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. Show less