Ukraine's 'Operation Spider's Web'

Pascale Harter introduces stories from Ukraine, Chile, Indonesia and Angola

Ukraine’s audacious drone raid on Russian airbases last weekend was undoubtedly bold and innovative. Operation ‘Spider’s Web’ had been 18 months in the planning, and caused huge damage to Russia's bomber fleet. But as Paul Adams heard, civilians in Kyiv were uneasy about celebrating its success prematurely - and still fearful of how Russia might respond.

During the rule of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 80s, thousands of babies were illegally kidnapped from poor and marginalised women. Many of them were adopted by couples abroad. Today, some of these ‘stolen children’ are trying to trace and contact their birth families. In Santiago, Jane Chambers saw one mother and daughter reconnect.

The coral reefs of Raja Ampat in Indonesia are among the most beautiful on Earth, but last year they suffered a mass bleaching event which has left reefs in some regions looking like white desert plains, devoid of colour. Mark Stratton reports from West Papua where locals are worried that over-tourism is making the reefs even more vulnerable to the damage done by warming seas.

And Rob Crossan gets an insight into Angola's money worries - at the country's Currency Museum, in the capital, Luanda.

(Image: Aftermath of a drone strike at Belaya Airbase, central Russia. Credit: Satellite image, 2025 Maxar Technologies/Getty)