Best Pearl Impact Media Podcasts (2025)

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Spinning Russia’s military mishaps. State broadcasters emphasize rescue heroics while minimizing Ukrainian strikes that exposed strategic airfields’ vulnerability

20m ago

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The Ostankino television and radio tower in Moscow Russia’s major news networks faced a considerable challenge covering events from the May 31–June 1 weekend, which included train derailments in two regions and drone strikes on strategic warplanes at multiple airfields. Meduza examines the narratives that dominated the airwaves as broadcasters devi…

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Russian authorities blame bridge collapses on ‘terrorists’ working for ‘Kyiv regime’

2h ago

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The Russian Investigative Committee has classified the explosions that allegedly caused bridges to collapse in the Bryansk and Kursk regions this weekend as acts of terrorism. “It’s clear that the terrorists, acting on the orders of the Kyiv regime, planned everything with precision to ensure their attacks would target hundreds of civilians,” said …

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The impact of ‘Spiderweb’. Ukraine’s massive drone attack on Russian air bases was a blow to the Kremlin’s pride — but what does it mean for the war?

3h ago

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Drones used during by the SBU in its “Spiderweb” operation The Ukrainian Security Service’s (SBU) “Spiderweb” operation, which targeted Russian air bases in five regions on Sunday, was expertly executed and dealt a major blow to the Kremlin’s pride — but it’s not likely to have any real impact on the course of the war. It’s not clear yet how many a…

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Ukraine’s Security Service says it carried out underwater attack to blow up Crimean Bridge supports

3h ago

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On Tuesday, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said it had carried out an operation to blow up the underwater supports of the Crimean Bridge. While the SBU claimed the bridge was in “critical condition,” traffic was only suspended briefly before being restored — until Russian Telegram channels reported a second suspension and signs of a renewed attac…

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Russia strikes central Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, killing at least three and injuring over a dozen

8h ago

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Update: Ukraine’s State Emergency Service later clarified that three people were killed and 16 others injured in the strike. Russian forces struck central Sumy, a city in northeastern Ukraine, killing at least two people and injuring about 20 others, according to local authorities. The attack involved multiple rocket launch systems, officials said,…

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Kremlin ‘angry and alarmed’ after Ukrainian ‘Spiderweb’ drone operation hits Russian air bases — Bloomberg

9h ago

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The Ukrainian drone attack on Russian air bases, carried out as part of operation “Spiderweb,” left the Kremlin “angry and alarmed” over the unexpected vulnerability of its air fleet far from the front lines, Bloomberg reported, citing sources in Moscow. Ukrainian officials claimed that 41 aircraft were damaged in the operation. A Bloomberg source …

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Zelensky’s chief of staff lands in U.S. as part of Ukrainian delegation

9h ago

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Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, has arrived in the United States as part of a Ukrainian delegation. The delegation is led by Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, Yermak said. It also includes representatives from the Defense Ministry and the president’s office. “We will actively p…

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Russian strikes hit multiple Ukrainian regions overnight, injuring civilians

10h ago

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Russian forces carried out overnight strikes on several regions of Ukraine, including Odesa and Chernihiv, leaving several people injured, according to regional officials. In the city of Odesa, four people were injured, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. The regional governor, Oleh Kiper, later said five people had been wounded. Reside…

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Untangling Operation ‘Spiderweb’. Arms control expert Pavel Podvig explains what Ukraine’s surprise drone strikes reveal about Russia’s strategic nuclear forces

18h ago

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Drones used in Ukraine’s Operation “Spiderweb” On June 1, Ukraine attacked Russian military airfields with hundreds of drones as part of Operation “Spiderweb.” According to Ukrainian media reports, the drones hit at least four different airfields, striking targets in the Irkutsk, Murmansk, Ryazan, and Ivanovo regions. Kyiv claims to have hit 41 str…

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Still no ceasefire. Russia and Ukraine swap peace memos and agree to new prisoner exchange in second round of Istanbul talks

19h ago

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Russia and Ukraine agreed to hold another prisoner exchange and return the bodies of thousands of fallen soldiers during peace talks on Monday in Istanbul. The negotiations, which lasted about an hour and took place behind closed doors, marked the second round of direct talks between the two sides since March 2022. The delegations also exchanged me…

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Russia’s ‘Pearl Harbor’. How pro-war Telegram channels are reacting to Ukraine’s drone attack on Russian air bases

1d ago

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A Ukrainian drone strikes a Russian plane during Ukraine’s ‘Spiderweb’ operation Over the weekend, Ukraine’s Security Service conducted a massive, sophisticated drone attack targeting airfields in five regions of Russia. According to the agency, “Operation Spiderweb” destroyed 41 aircraft (though these numbers haven’t been independently confirmed).…

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Ukraine gives Russia list of children to be returned at Istanbul talks

1d ago

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Delegations from Ukraine and Russia met in Istanbul on Monday for their second round of direct negotiations in three weeks. As in the previous meeting, held on May 16, the Russian side was led by presidential advisor Vladimir Medinsky. Ukraine’s delegation was headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. There were some changes in the Ukrainian team t…

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Ukraine says it destroyed dozens of Russian warplanes in its unprecedented ‘Spiderweb’ operation. Here’s what the footage shows.

1d ago

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On Sunday, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) carried out an unprecedented attack on military airfields in regions across Russia. The operation reportedly involved smuggling drones into the country and then launching them from trucks parked along highways. The SBU claims it destroyed more than 40 Russian warplanes. This figure has not been independen…

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Ukrainian Ground Forces commander resigns after deadly Russian strike on training camp

1d ago

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Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi announced on Sunday that he had submitted his resignation as commander of Ukraine’s Ground Forces. “This is a deliberate decision, driven by my personal sense of responsibility for the tragedy at the 239th training ground, which claimed the lives of our soldiers,” he wrote in a post on Facebook. Earlier in the day, t…

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Russia says it downed more than 160 drones on Sunday night, less than a day after Ukraine’s ‘Spiderweb’ operation

1d ago

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The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down more than 160 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory on Sunday night. According to military officials, 57 drones were intercepted over the Kursk region, 31 over the Belgorod region, 27 over the Lipetsk region, 16 over the Voronezh region, and 11 each over the Bryansk and Ryazan regions. …

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Ukrainian delegation arrives in Istanbul for second round of talks with Russia

1d ago

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A Ukrainian delegation has arrived in Istanbul, where talks with Russia are scheduled to begin today, Suspilne reported, citing Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi. As in the previous round of negotiations held on May 16, the Ukrainian delegation is led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. Suspilne noted that the composition of the Ukrainian…

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A third of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers, worth $7 billion, hit in Ukrainian drone operation, SBU says

1d ago

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In a statement confirming a special operation on Sunday that targeted airfields used by Russian strategic bombers, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said it had hit a third of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers. “Seven billion U.S. dollars — that is the estimated value of the enemy’s strategic aviation assets struck today as a result of the …

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Ukraine says it destroyed over 40 military aircraft in major attack on airfields across Russia

2d ago

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On Sunday, Ukraine’s Security Service carried out a large-scale attack on military airfields across Russia that it claims destroyed more than 40 warplanes. The operation, which reportedly took over a year and a half to plan, is said to have used drones launched from trucks deep inside Russian territory to strike air bases far from the border — incl…

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Drones strike Siberia for first time in what Ukrainian media say is an SBU operation targeting Russian military aircraft

2d ago

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The latest on the attack Ukraine says it destroyed over 40 military aircraft in major attack on airfields across Russia Residents of Russia’s Irkutsk region, in Siberia, have reported the first drone attack there since the start of the full-scale war, with drones spotted in the region’s Usolsky District, according to the news outlets 7×7 and Mediaz…

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At least seven dead after explosions cause two bridges to collapse in Russian regions bordering Ukraine, authorities say

2d ago

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The collapsed bridge in the Bryansk region. June 1, 2025. At least two bridges have collapsed in Russian regions bordering Ukraine over the past 24 hours, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens more, according to local authorities. In the Bryansk region, a road bridge collapsed onto a passenger train, causing it to derail. Shortly afterw…

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At least seven killed in Russian train derailment amid unverified reports of explosion

3d ago

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At least seven people have been reported dead in a derailment of a Moscow-bound passenger train in Russia’s Bryansk region. Another 30, including two children, have been hospitalized, according to Governor Alexander Bogomaz. The incident occurred near the town of Vygonichi, where a highway bridge reportedly collapsed onto the passing train. In a st…

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A nationwide vigilante network. How police backing and holy blessings helped Russkaya Obshchina become Russia’s largest far-right group

4d ago

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Emboldened by support from senior law enforcement officials and a political climate more hospitable to xenophobic violence, far-right activists from “Russkaya Obshchina” (Russian Community) are increasingly involved in attacks, vigilante raids, and coordinated harassment. They typically target migrants from nations to the south or even compatriots …

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Mobile network provider terminates service for Russian advocacy group Nasiliu.Net, crashing emergency helpline for domestic violence victims

4d ago

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The Russian advocacy group Nasiliu.Net (No to Violence) reported on May 30 that its mobile network operator suddenly terminated its service, crashing an emergency helpline available to domestic violence victims. “Previously, the service did not warn us about problems related to our ‘foreign agent’ status, which we have been forced to have since 202…

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Russian teen who quoted Ukrainian poet in criminal trial closing statement faces new prosecution

4d ago

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On April 18, a Russian court sentenced 19-year-old activist Darya Kozyreva to two years and eight months in prison for repeatedly “discrediting” the Russian army. This week, a St. Petersburg court registered a new case against Kozyreva based on her closing statement at her previous trial. In that statement, she quoted a poem in Ukrainian by Taras S…

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Russia’s U.N. representative says halting Western weapons supplies and ending Ukraine’s draft are necessary for any ceasefire deal

4d ago

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As Ukrainian officials wait for a promised memorandum on Russia’s vision for a peace treaty, Russia's permanent representative to the U.N., Vasily Nebenzya, told the U.N. Security Council on May 30 that Moscow’s “minimum” terms for a ceasefire deal are that “Western countries cease supplying weapons to the Kyiv regime” and that Ukraine end its mili…

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Ukrainian intelligence behind explosions at Russian naval base in Vladivostok, media report

4d ago

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Explosions in the Russian city of Vladivostok on Friday morning were the result of a “successful operation” by Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, according to RBC-Ukraine, UNIAN, and Hromadske, all of which cited informed sources. The sources said two blasts occurred in Desantnaya Bay, near the base of the 47th Separate Air Assault Battalion, …

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Ukraine says it’s ready for another round of talks — but it’s still waiting for the ceasefire memo Russia promised

4d ago

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Russia’s delegation addresses the media following talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 16. On May 19, three days after Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Istanbul for their first direct talks in over three years, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone call. Afterwards, Putin announced that Moscow was “r…

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Mercenaries, missionaries, and mining. As local leaders decry Western neocolonialism, Russia is carving out its own sphere of influence in Africa

4d ago

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Demonstrators in the Democratic Republic of the Congo protest a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2023, using Russian flags and portraits of Vladimir Putin as protest symbols Moscow’s foreign policy has zeroed in on Africa in recent years. The shift is partially due to commercial interests, including access to resources like gold, uraniu…

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U.S. special envoy Keith Kellogg says Russia’s concerns about potential NATO expansion are ‘fair’

4d ago

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The United States considers Russia’s concerns about NATO’s potential eastward expansion to be “fair,” U.S. presidential envoy Keith Kellogg said in an interview with ABC News on Thursday. “It’s a fair concern. We’ve said that repeatedly. We’ve said that, to us, Ukraine coming into NATO is not on the table,” Kellogg said. According to him, at least …

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Overnight Russian missile and drone attacks injure civilians in multiple Ukrainian regions

4d ago

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Russian forces carried out a large-scale missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on Thursday night, according to local authorities and Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. In Kharkiv’s Slobidskyi district, a Russian strike sparked a fire at a municipal transport agency. One company building and a trolleybus caught fire, and 38 vehicles b…

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EP 5: Bethany Wiggin, My Climate Story, on embracing all forms of storytelling 27:52

7d ago27:52

27:52

A few weeks back, I read about the Climate Storytellers Summit, bringing in fascinating individuals doing critical storytelling work on maybe the most critical issue of our lives. The summit platformed so many voices, and one of the leaders behind it is my guest on this episode: Bethany Wiggin, co-founder of the University of Pennsylvania’s Program…

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EP 4: Lydia Storie, Caring Across Generations, on carving attention for your mission 28:23

1M ago28:23

28:23

Each episode I chat with a nonprofit leader with a defined, thoughtful, and successful approach to telling their organization’s story. We are now into Episode 4, and unlike Episodes 1 thru 3, I had not met the person I was interviewing until a few minutes before our conversation. But I’d worked with her organization on one of the most important pro…

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EP 3: Jeronica Harts, Purpose Built Schools Atlanta, on embracing authenticity in nonprofit storytelling 30:22

3M ago30:22

30:22

I got the chance to know this guest late last year when I collaborated with her and her organization on an impact video. We hit it off quickly over a shared love of a few select storytelling projects and a similar outlook on embracing authenticity when telling your own story. That’s the topic for Episode 3 of DOT ORG. And she is my guest: Jeronica …

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EP 2: Andreas Karelas, RE-volv, on storytelling as the mission 29:00

4M ago29:00

29:00

Recently I worked with a client that provides grants and guidance for nonprofits in the climate space, particularly solar and clean energy. They wanted a video that spotlighted several of their grantees, which – in one case – sent me on a cross-country trip to the Bay Area to meet a truly impressive nonprofit with an equally impressive leader. He i…

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EP 1: Brent Pease, The Kyle Pease Foundation, on investing in visual storytelling 29:16

5M ago29:16

29:16

I was a broadcast journalist locally and nationally for 20 years. Now I run Pearl Impact Media. I help nonprofits and purpose-driven businesses raise money, raise awareness, and separate themselves from the rest through meaningful, memorable, and affordable video storytelling. That’s my mission. This podcast. is an offshoot of that mission. Each ep…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Pearl Impact Media Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen