Luka’s parents – Nadia and Karen – try to figure out where to take him once war breaks out. (6 minutes)

Russian forces have besieged the town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Shelling is constant.

Valerie Kipnis tells Ira about how Russian soldiers in the war in Ukraine are making a huge decision in an unusual way: over a hotline.

Valerie Kipnis tells the story of 12-year-old Ilya, a Ukrainian refugee eager to figure out whether his hometown can still feel like home. He and his family return to Mariupol, a city badly damaged in the war, and now under Russian control.

Reporter James Spring visits a refugee camp in Tijuana, Mexico filled with Ukranians fleeing the war.

Host Ira Glass plays recordings of a woman named Katia in Kyiv, dealing with the quotidian challenges of life — like taking the dog out to pee — in the middle of the war. (7 minutes)We found out about Katia from the podcast Vice News Reports, a show with a lot of great reporting on the war in Ukraine, plus stories that are unfolding all over the world.

Producer Alix Spiegel tells the story of a Lithuanian man who devises a plan to solve a problem related to the war in Ukraine.

Late at night on the evening Russia invaded Ukraine, Ira talks to two people who escaped to Lviv, near the Polish border: a woman we call Natalie, and the Ukraine Correspondent for The Economist, Richard Ensor. Natalie’s harrowing story about escaping Kyiv is not the sort of war story that makes you think, "I can't imagine what it'd be like to go through that.” In fact it’s just the opposite.