Q&A: Trump vs Medvedev, a US defection and revisiting the minerals deal

On Thursday, Ukraine’s parliament waved through a bill reversing controversial changes to domestic anti-corruption bodies. The near-unanimous vote wiped out any remaining uncertainty over the future of the institutions, after Zelensky had largely caved to pressure following widespread demonstrations last week. Meanwhile - despite a shorter-term deadline set by President Trump for a ceasefire - Russia has continued its aerial campaign on Ukrainian targets, with strikes on more than two dozen targets in Kyiv on Thursday killing at least eight, and injuring more than 130 others.This week, Lucy and Vitaly are joined by the BBC’s Ukraine correspondent, James Waterhouse, to discuss army infiltration, the American family who defected to Russia, and what happened to that highly publicised minerals deal. Plus, our very own Olga Robinson tells us about BBC Verify’s latest deep-dive into Russian disinformation. Today’s episode is presented by Lucy Hockings and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Laurie Kalus, Julia Webster and Polly Hope. The technical producer was Hannah Montgomery. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. Email [email protected] with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message, voice note, or video via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord