Global News Podcast - Putin hosts Russia's Victory Day parade

Episode Date: May 9, 2025

President Putin marks the 80th anniversary of VE Day by defending his invasion of Ukraine. Also: Ukraine arrests two people allegedly working as spies for Hungary and Pope Leo gives his first homily.

You're listening to the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 13 Hours GMC on Friday, 9th May. President Putin marks the 80th anniversary of victory over the Nazis by defending his invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainians say they've arrested two people suspected of working as spies for Hungary. And the Indian Premier League cricket is suspended because of continued tensions with Pakistan. Also in the podcast. Through the ministry of Peter, you have called me to carry that cross

and to be blessed with that mission. And I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me." In his first Mass as Pope, Leo XIV says he hopes the Church can bring light to the dark nights of this world. Nazi Germany officially surrendered late in the evening on the 8th May 1945, so late in the evening on the 8th of May 1945, so late in fact that it was after midnight Moscow time and already May 9th. And so, a day after Britain marked the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Russia held its invasion of Ukraine, more than 20

world leaders were there in Moscow, including the presidents of China and Brazil, and the Prime Minister of Slovakia, even the American actor Steven Seagal. For Vladimir Putin, it shows Russia has weathered the diplomatic storm. Russia was and will be the stop to Nazism, to Russophobia, to antisemitism. It will fight those horrible deeds that are trying to support these ideologists, trying to commence the whole country, the society, the people, support those who are taking part in the special military operations. We are proud of their bravery, of the will, of strength of their will that only brought us victories. Well, there had been fears Ukraine may seek to disrupt the event after drone attacks closed

Moscow's airports in recent days, but security was extremely tight. I heard more about the spectacle from Vitaly Shevchenko, Russia editor at BBC Monitoring. This is Russia's most important state holiday. The Soviet victory over Nazi Germany is being used by the Kremlin to justify its current policies, its current war against Ukraine, encourage Russians to fight in Ukraine. The message is that, look, you're heroic forefathers, they defeated Nazism then, but we've got to finish the job in Ukraine. The large number of foreign dignitaries attending the parade is a major win for Vladimir Putin. More than 20 this year.

Last year was nine. In 2022, immediately after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it was zero. Back then, Vladimir Putin was seen as too toxic, untouchable. Now that is changing. This year's parade was held amid really tight security with authorities restricting access to the internet, restricting mobile phone coverage. There was even a roof put up above the VIP stand from which Vladimir Putin made his address, possibly as a measure against a possible Ukrainian drone attack.

A couple of European leaders there from Slovakia and Serbia, but the guest of honour, the Chinese president Xi Jinping, and he was very prominent. Absolutely, and he received very special attention. Vladimir Putin mentioned the Chinese contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany in his speech made at the parade. The largest group of foreign soldiers marching across Red Square today was from China as well. And also I've seen semi-humorous suggestions that Xi Jinping was the most effective air defence system present in Moscow today. Vitaliy Shevchenko, Russia editor at BBC Monitoring. Well, as we record this in the past couple

of moments, Ukraine's military has said there have been 80 combat clashes today, despite Moscow's three-day unilateral ceasefire. Earlier, Russia accused Ukraine of trying to make new incursions in the Russian region of Kursk. Our correspondent, Yogita Lomai, has this report. It's quite early in the morning. We're driving through wide open fields, through mud tracks in the Dniec region in eastern Ukraine towards Ukrainian frontline position near the city of Bukrovsk. This is one of the most fiercely fought over areas in the country. We're going to this artillery position firstly to check if Russia is honoring the ceasefire and also

to speak to soldiers here about what they expect. Yeah, my name is Max, I'm 26. Has it been quieter than usual? No, it's pretty constant here. You always have drones, you always have bombs. Some things never change. Just walking through a really deep trench. It's more than six feet high.

It's really muddy, it's rained overnight and it's also cloudy right now. So the threat of drones is a bit lower at this moment. However, we have heard the sounds of explosions in the past half an hour. Lots of them actually. They sounded like both incoming and outgoing fire. So it's not a ceasefire here in the trenches and on the front lines. Ukraine had rejected Russian President Putin's proposal of a three-day temporary ceasefire because it believes that Russia uses the time to resupply and then to strike again with

force. What Ukraine says it's willing to accept and implement at any moment is America's proposal of a 30-day ceasefire and negotiations because it believes that would be a more meaningful way forward to try to bring this war to an end. About an hour's drive from the military position, we've come to the village of Dobropilia. This is a town where we're told there are a few thousand people who are living here. And many of them actually lived in places like Pocroft's, places that are simply too dangerous to live in now.

And we've come here to see if in civilian areas, the ceasefires being implemented in any way and I can see a woman and a man and I'm going to ask them now what they've seen and heard since this morning. You can hear the explosions. This is what Russia's ceasefire sounds like. That is why I say you can't trust them. Later I met 65-year-old Alexander, who told me it had been a bit quieter overnight, but

that now he could hear alarms again and that there was no truce. Tears started rolling down his eyes as he said he was scared for his family. Oleksandr couldn't hold back tears. He's broken down and he's walked away from us now. We've met a lot of Ukrainians who are quite stoical, who've gotten quite used to what is going on, but every now and then you see that raw emotion, you see the trauma they're facing on a daily basis come to the surface. The uncertainty of whether this could be the next frontline town, the uncertainty of whether where we're standing right now could be handed over to Russia in a negotiation.

In the past few hours, the Ukrainian authorities say they have arrested two people suspected of working as spies for Hungary. Hungary's Foreign Minister has rejected the claims, but relations between the neighbours are strained because of the Hungarian President Viktor Orbán's close ties to Vladimir Putin. Our security correspondent Frank Garner in Kiev told me more about the alleged spies. So in terms of this plot this is something announced today by the SBU that's basically Ukraine's broadly the equivalent of its FBI, its internal security domestic intelligence agency. They allege that they have caught two Ukrainian nationals, a man broadly the equivalent of its FBI, its Internal Security Domestic Intelligence Agency, they allege that they have caught two Ukrainian nationals, a man and a woman, who have been

spying for Hungary, which is a NATO member. It's got a short border of about 185 kilometres, a joint border with Ukraine, right down in the southwest of Ukraine. And they are alleged to have been gathering military intelligence for Hungary's own military intelligence agency, things like the locations of S-300 air defense systems, law enforcement members, their vehicles, their dispositions, as well as the attitudes of local people towards any possible future deployment of Hungarian peacekeeping troops. I wasn't aware that that was a likely possibility, but anyhow, that's what they're accused of

doing. And this is not the first time that Hungary's been accused of some kind of subversion in this country, but it's certainly the most serious. And of course, it begs the question, what was this intelligence going to be used for if this plot is real, if it's true? I mean, there's no reason to necessarily doubt it or deny it. The question is, has been raised by Sir Ben Wallace, the former British defence minister, was this information going to be sent to Russia? There's no indication that it was but nevertheless Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian leader, is a friend of Vladimir Putin's.

Frank Gardner in Kiev and since we spoke to Frank Hungary's foreign minister has said that it has expelled two Ukrainian diplomats. It's accused of working as spies in what looks like a tit-for-tat move. On Thursday morning Robert Prievost was still a cardinal. A day later he has celebrated his first Mass as Pope Leo XIV. The service was held in the Sistine Chapel where on Thursday afternoon he was elected as the new head of the Catholic Church. And this was what he told the Cardinals at Mass today.

Through the ministry of Peter, you have called me to carry that cross and to be blessed with that mission and I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me as we continue as a church as a community of Friends of Jesus as believers to announce the good news to announce the gospel. Our correspondent Mark Lowen has been in Rome for the past few days so what did he take away from the Pope's first homily? I think a very strong message of his desire to take the message of the church to the people He said in his homily

There are contexts where it is not easy to preach the gospel and bear witness to truth where believers are mocked opposed Despised or best tolerated and pitied yet precisely for this reason they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed. He talked about his commitment to a daily journey of conversion so clearly a desire from the new Pope Leo XIV to go out to the people to preach and to be a kind of pastor which is very much in line with his roots, having been a missionary and a pastor in Peru, and very much continuing that journey of being close to the people that he followed in the footsteps of with the late Pope Francis.

Now, he had been mentioned as a possible Pope but wasn't among the front runners. Are we getting any more information about where he'll lead the church? I think broadly in the same direction as Francis, in terms of his outreach to the poor, he's seen as a kind of moderate, you know, keen on continuing that outreach to the peripheries of Catholicism. He may be a little bit less outgoing in terms of his moderate message on LGBT rights, for example, on, you know, the potential ordination of women as deacons. I don't think there's a sense that he's going to be beating the drum in such an extrovert way if you like, as Pope Francis, on some social issues. The late Argentine pontiff was known for his common touch. As one commentator put it to me yesterday, Pope Leo will bless babies,

but I don't know if he's gonna hug them in the same way as Francis did. I think for any pontiff to follow in that kind of very charismatic shoes of Francis would be difficult, but I think Leo will clearly try to tread his own path, but I think broadly speaking, he's gonna be a voice of continuity, but also there'll be pressure on him as well to be a voice of continuity but also there'll

be pressure on him as well to be a bridge builder with the other wings of the Catholic Church, the more traditional perhaps more orthodox side of the Catholic Church that sometimes will come detract us towards Pope Francis. Mark Lowen in Rome. And still to come on the Global News podcast. We really don't know where it all came from and the moon might be able to tell us because it has been in Earth's backyard for four and a half billion years. The rare moon dust causing excitement among scientists.

On Thursday India's army accused Pakistan of launching drones and missiles on three military bases, which Pakistan denies. For its part, Pakistan has said India has brought the nuclear-armed neighbours closer to a major conflict. With tensions still high, a BBC team has been to the Poonch district in Indian-administered Kashmir, where at least 15 people have died in cross-border firing. Davina Gupta reports. I'm in Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir.

And all around me, the city has plunged in darkness. The hotel I'm at is also not using its emergency power backup. There's no movement on the streets, and the entire city has fallen anxiously silent after a blackout was enforced by the authorities here. This blackout comes after the report from the Indian army which has claimed that Pakistan fired missiles and drones at military stations of Jammu and Udhampur which are in the same region and Pathankot in the northern Indian state

of Punjab. In this video from social media, locals can be heard shouting in Jamu when the drones were being intercepted in the skies. The Indian army says there were no casualties and that the threat has been neutralized. For now Pakistan has denied any involvement in this attack but for those living near the border incidents like these are only fueling their fear. Earlier I visited the border town of Poonch in Indian administered Kashmir. It is the worst hit

region in the recent cross-border shelling. 13-year-old Vihan was leaving with his parents from here when the family claims their car was hit by an artillery shell from Pakistan on Wednesday. Onlookers tried to take him to the hospital immediately, but, unfortunately, Vihan didn't survive. At the funeral, his mother is inconsolable, his father silent, performing the last rites

of their only child. I speak to Vihan's uncle, Arun Kumar Singh. He was their only son. For them, their world is over. Civilians shouldn't be caught in this. This wound will never heal. Just a few blocks away, 46-year-old Mehertad Din lost his three-storeyed home in the shelling. I go inside this dilapidated building. The stairs are filled with rubble. There are pieces of stone, brick, dust, mud all mixed

together. You can hear that how there's so much rubble that when I walk, it's cracking beneath my foot. On my right hand side, I can see there's a big hole in the wall which used to be a window and now the iron bars of that window are twisted. There are some utensils that have been torn apart. I can see curtains on the ground there are also clothes and mattresses now. And this just shows how life changed for this family that was living here just in a matter of minutes. I asked Mehtab if he would consider leaving. I know it's not safe, but where would I go? It's always us at the border who suffer.

Earlier this week, locals say most of the 40,000 residents fled Pooch, many on foot. Among them were Sufrin Akhtar. We couldn't even get a car. We walked for miles. I cried the whole night. There was so much shelling." For families like hers, the fear doesn't end with the sound of the last explosion. It lingers in the silence, in the rubble of their homes and in the uncertainty of when the next attack might come. Davina Gupta, well that uncertainty has even disrupted cricket, a much loved sport in both India and Pakistan.

The Indian Premier League is being suspended for a week while Pakistan is moving matches in its T20 league to the United Arab Emirates. Arunaj Mukherjee spoke to us from outside a cricket stadium in Delhi. The IPL is one of the most lucrative league tournaments in the world of cricket. In fact, many people say it's right up there with the NFL of the US or even the Premier League of England. It is very popular, just the kind of teams and the owners have always attracted a lot of attention. You know, you've got the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, India's biggest Bollywood superstar, owning one of the teams. You've got Mukesh Ambani, one of the richest men in Asia in the world, you know, owning one of the teams.

So it's always attracted a lot of attention along with millions of viewers from around the world. And you have to also understand it attracts several foreign players as well who are currently present in the country along with, you know, coaching staff or even commentators. So it certainly was a security concern, which perhaps triggered this decision by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. You know, last evening, that is Thursday, there was a cricket match that was being held for the IPL in the city of Dharamshala in the North Indian state of Himachal Pradesh,

which had to be abandoned because less than 200 kilometres away from that city, there were reports of missile and drone attacks in nearby cities and neighbouring states. So that really triggered the security concerns. We're also hearing that some overseas players are considering leaving the country. We don't know what's going to happen or what the fate of the overall IPL will be. You know, after the one week suspension period is over, whether we will see the gains resume will certainly be contingent on what the situation is between India and Pakistan.

Arunade Mukherjee in Delhi. It has been described as the world's most famous tree, standing in a dramatic dip in the landscape along Hadrian's Wall in the north of England. The 150-year-old sycamore gap tree even featured in the 1991 Hollywood film Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. Now, two men, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers, have been convicted of illegally chopping it down. They had filmed themselves felling the tree. The BBC's Danny Savage is outside the court. That video footage of it being chopped down that night, one of them holding the phone

as the other chops the tree down. It was filmed on Daniel Graham's phone. That's where the evidence was found and as the prosecution said during their closing speech, they were the only two people in the world who had that video on their devices. So the evidence against them was damning. They filled themselves doing it. They made off with a large wedge from the tree which they cut out before they did the final cut and they kept it as a souvenir. That's never been found though, but a picture of the wedge and the chainsaw were taken back at Daniel Graham's house later that night. Yet he denied knowing anything about it. He said some mystery person who had access to his Range Rover had taken his car in the dead of

night and then brought it back again a few hours later. It was a story that the jury just found beyond belief and it certainly was. Neither of them showed any reaction as the verdicts came in today. They'll be sentenced at a later date. It will be interesting to see what sentence they get because the public anger over the devastation of the Sycamore Gap Tree was huge. It was a massive story at the time as it spread around the world that this famous tree which stood on its own and stood for over 100 years, had been photographed by so many people, had starred in films, it was a landmark standing

next to a UNESCO World Heritage Site at Hadrian's Wall, had just simply been chopped down overnight. Who would do such a thing? Why would they do it? A moronic mission, as it was described in court. And the jury deliberated for five hours, came back quite sort of understandably with a unanimous guilty verdict. But this was a huge police investigation. A lot of resources went into it to make sure they could trace where these two individuals were, who was responsible. It was nearly a month afterwards that both of them were arrested. So it took the time, really, for Northumbria police to track

those vehicles, to track those phones and to build the case against Graham and Carruthers, who have now been found guilty of doing a terrible thing really. I mean some people might go it's just a tree but it was far more than that. It was a landmark that people took great pleasure from, the people who drive many miles to see it go and have a look at what was by even their own admission from the defendants the most famous tree in the world. Danny Savage reporting. A major conservation charity African Parks has admitted that human rights abuses were committed by its rangers in

the Democratic Republic of Congo. The allegations were made by members of the indigenous Baka community against the rangers. The charity has a high profile here in Britain as Prince Harry has been involved with it. Our Africa correspondent Myenenny Jones, is covering the story from Johannesburg. Despite commissioning an independent review into the actions of its rangers in the Republic of Congo, African Parks has not made the findings of the review public. Instead, it published a statement acknowledging that human rights abuses occurred in the Odzala Kokua National Park, which it manages, but excluding details of the abuse. Last year, a report by the British newspaper The Mail on Sunday included testimony

from members of the Baka community, who accused rangers working for African parks of beating, waterboarding and raping members of the community in order to stop them from accessing their ancestral forests. My any Jones. International scientists have been handed some very rare material from China's space explorations. It is moon dust, tiny fragments of rock samples, the first collected from the lunar surface for about 50 years.

One of the lucky researchers from the Open University in the UK carried the precious cargo home from Beijing in his hand luggage. Georgina Ranard reports. These need to be carried very safely. Professor Mahesh Anand has just been given something incredibly special. We asked him to record his reaction on his phone in China. We can't wait to open them and start working on them.

These very rare grains of moond dust are the first collected since 1976, brought to Earth by China's Chang'e 5 space mission. He is the only researcher in the UK to be loaned these. Now he's brought them in his hand luggage from Beijing to Milton Keynes in England. Professor Mahesh Anand is now back home and the samples are safely in his lab. We're going to see them for the first time that they'll be shown in the UK.

I'm Georgina. I'm Mahesh Anand and welcome to the Open University. Thank you. They are very precious and we have to keep them in a pristine condition. That's why we are in this clean lab and that's why we had to put on the oral to minimize any potential contamination before we analyze them. So would you like to look at them?

I can't wait to. I can't quite believe what I'm holding here. It's a small vial like a clear test tube the size of my little finger. And at the bottom I can see a few dark grains it's moon dust and with this tiny amount scientists can do a lot. So if I didn't tell you what it is it might appear as dirt but actually this is probably one of the most precious material that we can put our hands on much more precious than so-called gold dust. It's enough to keep us busy for years to come because we can work with one tiny

grain at a time. Gases trapped inside the specks of dust will be analysed by researcher James Mallee using machines that work with extraterrestrial material. What we're doing in this lab is to look specifically at the oxygen content and how it differs from planet to moon to asteroid and all the other bodies in the solar system. And with that information, we can further expand our knowledge of the solar system

and contribute to future scientific discovery. Until now, scientists had been using samples collected by the US and the Soviet Union decades ago. But in 2020, China sent its Chang'e 5 spacecraft to a totally unexplored place. A robotic arm drilled into rock and two kilograms came back to Earth. Every time you visit an area of the Moon, it's new. The Arctic arm drilled into rock and two kilograms came back to Earth. Every time you visit an area of the Moon, it's new, it has not been visited before, and that's where it is key to actually collect samples from as many different places on the Moon as possible.

So we are hopeful that through these samples we are going to learn a lot more about the Moon than we knew before. And this latest scientific exchange is a reminder that the moon is still a place that can bring nations together. The wonderful thing about planetary science is that we have to leave the Earth. And when we leave the Earth we realise how precious our planet is. And also when you leave the Earth you go into a very challenging environment where we all are forced to work together. Professor Mahesh Anand, ending that report by Georgina Ranard.

And that is all from us for now, but the Global News podcast will be back very soon. This edition was mixed by Rebecca Miller and produced by Richard Hamilton, our editors Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye.