What does Vitaly Shevchenko say about Russia's progress on the Ukrainian front line this year?

Vitaly Shevchenko of BBC Monitoring said Russian troops have not really gained territory this year and have been on the back foot in parts of the front line. He linked that to a shift toward attacks that kill civilians, citing a United Nations figure that civilian casualties rose 55% compared with last year. Analysts, he said, believe Russia wants to make Ukraine unlivable.

More than 20 people died in Russian attacks across Ukraine the day before the broadcast.
Shevchenko called the Oleshky truce a very local story with only a glimmer of hope.

▸In their words

“So this is a very local story. There's probably a glimmer of hope in it.” Vitaly Shevchenko · at 7:46 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Global News Podcast (2026-10-30). Read the whole episode summary →

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