BBC - Putin vs the West: At War (2024)

From the seizure of Crimea to the war in Ukraine - and an uncertain future. The inside story of a decade of clashes, as told by the Western leaders who traded blows with Putin.

Chapter 1: Invasion
Putin's invasion of Ukraine stuns the world. At the United Nations Security Council, the Russian ambassador is in the chair when the news breaks, sparking an extraordinary exchange with his Ukrainian counterpart. We hear from the presidents, prime ministers and top officials who were in the room for the crucial moments as they grappled with how to respond.

An emotional President Zelensky has a phone call with Biden just hours after the invasion, and he makes a powerful plea to European leaders, saying, ‘this might be the last moment you see me alive.' Key players, including Boris Johnson, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA director Bill Burns and UN secretary general Ant?nio Guterres, describe how they came under increasing pressure to step up and provide Ukraine with more support but could only go so far without risking World War III. Foreign secretary Liz Truss summons the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Office, and each of them describes their side of a frosty encounter.

Western leaders, fearing for Zelensky's safety, offer to help get him out of the country. He refuses, saying, ‘this is what we were elected for – for this day.' We lift the lid on the ill-fated peace talks on the Belarusian border and hear from the Ukrainian officials who were among the first to visit the town of Bucha, where shocking evidence was uncovered. A few months into the war, the west is delivering more weapons to Ukraine than ever before, but Putin only looks to be digging in.

Chapter 2: Doubling Down
The impact of Putin's war in Ukraine is felt across the globe. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres describes his face-to-face meeting with the Russian president – sitting at the opposite end of Putin's giant white table at the Kremlin. His bold pitch to work with Putin to avoid a world food crisis paves the way for a deal that he describes as a ‘beacon of hope,' but on the ground in Ukraine, the fighting becomes more deadly. Zelensky and his top advisers describe how they lobbied the west for weapons but came up against growing pressure to negotiate with Russia.

As world leaders gather in Bali and debate how to end the war, the situation becomes even more tense when a stray missile lands in Poland, threatening to draw Nato into the war. Rishi Sunak describes how he had to tell Zelensky that his allies didn't back his version of events. Other top interviewees, including UK defence secretary Ben Wallace and CIA director Bill Burns, reveal how they spoke in private to their Russian counterparts, urging them to tone down the nuclear rhetoric. By the end of the episode, a year into the war, Ukraine and Russia remain at loggerheads, and the prospect of peace remains out of reach.