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Shadowing practice: Putin’s home city under attack - Is Russia losing control of its airspace? | DW News

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  1. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has described Kyiv's drone and missile strikes on Russia as fair, and has promised more to come.0:00
  2. His statement follows drone strikes by Ukraine on the Russian city of St.0:08
  3. Petersburg, just as a flagship economic forum was about to get underway there.0:12
  4. The city's authorities said air defenses had shot down dozens of drones and confirmed that several districts in the city had been hit.0:17
  5. Ukraine's government claimed it hit a naval ship as well as St.0:25
  6. Petersburg's oil terminal.0:29
  7. Thick pillars of smoke rise over St.0:33
  8. Petersburg, the result of a long -range Ukrainian drone strike that stunned the Russian city in the early hours of Wednesday.0:35
  9. This oil terminal on the edge of the city was left ablaze by the volley.0:45
  10. St.0:51
  11. Petersburg's governor said drones hit infrastructure across several districts, causing widespread damage and injuring several people.0:52
  12. Ukrainian footage shows the moments before the drones struck a naval base.1:01
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  1. On social media, Ukraine's leader said important facilities on Russian territory were hit, with the oil terminal of particular importance, given that it serves the Russian war machine.1:08
  2. Ukraine's attack follows Russian strikes that killed at least 18 people and injured dozens more.1:22
  3. Yet there appears to be added significance to their response, given its location and timing.1:28
  4. For one thing, St.1:35
  5. Petersburg is Vladimir Putin's home city.1:37
  6. It's also the location of a glitzy economic forum.1:40
  7. Described as Russia's Davos in reference to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, the exhibition aims to attract foreign investment by showing Russia at its best.1:44
  8. This attack, just a few miles away from the forum's venue, has made a major city appear vulnerable at a bad time.1:55
  9. Russia's response to the attack was stark.2:03
  10. I'd like to remind you of the statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that our responses will be systematic.2:08
  11. In fact, they are already systematic.2:15
  12. It was just a month ago that both Zelensky and Putin spoke of finding a peaceful end to a war that began more than four years ago.2:20
  13. Major attacks from both sides this week make the chances of that seem remote.2:30
  14. Eureka, Bureau Chief, Yuri Roshchetto is covering this story.2:38
  15. Yuri, tell us more about the attacks in St.2:42
  16. Petersburg.2:44
  17. What's been hit there exactly?2:45
  18. Walter, we've been getting reports from across the Leningrad region, the whole region, basically the wider St.2:49
  19. Petersburg area.2:55
  20. Local officials say air defenses shut down 59 drones.2:56
  21. In St.3:01
  22. Petersburg itself, drones targeted infrastructure in several parts of the city, including a naval base in Kronstadt, so the military part of St.3:02
  23. The governor of Leningrad Oblast says several people were injured.3:13
  24. Flights at Pulkov International Airport were briefly restricted overnight.3:19
  25. Local media reports damaged to a residential building and a fire broke out at the St.3:23
  26. Petersburg Oil Terminal, one of the largest in the Baltic region.3:30
  27. Thick black smoke has been rising over the city and all of this is happening.3:36
  28. You mentioned it just as the St.3:40
  29. Petersburg International Economic Forum gets underway.3:42
  30. A key showcase event for President Putin personally.3:45
  31. He's going to have a speech on Friday there.3:49
  32. Photos show guests arriving while smoke rises in the background.3:54
  33. The venue is close to the airport, giving the whole situation a strong symbolic edge.3:58
  34. St.4:04
  35. Petersburg is over one and a half thousand kilometers from Ukraine.4:04
  36. How did Ukraine's military succeed in carrying out this attack, Yuri?4:09
  37. Look over the past six months, Ukraine has narrowed the gap with Russia in drone warfare, both in the size of attacks and how often they happen.4:15
  38. That's thanks to a major push in domestic production backed by Western support.4:27
  39. Now the Ukrainian military and the intelligence services can carry out regular large -scale drone strikes in some cases several times a week, still behind Russia, but much closer than4:33
  40. before.4:45
  41. In effect, Ukraine has drawn Russia into a kind of technological race where it no longer has a clear edge.4:46
  42. And in some situations that can favor Ukraine because drones make large troop movements more risky and harder to sustain.4:53
  43. So instead of a purely slow war of attrition, Kiev is obviously trying to wear Russia down and make the war more visible at home, targeting key sites deep behind5:01
  44. the front lines.5:12
  45. It appears that the drones may have flown via Belarus, passing close to the Baltic border where I am right now.5:13
  46. Air raid alerts were issued here in Latvia and Estonia.5:19
  47. We already heard the Russian spokesperson there saying there will be a systematic response, but how is Russia responding to this particular attack?5:23
  48. Well, so far there has been no official word on any specific Russian retaliation, military retaliation, but based on past cases Moscow has rarely left attacks like this unanswered.5:36
  49. Kremlin's postman Biskoff, you said it only said any response would be systematic, likely hinting at exactly that.5:50
  50. He added that what Russia still calls its military operation is meant to prevent attacks like these altogether.5:57
  51. At the same time, these Ukrainian drones, Terry strikes, carry a strong symbolic punch.6:05
  52. They show Russians that the war is reaching their own territory, but they are also used by state propaganda to push the opposite message saying, look Ukraine is attacking us,6:12
  53. so we have to keep fighting.6:22
  54. So in a way there is a double effect at play.6:23
  55. Yuri, thank you very much.6:27
  56. Our re -giver, bureau chief there, Yuri Rishad.6:29
  57. Let's get some analysis now with Orisa Lutsaevich, she's deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the think tank Chatham House.6:35
  58. Orisa, what do you make of Ukraine attacking St.6:44
  59. Petersburg just as President Putin was about to kick off a major economic forum there?6:47
  60. Well, I think the whole phase in Russia -Ukraine war has changed since Ukraine developed this technological capability to inflict long -range strikes deep inside Russia's territory.6:53
  61. We have seen threats to a Russian victory day parade that was a serious blow to Putin's confidence and projection inside Russia of his power.7:08
  62. And now we are seeing this large attack on the oil refinery right at the time when it's trying to convene its international conference to project Russia's economic power not7:20
  63. so much towards the west but to the global south and the Middle East.7:36
  64. And it is quite striking to see all those flames all over the city.7:41
  65. To be honest, I think these dignitaries who are coming, especially from the Middle East, are quite unsettled by this environment.7:46
  66. What do these strikes tell you about Ukraine's offensive capabilities and on the other hand Russia's defensive capacity?7:57
  67. Well, absolutely.8:07
  68. Russia is a large territory and it does not have enough air defense systems to simultaneously fight the war inside Ukraine, in Ukraine, in the southeast of Ukraine, in all8:09
  69. these territories that it's trying to occupy and at the same times defend both political centers of decision -making and strategic industries.8:23
  70. And we see that Ukraine systemically targeting oil refineries.8:32
  71. Eight out of ten were targeted several times and it is already causing problems with export.8:37
  72. It's decreasing with shortages in processed materials, in gas, for cars, but also Russia trying to reach its neighbors and partners Belarus and Kazakhstan to patch some of these deficits.8:44
  73. So Ukraine is demonstrating the Russia's strategic depths.9:00
  74. There was always an added value.9:04
  75. It is diminishing and that war is coming increasingly closer to Russian economic base which is oil and gas sector.9:05
  76. Ukraine's president says there will be more attacks like this on Russia.9:17
  77. Russia is saying that its response will be systematic.9:22
  78. Which country should be more concerned?9:27
  79. I think both countries should be concerned because Ukraine increasingly is developing capabilities, not only in drones but also in missiles.9:31
  80. Ukraine is testing and trying to put into action also longer range missiles which can cause much bigger impact and damage than just drones.9:40
  81. But I think as long as Russia starts being seriously concerned, that may compel Russian leadership to rescind the war.9:51
  82. And as the war some military experts estimate in six to seven months may reach this inflection point that can only be the powerful argument for Russia's leadership to negotiate10:01
  83. the ending of the war in genuine effort, not actually using negotiations to get some leverage over the United States and divide Europe over Ukraine's support.10:14
  84. What do you think was more the goal for an attack like this?10:29
  85. Was it more to damage Russian infrastructure?10:33
  86. We saw the oil complex there in smoke billowing from that.10:37
  87. Or do you think it's more to erode Russian morale?10:42
  88. I think it's actually both of these reasons you've mentioned, to erode Russia's morale at home, to kind of show that Russians are not invincible, that Putin is pursuing the10:47
  89. course that is threatening Russian people, that is threatening Russian economy, and suddenly because it comes to Putin's own hometown, St.11:00
  90. Petersburg, which is always viewed super protected like Moscow, it sends a very strong signal to other Russian cities that they are really exposed now to the consequences of war.11:09
  91. And the last reason is also to show to all those nations outside of Democratic West that are relying on some relationship with Russia in Asia, in Africa, in the11:24
  92. Middle East, that it's actually a quite toxic partnership, that Russia's power is also eroding and that Russia is vulnerable and it's to a degree a paper tiger, because it11:37
  93. cannot defend such strategic city during such important time as St.11:50
  94. Petersburg.11:55
  95. Give us a sense if you can of how people in Russia think about the war now, more than four years after it started, you talked about morale, are people11:56
  96. in Russia still behind Putin on this war?12:09
  97. To start with, it's important to underscore that Russia is quite a repressive, autocratic, personalised regime, and that means that free thinking and free flow of information is not available12:15
  98. really, and that there are severe repressions for disagreeing with the regime.12:28
  99. And I think there's no unified population inside Russia.12:34
  100. There are a lot of people who are indifferent to this war, they want to close their eyes to it and forget that it exists.12:39
  101. There are some who favourently support it from patriotic reasons, they share imperialist ideology, they do not want Russia to lose, they believe Russia is entitled to control of Ukraine12:45
  102. and for the same matter, other parts of Eastern Europe, and some that actually oppose it, but that's a very small segment that would dare even to say publicly.12:58
  103. Orisa, thank you very much for your analysis.13:09
  104. That was Orisa Lutsovich, she's deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House.13:11

English listening practice with a B2 news report from Putin's home city

This DW News clip runs at 151 words per minute, rated B2, faster than most of the catalogue. It opens with a studio narrator, then cuts to a field correspondent, so you get two distinct voices inside one report: measured, scripted delivery followed by a less rehearsed one reading updates from the Leningrad region.

The subject is a Ukrainian drone strike on St. Petersburg, hitting an oil terminal and a naval base just before a major economic forum opens in the same city. The report moves quickly between facts: casualties, an oil terminal ablaze, a governor's statement, a quote from Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That density is what makes it good english listening practice: you are chasing information at speed, not following a slow, relaxed story.

The language in this clip: officials quoted, and how they are announced

DW News reports lean on attribution: someone always says something, and the script tells you who before you hear it. Three lines are worth slowing down on.

  • "Petersburg is Vladimir Putin's home city." Three short beats, each carrying its own stress. Read it as three separate hits rather than one long run before you try to match the recording's pace.
  • "I'd like to remind you of the statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that our responses will be systematic." A Russian official being quoted inside the report, formal register, only one contraction. Notice how "I'd like to remind you" softens a threat into diplomatic phrasing, useful for anyone working on how to pronounce english words in a formal register.
  • "Described as Russia's Davos in reference to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, the exhibition aims to attract foreign investment by showing Russia at its best." One sentence, four ideas stacked with commas. Practise it as a single breath group, not word by word, to get the pacing a native newsreader uses.

How to shadow this news clip for english speaking practice, line by line

Work the opening in order rather than jumping around. The lines below are numbered from the start of the clip.

  • Start at line 1, Zelensky's statement that the strikes were "fair." Say it once at your own pace before you try to match the recording, so you already know where the stress falls.
  • Move to lines 7 to 9, the description of the smoke and the oil terminal. This is scripted narration at the clip's fastest stretch, so shadow it in short chunks first, then run the three lines together.
  • Take line 17 on its own. "Petersburg is Vladimir Putin's home city" is short enough to repeat five times in a row. Use the repeats to lock in the falling intonation that closes a news sentence.
  • Line 22 switches to a quoted official. Shadow this line separately from the narrator lines around it: the register and the pace both change, and that shift is worth hearing on its own before you blend it back in.
  • Once lines 1 to 22 feel steady, run the whole opening straight through with no pauses. That is the real test of whether you can speak english fluently at news speed, not just repeat isolated lines in isolation.
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