong man, where, despite the fact that the cover has the silhouette of Donald Trump, world trends are linked. It is not surprising that, in his podcastthe war in Ukraine has been a recurring theme in the last two months.

The result is always worth it. Highlight of the interview with Catherine Belton, author of putin People, on the ins and outs of the Kremlin and for the analysis of the Azov battalion with Kim Lane Scheppele, one of the best and cleanest analyzes that have emerged in recent times on the influence of the extreme right in Ukraine’s past and present. To understand who Stepan Bandera was, but with nuances.

Where: Financial Times website, iTunes, Spotify
For whom: Try to sound smart when you talk about the war.

7 “Doomsday Clock with Arthur Snell”

A series of interviews with a former diplomat has the potential not to be of the podcast the most exciting out there. But “Doomsday Watch” is not a podcast Anyone: For starters, suffice it to say that it’s produced by Podmasters, who produce some of the most exciting audio content to come out of the UK in recent times, including the excellent ‘The Bunker’. Added to this is the fact that Arthur Snell is a lively and even funny interviewer at times.

If for months this podcast examined all developments in international politics in general, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine that exclusively accompanies the conflict. Every three or four days, there is a new episode with refreshing conversations and unexpected angles – watch the conversation with the Marine American Elliot Ackerman on the mentality of the Ukrainian soldiers and how it is influencing the war. To not lose.

Where: iTunes, Spotify
For whom: He likes to learn about International Relations, but tends to fall asleep in class.

8 “About the media”

Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield, the hosts of “On the Media,” are as critical as they can be of US governments. mass media from your own country. This New York radio show, WNYC, has spent the last few years dissecting media coverage of all the headline-grabbing issues, with a point of view often close to the far left wing of the Democratic Party. But this does not always translate into bias and, even excluding the most politicized ideas, the reflections and guests they bring are always worthwhile.

Despite this being a podcast generalist, since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine they have produced several episodes on the subject with surprising angles. In “Still Armed, Still Dangerous” we find a radical premise: that the United States used to be an aggressor country and that, now, it is “on the other side” against a Russia that plays that role. With due differences they do not ignore, or if Gladstone herself had not been a correspondent in Moscow. You may not agree, but there’s nothing wrong with listening.

Where: WNYC website, iTunes, Spotify
For whom: He makes equivalences between Russia and the US with wrong arguments

9 “Besieged: A podcast about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine”

Do you want to understand why fuel prices increased after the war or how the Russian economy is affected by sanctions, but you don’t understand economics at all? Don’t walk anymore. East podcast from the University of Loughborough, in the British Midlands, brought together his best professors to explain, in a simple way, the effects of the conflict.

Led by Peter Warzynski, the conversations with academics are straightforward and easy to understand, like when supply chain expert Jan Godsell explains point-by-point how Western trade with Russia works. As an extra, the description of each episode is organized by topic and the corresponding minutes, so you can jump to the topics that interest you the most.

Where: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube
For whom: He wants to go beyond the “fat”

10 “The Intelligence of The Economist”

Every day “The Intelligence” publishes a 20-minute episode, in which different issues that are setting the world agenda are addressed. Of course, in recent times Ukraine has been a focal point of many of these programs. And what could be just rain on wet becomes, thanks to the experienced team of correspondents and the oiled machine podcast from The Economist, a must-have audio product.

Not that the angles are surprising, from the role of mercenaries in the war to the state of the Russian economy. But the quality of the journalists at The Economist (or “the” Economist, for the purists who continue to define it as a newspaper rather than a magazine) is noticeable in every episode. Particularly in those that take on a more personal character, whether in a journalist’s experience of receiving news only through average Russians in a single day or in the behind-the-scenes description of the interview with Volodymyr Zelensky. Curious, coming from a magazine where the articles are signed by the collective.

Where: iTunes, Spotify
For whom: He loves listening to witty reporting with a British accent and wit.

EXTRA: The best episodes out there

in the universe of podcast informative, there is no shortage of quality material on the war in Ukraine being produced on a daily basis. We leave a selection of episodes of all styles: an interview (with the brilliant Masha Gessen, conducted by Ezra Klein), a story of what it’s like to live in a city occupied by the Russians (Kherson, from the El Mundo team), a profile by Ramzan Kadyrov (The Guardian) and even an unusual story like that of Eugene, a Ukrainian who stars in the podcast about stories found in Reddit (Endless thread).