With Russia launching nearly daily attacks against Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, the UK’s former defence secretary, Sir Ben Wallace, is in the Ukrainecast studio to give his take on what the strikes signify. He also reflects on his visit to Moscow which took place just 10 days before the full-scale invasion. And we hear from residents in Lviv and Kyiv who were hit by the attacks this week. Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire, James Waterhouse and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Arsenii Sokolov and Cordelia Hemming. The technical producer was Ben Andrews. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Richard Fenton-Smith. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480 You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord
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It's 926 days since Russia began its full scale invasion of Ukraine.
And in recent weeks, Russia has launched almost daily attacks against multiple Ukrainian cities.
In Kharkiv, a 14 year old girl was among at least seven killed a week ago last Friday.
In Kiev, last Monday, as schoolchildren returned to school, there was a barrage of missiles fired by Russia.
At the Ukrainian capital in Poltava on Tuesday, more than 50 people were killed in the deadliest strike by Russia this year so far.
And in the west, in Lviv, seven people were killed during a fresh wave of Russian attacks there.
Following that attack, an absolutely beautiful photograph went around social media of a dad, his wife and their three daughters.
This is a normal family photograph.
I'm describing it to you now.
I don't know the ages of the girls, but I'm going to guess sort of 8, 14, 16.
The youngest is 7.
Right, okay.
And they have fair hair.
The 7 year old has got bunches.
They're all smiling.
One of the girls is holding sunflowers.