Explaining Ukraine to children: A special episode with Newsround

What do kids want to know about the war in Ukraine? On this special edition of Ukrainecast, we’re teaming up with Newsround (the BBC's children's news programme) to find out. To mark World Children’s Day, we took a panel of BBC experts to Hammersmith Academy, a secondary school in London, to respond to questions from a live audience. Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko are joined on this episode by Newsround presenter Ricky Boleto, and Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse. Why did the war start? Are there really any safe places in Ukraine? And who is working towards making peace? They answer all that, and we hear from some of those Ukrainian children who have been forced to start a new life in the UK. The producers were Laurie Kalus and Lauren Parker. The executive producer was Lewis Vickers. The series producer is Chris Flynn. The Newsround editor is Lewis James. The News Podcasts editor is Sam Bonham. If young listeners found any parts of this episode upsetting, you can find advice and support on the Newsround website: This programme is also available as a visualised episode, on iPlayer in the UK, and worldwide on the BBC News YouTube channel. 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 listen to Explaining Ukraine to children: A special episode with Newsround online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Explaining Ukraine to children: A special episode with Newsround is an episode from Ukrainecast by BBC.

This episode is 37:55 long.

This episode was published on Nov 20, 2025.

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