Global News Podcast - Russia launches its biggest attack on Ukraine in weeks

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

President Zelensky calls on allies to put Russia under greater pressure to stop the war in Ukraine, after the latest overnight bombardment - one of the biggest of the war. The attacks caused widespread damage, including to homes, factories and Ukraine's gas infrastructure. At least one person is reported to have died in Lviv, in the west. Also: a Ukrainian man has been arrested in connection with the sabotage of Nord Stream gas pipelines three years ago, and Palestinians are fleeing parts of Gaza City after the Israeli military began the first stages of a planned ground offensive, officials in the city say. And Frank Caprio, the American man known as the world's nicest judge, has died. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

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This is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service. Amongk a sign at 13 hours GMT on Thursday, the 21st of August, these are our main stories. The Ukrainian president says the latest large-scale Russian attacks are further proof that Moscow has no desire to end the war. German prosecutors say a Ukrainian man has been arrested in connection with the sabotage of Nord Stream gas pipelines from three years ago. And Israel has continued its bombardment of. suburbs of Gaza City. Also in this podcast, doctors warn about so-called AI psychosis that's relying so heavily on chatbots that you believe imaginary things are real.

We as professionals and doctors may start having to ask people when we see them in clinic how much AI they're using, how it's affecting their lives, just like we would for smoking alcohol, you know? Russia has launched its biggest attack. on Ukraine in weeks. Hundreds of drones and missiles hit multiple targets across Ukraine. The attacks come as Europe and NATO discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and plan for a potential meeting between President Zelenskyy and Putin. The US Vice President J.D. Vans has said that Europe would be expected to play the leading

role in guaranteeing Ukraine security in the event of any deal to end Russia's war against them. But the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has made clear that such security guarantees mustn't include any presence of European troops in Ukraine. As discussions between the West and Ukraine currently show, all these plans are essentially about providing guarantees for intervention, foreign military intervention in some part of Ukrainian territory. And I hope strongly that those who are entertaining such plans, whether they are simply trying to attract attention or not,

understand what the consequences will be. This would be absolutely unacceptable for the Russian Federation, and to all rational political forces in Europe. President Vladimir Zelensky has condemned the latest massive Russian bombardment. Our correspondent in Kiev is Katie Watson. She told me more about the attacks. The sirens have just gone off again. I'm not sure whether you can hear that.

But overnight, the whole country was affected. An air raid alert began late last night, continued until early this morning. Even the far western city of Lviv, close to the Polish border, was hit. with at least one person dead and several people injured. It's not often that the city gets attacked. In fact, Polish Air Force even scrambled to protect their airspace after that. So we're talking over 570 drones, 40 missiles, 11 locations were hit.

There was also an American electronics manufacturer in the West hit where 15 more people were injured. Yes, and we heard from J.D. Vance, and I guess the key thing that came out of his conversation with Fox News are those post-war guarantees. He wants to ensure them to end the three and a half-year-old war. How key are those? The one thing that Ukraine wants to make sure is sorted.

President Zelensky has said earlier to reporters that he wants to have an understanding of security guarantees and the architecture, how they'll look within seven to ten days. He's also talked about a potential trilateral meeting with Russia and the US, wants to meet in a neutral European space that could be Switzerland, Austria or Turkey. But, you know, when asked whether what Ukraine was willing to do, he told reporters, let's first discuss what Russia is willing to do. So the two sides, you know, is still very far apart.

I mean, the fact that there was such a big bombardment overnight clearly shows, and that's something that Zelensky said. It was carried out by Russia, as if nothing changes at all, as if there are no global efforts to stop this war. And you mentioned President Zelensky there. Has he also been talking about the latest barrage of attacks, as well as some other new remarks? Yeah, so he said that it just showed kind of,

Russia's behaviour as if nothing changes at all and, you know, as if no, there were no efforts to stop this war. So, you know, he's made it very clear that there needs to be some kind of peace before any kind of deal. Peace negotiations can move forward. You know, at the same time as a difficult night here in Ukraine, Ukraine also carried out attacks in Russia. There was an oil refinery hit as well as a drone depot hit as well in the occupied city of Dernets. Katie Watson in Kiev. Almost three years ago in September 2022, a series of underwater explosions blew up the network

of Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. Three or four pipelines from Russia to Germany were put out of commission around seven months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, investigators have been trying to work out who was behind the sabotage. Now a Ukrainian man has been arrested in Italy as a result of a European arrest warrant.

A Europe regional editor, Danny Eberhardt, Tell me what we know about the arrest. The arrest was of a man who German prosecutors have named as Sejee Kay. They say he was arrested on Monday in Rimini, a port on Italy's East Coast, and they're trying to extradite him. So they've said that he basically, they don't suspect him of being one of the people who is believed to dive down to plant the explosives on the different Nord Stream pipelines. They're saying he had a coordinating role,

and they will definitely try to take him to court. It's not clear how long the extradition will take. They say that the group involved rented a yacht, a sailing yacht, through intermediaries using false ID and took it from the point of the German port of Rostock and sailed it to the air of the Baltic where these pipelines run under, so it's close to the Danish island of Bornholm. And just remind us a bit more about what happened. back in September of 2022.

It was an extraordinary event. There was a series of explosions. It soon became apparent. This wasn't just a single incident and that people instantly looked at sabotage as the main reason behind this. And then there was a flurry of accusations from different sides.

So the Russians were blaming the US. Could it be? Because obviously the US exports a lot of fossil fuels. Perhaps they were trying to take out a potential rival. these pipelines carried massive amounts of Russian gas to Germany. The Nord Stream 1 pipelines were in operational, though not at that particular time. Nord Stream 2 hadn't been certified fully but was expected to double the capacity. So other suspects were Poland, which was spoken out very volubly against the project.

They said it increased Europe's dependence on Russia and that Russia was trying to weaponise gas and bypass Ukraine. Ukraine. Ukraine was another suspect. The dominant theme at the moment is there was a cell of Ukrainian operatives trying to take out the pipeline, which to target revenues from the Russian gas for the Moscow that it was using for the war. But Ukraine has always denied involvement, certainly from a state level. Danny Eberhardt. People in Gaza City have been describing another night of relentless bombardment by Israeli forces. Israel said it had begun an expanded offensive to target the remaining Hamas strongholds in the territory's biggest city, that there does not

appear to have been a significant increase in military operations on the ground. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has again called for an immediate ceasefire to avoid what he called inevitable death and destruction. I must reiterate that it is vital to reach immediately a ceasefire in Gaza and the unconditional release of all hostages and to avoid the massive deaths and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would inevitably cause. I got the latest from our correspondent in Jerusalem.

What's happening is that Israel's military is really building momentum for this operation. What we've had overnight is in more heavy shelling, particularly in the Zaytune area, is the east of Gaza City, and it's from there and other neighbourhoods like Sabra, also from Jabalia, which is just to the north of Gaza City, that we have seen people fleeing once again in recent weeks. But these areas were not densely inhabited. People had mostly already left those areas. A lot of places that are already badly destroyed. I think what we're seeing

is a lot of rhetoric that's putting pressure on Hamas. It's also frightening people in Gaza the Israeli military spokesman saying these are preliminary operations, the first stages of the attack on Gaza City. And we also had the Israeli Prime Minister talking about speeding up the timeline for taking control of Hamas strongholds, defeating the armed group without really specifying these timelines. He is expected Benjamin Netanyahu to convene a security meeting to approve military plans for this new offensive later in the day. And Israeli media also reported that afterwards Israel is expected to submit its reply. to the mediators, as so far, although Israel's not outright rejected that plan, it has sounded

very dismissive. So just to refer to Antonio Guterres again there, do you think he's pleased likely to fall on deaf ears then, based on what you've just been telling us? I mean, there has been an awful lot of international condemnation in the past week, and since the Israeli security cabinet basically approved a plan to take full control of the entire Gaza strip to fully occupy it earlier this month. What is really important, is the attitude of the US. That's Israel's closest ally. And so far, you know, President Trump hasn't really expressed any strong opinion apart from encouraging Israel to deal with Hamas. And, you know, that makes it very difficult for the regional mediators who have been trying to get

things going. Hamas has agreed to this ceasefire and hostage release deal, which is said to be almost identical to the one that the President Trump's Middle East envoy put. forward just last month. Yel Nell in Jerusalem. Microsoft's head of artificial intelligence says he's alarmed by the rising cases of a phenomenon dubbed AI psychosis. It is a non-clinical term for incidents

where people rely so heavily on chatbots such as co-pilot or chat GPT that they've become convinced something imaginary is actually real. It's worrying medical professionals too, like Susan Shalmaday of University College London. We as professionals and doctors may start having to ask people when we see them in clinic how much AI they're using, how it's affecting their lives, just like we would for smoking

alcohol, you know. We already know what ultra-processed foods can do to the body. And I think with this ultra-processed information, we're going to get an avalanche of ultra-processed minds that we need to deal with. Here's our technology editor, Zoe Kleinman. Hugh from Scotland says he became convinced that he was about to become a multi-millionaire after turning to an AI chatbot to help him when he lost his job. It began by giving him practical advice, but ended up telling him that a book and a movie about his experience would make him more than £5 million.

The more information that I gave the chatbot, the more I would say, oh, this treatment's terrible. You should really be getting more than this and it would ask me for more information. I would feed it more, and the number would just get higher and higher. It would go from like 10 grand to like into the millions, basically. Hugh already had mental health problems and ended up having a breakdown. He says taking medication made him realise the money wasn't real.

He doesn't blame the technology. He says it signposted citizens' advice, but he ignored it because it was so convincing. AI psychosis is a non-clinical term to describe people who start using. using chat bots like chat GPT, GROC and Claude, and start to lose touch with reality. I've had messages from people convinced that the tech has fallen in love with them or think they've unlocked a secret human inside it or even think it's deliberately trying to harm them.

A survey of 2,000 UK adults carried out for Banger University's Emotional AI Lab found that 57% thought it was strongly inappropriate for the tech to identify as a real person if asked. But 49% thought the use of voice was appropriate to make chatbots sound more engaging. 20% thought children under the age of 18 shouldn't use AI at all. The advice is to make sure you double-check everything a chatbot tells you and don't stop talking to real people. Finally, if you feel like you're using AI to make all your decisions for you,

think about taking a step back. Zoe Kleinman. We may be on the cusp of a breakthrough in our understanding of chronic pain, and why it happens. For the first time, researchers have identified a new genetic link to pain and that link could now form the target for a new generation of drugs. Chronic pain, brought about by a range of conditions, is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. Professor David Bennett is from the University of Oxford and is the lead author of the study. He spoke to Emma Barnett. It has been a team effort and with important implications and absolutely an advance, which is that

it's helped us understand much better the mechanisms underlying chronic pain because we've started by looking at the genetic factors that can alter risk of chronic pain and that's given us new insights into the molecules that are driving chronic pain. The molecules and the drugs then to try and use the information you've discovered at this point. How far off would you be or could it be from drugs being developed to use this information? Okay, so maybe I'll start with saying where we are. So we undertook a genetic study and we're looking at the differences

in the DNA sequence of those people with chronic pain versus those without. And that highlighted a gene that had not previously been linked to chronic pain but looked very interesting to us and was highly active in sensory nerves, those nerves that carry pain signals. And we then went on to work out with my colleague, Simon Neustead, what is the molecule that that gene codes for

because genes are brewprints for the molecules that have all the activity? within the body and we could work out the structure of that molecule in exquisite detail and we found that it was a transporter these are the kind of gatekeepers in your nerve cells that regulate what chemicals can come in and leave nerve cells and indeed it was also regulating the activity in those sensory nerves that carry pain signals so we've got a really nice genetic linkage in humans which is important and we've identified a new pathway relating to chronic pain The next stage, which I think is what you're getting at in your question is, how do we use that information?

Well, the structure is, now we've got this kind of three-dimensional structure of how this protein works and how it folds. We can start developing drugs to try and target this pathway, which is a new pathway. So that's helpful. We need new approaches to treating chronic pain. Our current drugs are not what we would like them to be. They are not as effective as we'd like them to be, and they have side effects. So the work starts now on developing drugs to target. this specific molecule that we've discovered linked to chronic pain.

David Bennett from Oxford University. So to come on this podcast, the American man known as the world's nicest judge has died. You are a good man. I wish you all the best. I wish the best for your son and your case is dismissed. An suspended Prime Minister, Petotongan Shinawatra, has testified before the Constitutional Court over her handling of a border row with Cambodia. It's not known what she said during the hearing because of reporting restrictions. It's one of a series of legal battles being fought by the Shinawatra clan. Meanwhile, an uneasy ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia is still holding. But relations between

the Southeast Asia neighbours remain tense, as Jonathan Head reports. In a dense forest close to the Thai-Cambodian border, a mine clearance team prepares to blow up an unexploded rocket in front of a group of journalists. What they've just destroyed is a BM21, the much-feared Russian Grad rocket, dozens of which were fired into Thailand by Cambodian forces on the morning of the 24th of July, killing several civilians. Thailand is on a publicity drive, trying to reverse a perception

that it has been losing the information war over its border dispute with Cambodia. And the man behind Cambodia's media blitz is Southeast Asia's wiliest old fox, former Prime Minister Hun Sen, still the real power behind the scenes, here posting an emotional appeal for peace on his Facebook page. He's been backed by an army of social media warriors and a tame press which always loyally echoes the government line. Sebastian Strangio is the author of Hun Sen's Cambodia, perhaps the definitive book on the country's recent history.

The Cambodian government has a massive advantage over its Thai counterpart, which is that it's politically stable in a way that Thailand isn't. And the government has effective control of the vast majority of the civil society sphere, the media ecosystem and the information space. Many of the claims from Cambodia have proved false that they'd shot down a Thai fighter jet or that Thailand was using poison gas. But the sheer volume of material emanating from Cambodia

has flooded the zone and helped present it to the world as a victim. Russ Jalichandra is the Thai Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs. This is a totally different, this information or social war has been waged. But I hope that we stand on the firm ground, that what we are saying is credible and can be proof. That's the only weapon we can use to fight this war. Thailand believes, though, that it will get international support over landmines,

which it accuses Cambodia of laying in areas its troops have abandoned. So they brought us to see them. The next step will be looking for the trip wires. The Thai army. has also distributed this video. From a phone they say they found in the forest, apparently showing Cambodian soldiers handling anti-personnel mines. This is potentially damaging for Cambodia,

which is strongly campaigned against such mines. But, predictably enough, the evidence has been dismissed by Cambodia as a fabrication. This is first vice president Lee Took, arguing that as one of the world's main victim, of landmines, his government would never use them. The heated war of words between Thailand and Cambodia, says Sebastian Strangio, makes any resolution of their border dispute just about impossible to achieve. Both sides are describing the borders as essentially this sacred dividing

line, but the symbolism is hugely important, right? You know, this cuts to very deep questions of national identity, and it's something that neither side can afford to take a step back from at the moment. And I start to imagine Thai-Cambodia relations being poisoned for a very long time. Jonathan Head with that report. In many parts of the world, it would be seen as election rigging, but Donald Trump's plan to gain an extra five congressional seats for the Republicans is perfectly legal. The Texas House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to change the boundaries of some districts in the state with a view to winning five more districts for the Republicans. This means that it will give the nationwide Republican Party a much better chance

of holding on to the U.S. House of Representatives in the midterm elections next year, which would allow President Trump to continue to govern without democratic oversight. The Republican legislator Todd Hunter defended the move. You want transparency? Here's the U.S. Supreme Court legal transparency. The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward. Improve Republican political performance. Texas Democrats had managed to stall the vote by fleeing the state, but returned on Monday. The redrawn map will now be reconciled with a version passed by the Texas Senate

before being signed into law by the Republican governor. Democratic Representative John Boosie said it was a blatant power grab. This is Donald Trump's map. It is clearly and deliberately manufactures five more Republican seats in Congress because Trump himself knows the voters are regarded. rejecting his agenda. And instead of respecting that rejection, he's changing the rules. Instead of listening to the people, he's trying to silence them. Democrats in California are planning to counter the move by redrawing congressional districts in their state and more could follow suit for both parties.

My colleague Oliver Conway heard more about the changes in Texas from our correspondent, Aruna Doimukaji. The most recent proposed map could help Republicans gain five seats held by Democrats. That would essentially give the Republicans 30 of Texas's 38 congressional districts. Now, what this process will do is that it will convert three Democrat districts into Republican ones and then tilt two Democratic-held South Texas districts slightly towards the Republicans. Now, before elections are held under the new districts, what we're learning from the ground and local media is that the counties that are split by congressional legislative or state board of education district boundaries under the newly adopted plans must now change their voting precinct

boundaries to therefore conform to these newly revised district lines. Yeah, essentially they're moving Republican and Democrat voters into different areas. That's right. That's how they're planning to sort of rearrange the districts in such a way that it will politically favor one particular party. And will it be enough to swing the vote for the U.S. House of Representatives towards the Republicans next November? Well, that's what the Republicans are hoping for. Now, the Republicans' margin of victory would also improve

in two other congressional districts currently held by the Democrats. Again, Todd Hunter, saying that there is no guarantee significantly of an electorate success, but Republicans will now have an opportunity to potentially win in those districts and all of this, obviously, with an eye on those midterms. Now, this kind of gerrymandering, as it's known, has been around for something like 200 years in the US. how will the Democrats respond? Well, the Democrats are already sort of trying to put this in motion by looking at other states where they could sort of redraw the maps.

But before I get to that, you know, it's also important to mention that gerrymandering in that sense is common. It is also legal unless it is racially motivated. Now, that's the allegation from the Democrats, a charge that is rejected by the Republicans. But what is significant is typically states undergo redistricting every 10 years when voting maps are redrawn to obviously account for population changes. Now, what we're expecting is, you know, states like California, where we've seen an aggressive governor who's kind of talked about the possibility of redrawing of maps.

Now, significantly in California, if this does happen, we are then looking at the prospects of five Democrat-leaning seats. Now, if that happens, then simple mathematics would be that that will cancel out the five seats that Texas has managed to generate. But then other Republican states could respond in their own way and leading to a tip-for-tat action. Is there any talk about ending this kind of partisan move? Well, you know, given what we've heard so far and, you know, the aggressive stand taken by the Democrats in opposition to what happened in Texas, I think this is likely to only intensify.

You know, one of the reasons that the Democrat lawmakers had given after they came back to Texas was that we oppose this, but we're back because, you know, we've managed to, we believe, at least, create a lot of awareness about what the Republicans are doing. And they also said that we hope that, you know, the time that they have taken to stall the Texas vote would have in a sense allowed other states to try and figure out what they want to do to politically strategize and figure out how they might

want to go ahead and redistrict their states. So what this essentially is doing is it's opening the gates for other states to start this redistricting battle, if you may, and a larger political battle between the Republicans and the Democrats ahead of elections. Arunidoa Mukherjee in Washington. The authorities in Brazil have accused the former president Jaye Bolsonaro and his son Eduardo of obstruction of justice. Police say they try to interfere in the ex-president's trial over an alleged coup. Jay Bolsonaro faces a 40-year prison sentence, if convicted, of plotting to overthrow his democratically elected successor in 2022.

His son Eduardo has spent weeks lobbying in the U.S. to fight his father's cause. Early this month, President Trump claimed Mr. Bolsonaro's senior was facing what he called political execution by Brazilian authorities. Our America's online editor, Vanessa Bush-Luter, told me more. So police have drafted this 170-page report, which they think contains enough evidence to warrant charges being brought. That decision, however, will be up to the country's prosecutor's office. They say that Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of the former president, lobbied President Trump to impose those stinging 50% tariffs on Brazil with a view to influencing the tribal. that his father is currently facing, and they want two of the men facing charges for that influence.

Okay, and the police, do they believe that Mr. Bolsonaro, Sini, was actually trying to flee the country? Yes, they say that they discovered on Jare de Bolsonaro's mobile phone, which they seized, a draft letter to the president of Argentina. Remember, the president of Argentina, Javier Milay, is a close ally of Mr. Bolsonaro. This letter allegedly asked him to grant. Jail Bolsonaro political asylum. So police are saying he tried to flee the country and would therefore have obstructed the course of justice, i.e. the trial that Jail Bolsonaro is under. And how much support does Mr. Bolsonaro have in Brazil? I was going to say beyond. It seems he's got support there from Argentina, doesn't he? He does have support from Argentina and, of course, from Donald Trump,

who also placed some of the judges under sanctions. Now, in the country itself, there have been master demonstrations in favour of Mr. Bolsonaro. And there's also people who are not necessarily backers of Mr. Bolsonaro, but who say that maybe the proceedings have gone too far. They also cite the case of a woman who got 14 years in prison for daubing a statue with an anti-lula message. So they say that this is a witch hunt very much mirroring the words that Donald Trump has said. Just very briefly, when can we expect a verdict?

The final phase of the trial starts on September the second and the current guess is that the verdict may come in the middle of September. Vanessa Bush-Luter. The man known as the world's nicest judge Frank Caprio has died at the age of 88. He had pancreatic cancer. He was known for his compassion and humor and built up a huge following on social media. Anna Aslam looks back at his life. Frank Caprio's courtroom is easily recognizable.

He featured in a long-running American reality show centered on a course, in Providence, Rhode Island. And clips from the TV show often went viral, with many praising the judge for his empathy. I'm 96 years old, and I drive slowly, and I only drive one I have to. I was going to the blood work for my boy. He's handicapped because he's got cancer.

You are a good man. I wish you all the best. I wish the best for your son, and your case is dismissed. Judge Caprio looked past the black and white nature of law, taking people's circumstances into account, and he often dismissed fines and tickets. His kindness also extended outside the courtroom. How much can you pay today? I have 92 cents in my account.

I just walked from his providence this morning to get over here. That's five miles from here. About an hour and a half. I want you to take an Uber so you don't have to walk back. I really appreciate that. You don't have to take it. Alongside the touching moments, there were also plenty of laughs. Judge Caprio was known for a sense of humor,

and he sometimes delegated his job to the defendant's young children. much to the parents' horror. We're talking about your father. Now, you're going to say guilty or not guilty. What do you say? Guilty. Guilty. It was Frank Caprio's own father that inspired his unorthodox approach.

He happened to be in court when Caprio, fairly early on in his career, refused to write off parking tickets for a mother of three who said she couldn't afford them. His father told him he should have been more compassionate. And decades later, tributes being paid are commending the judge for always place humanity at the heart of his job. Anna Aslam reporting. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this episode or the topic's covered in it,

you can send us an email. The address is Global Podcast at BBC.co.uk. And you can also find us on X at BBC World Service. You can use a hashtag Global NewsPod. This edition was mixed by Jack Wolfman and the producer was Alice Adley and the editor is Karen Martin. I'm Uncritisai. Until next time, goodbye.