All language subtitles for Global.Eye.S2026E06.1080p.iP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-7VFr33104D_track3_[eng]

Hello and welcome to Global Eye
from the BBC World Service,

a programme that brings you
the best of our journalism

from every corner of the world.

Investigations that uncover
the harshest realities

and stories that shine
a light on hope and resilience.

I'm Zhanna Bezpiatchuk
from the BBC's Ukrainian service,

and this week we are in Kyiv.

In recent months, Russia has
been intensifying its attacks

on Ukraine's energy infrastructure

in an attempt to weaponise
the country's bitter winter.

So will this war of attrition

make Ukrainians more likely to give
up territory in return for peace,

or has it only served
to strengthen Ukrainian resolve

in the face of Russian aggression?

Later in the programme,

we'll bring you the
thought-provoking stories

of three Ukrainian women
raising children

who will never meet their fathers

because they died
serving in the military.

Three, two, one...

We'll look at why the space race

between the US and China
is hotting up.

Both countries are planning
permanent bases on the moon -

but is this a battle
for prestige on the world stage,

or a high-stakes scramble

for the rare, potentially
game-changing minerals

buried beneath the lunar surface?

On 28th August 2025,

an entire section
of this residential block in Kyiv

collapsed after a Russian missile
strike at dawn.

23 people lost their lives.

Entire families went to sleep
and didn't wake up the next morning.

Over 14,000 Ukrainian civilians
have been killed

by Russian missile and drone attacks
since February 2022.

The BBC has estimated

that Ukraine may have
lost around 140,000

of its men and women
on the battlefield.

Russia currently occupies around
a fifth of Ukraine's territory -

but that occupation has come
at a considerable cost.

BBC analysis suggests

around 350,000 Russian soldiers
have been killed.

Modern warfare has changed
dramatically over these four years.

Drones now dominate combat zones
in Ukraine.

Instead of the roar of fighter jets,

people here in Kyiv fear the deadly
whirring of Russian attack drones.

On the eastern
and southern front lines,

large mechanised tank assaults

have been replaced by small groups
of Russian infantry

infiltrating Ukrainian positions.

Metre by metre, these Russian forces

take Ukrainian villages
and towns by force.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

aims to control
the entire Donbas region.

People come to these tents, set up
by Ukrainian emergency services,

to get some respite
from the bitter cold,

and to charge their mobile phones

so they can stay connected
to the outside world.

The temperature in Kyiv today
varies from minus 7 to minus 21,

and because of Russia's
ongoing assault

on Ukraine's energy infrastructure,

millions endure rolling blackouts

and the constant noise
from air-raid sirens.

Many are forced to sleep
fully dressed

and in coats and hats.

Ukrainians are being
deprived of sleep

and have to live with
constant anxiety -

but they also show adaptability.

Life goes on, and you have
to get up for work in the morning,

even if you've had to try and sleep

through the roaring sound
of the barrage.

This protracted form of warfare

is designed to wear Ukrainians down

and force their leaders to agree to
give up territory and sovereignty.

So, is this tactic working?

Well, even though recent polls
suggest more Ukrainians

are now willing to accept loss
of territory

as long as it comes with security
guarantees,

a majority still oppose the idea.

Russia's territorial ambitions

are the main stumbling block
on the road to peace.

After multiple rounds of talks,

President Zelensky
speaks of progress

but the talks remain deadlocked.

President Trump says he believes

that President Putin
wants to end the war.

Russia's leader insists
that he cannot agree to a deal

until what he would call
the primary causes of the conflict

have been addressed -

issues like Ukraine's aspiration
to join NATO,

or what he claimed
to be mistreatment

of ethnic Russians in the Donbas.

Ukraine sees Putin's rhetoric
as a dishonest pretext,

hiding Russia's real intentions -

to maintain control over all the
territories it currently occupies

and to annexe even more land
in the east.

President Zelensky is calling on
the nations of Europe

to guarantee Ukraine's security
in the face of Russian aggression,

but when it comes
to security guarantees,

Ukrainians have bitter experience
of broken promises.

In 1994,

in return for ceding its Soviet-era
nuclear arsenal to Russia,

Ukraine received assurances from
the US, UK and Russia

that it would never be threatened
or invaded,

but then one of those signatories,
Russia,

broke that pledge
by invading Ukrainian territory.

The people here in Ukraine
are hoping

that when the fifth anniversary

of the full-scale
Russian invasion comes,

they will have succeeded
in regaining heating

and power in their homes,
and that a fair and lasting peace,

backed up by strong Western
security guarantees,

may still be within their reach.

The 11th-century cathedral
of Saint Sophia.

Even in the darkest days
of the blackouts,

the light at the top of
the tower shone,

but for the first time
since February 2022,

now, because of the blackout,

the light has gone out
and the cathedral is in darkness.

But, despite all,
Ukrainians still retain hope

that one day soon the star on top
of the cathedral will shine again.

Whatever the future holds,

Russia's invasion has left an
indelible mark on every Ukrainian,

including its children.

As thousands of men have gone
to the front lines,

a generation are learning
to live without their fathers.

Some will never meet them at all.

The BBC's Ukrainian service

have been following
three young widows -

Yana, Sasha and Olesya.

Their husbands were killed
while serving in the military.

They could not meet their children.

SINGING IN UKRAINIAN

AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS

BABY CRIES

AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS

BABY FUSSES
Shh, shh, shh.

BABY SNEEZES

Reporting for the World Service
from Ukraine

since the beginning
of the full-scale invasion

has been a privilege
and a challenge.

Here's the head of BBC News Ukraine,
Marta Shokalo.

A couple of days ago,
we had our morning meeting on Teams,

and many people who are in Ukraine
were wearing their winter coats.

It was minus 20 outside. It was
hardly plus 10 in their houses,

and that was the week
of our record numbers.

We reached over
18 million people in Ukraine,

so you probably wonder
how we manage to do that.

The team that has been covering war

in their own home country
for four years now.

We are spread around
four different locations -

Kyiv, Lviv, Warsaw, London.

Part of our team
are living as refugees,

part of our team enduring
daily stress of Russian strikes,

having their relatives
fighting on the front line.

I would say the main thing
that keeps us going

is we are open to changes,

because otherwise we wouldn't
be able to survive.

And also, no matter what,
every day we need to remember

that first of all
we are human beings

and we need to be
kind to each other.

Now to a geopolitical battle
taking place not here on Earth,

but in space. More than 50 years
since humans were last on the moon,

there is a race to go back.

The US and China are both planning
missions to the lunar surface,

and both want
to build permanent bases.

It's a close race,

and the prize is prestige and access
to the moon's mineral resources.

So why are we going back now?

And why has it taken so long?

To understand
this new space race,

we need to understand the first one.

The first space race
back in the 1960s was all about

the United States of America
and the Soviet Union

trying to demonstrate
their technological superiority

as part of a much wider
geopolitical battle

to prove themselves
the superpower of the world.

Russia was the first
to put an object, an animal

and a person into orbit.

But in 1969, America won
the race to put man on the moon.

That's one small step for man...

By 1972, 12 US astronauts
had been to the moon.

Three, two, one...

But then the missions stopped.

It was billions of dollars,
and President Nixon at the time

pointed out that,
"Well, we've already been there.

"And more importantly,
we have defeated the Soviet Union

"in this race."

America still talked
about going back,

but focus shifted
to other priorities,

like satellites and
the International Space Station.

Meanwhile, China was building
its own moon programme,

and in 2013, China landed an
unmanned craft on the moon...

..which nobody had done
since the 1970s.

Soon, the US was paying attention.

The directive I'm signing today
will refocus

America's space programme
on human exploration and discovery.

And so the two are competing,

and both have said
that they want to

return humans to the moon
in the coming years.

America has a multi-stage project
to do that, called Artemis.

Hydrogen burn-off igniters initiate.

The first step was an unmanned
orbit of the moon in 2022.

Four-stage engine start.

In step two, astronauts
will orbit the moon

for the first time
in more than 50 years.

But there aren't plans to land
people on the surface

until step three,
in 2027 at the earliest.

NASA has built a new rocket
called the Space Launch System

to get its astronauts to the moon.

And private companies
like SpaceX and Blue Origin

are building the technology
needed to land.

China's goal is to send humans
to the moon by 2030,

and it says it isn't
in a race with the US.

But China's President, Xi Jinping,

says its ambition
is to be a space power.

American officials are clear
how they feel about that.

We cannot lose the moon, and lose
the race to the moon, to China.

As the US and China's
programmes have developed,

so have two sets of plans
for the moon.

On one hand, we have
the US-led Artemis Accords

that about 60 nations
have signed, including India,

which is a major
space-faring nation.

On the other hand, you have China
that is leading

the International
Lunar Research Station.

Russia is a main collaborator,
and about ten nations

that have joined that side.

Both the American
and Chinese programmes

aim to have permanent bases
on the moon,

and getting there first
may be the key.

The moon is the size of Africa,

and there are only some regions
on the moon that has resources.

You basically are there first,

and you have
permanent infrastructure.

Focus is on the moon's south pole,

because frozen in its deep craters,
there's water.

This is essential
to support human life on the moon,

not only for astronauts to drink,

but because water is made
from hydrogen and oxygen,

that oxygen could be extracted
to give them air to breathe.

And if separated, hydrogen
and oxygen can become rocket fuel,

which could be used
for our future plans in space.

Their argument is that the moon
is going to serve

as that base of infrastructure,

human ingenuity,
where you actually utilise

lunar resources
to build your capacity.

Some of those resources
are hidden in moon dust,

including helium-3,

which could one day
power nuclear fusion reactors

and is very rare
and expensive on Earth.

But extracting it from the moon
has never been tried.

You have to send
all the equipment to the moon.

You then have to do
all that processing,

contain your helium-3,

return it safely to Earth,
and then use it.

And the cost of that
will be substantial.

Will the benefit be worth it?

That's one of many unknowns
in this new race to the moon.

But the ambitions are clear.

The first space race
was a lot about missions.

The space race we are seeing
today, it's about activity.

It's not just one mission.

It's this connection of activities
that build capacity to utilise space

for a much more sustainable period
and longer term.

Thanks for joining me in Ukraine.

We want your feedback on Global Eye.

Let us know what you think
on social media

using the hashtag...

Next week, we will be
reporting from Venezuela.

Goodbye.