The 25-year-old Ukrainian war veteran who became a bestselling writer

Artur Dron is a rising star of Ukrainian literature. After joining the army aged 22, he spent lulls in fighting with Russia composing poetry. His book of prose, Hemingway Knows Nothing, was an instant bestseller in Ukraine and is now being published in English. He speaks to Weekend about his new work, life on the front and his recovery from injury sustained in battle.

Also on the programme: voters head to the polls in German state elections that could further endanger Friedrich Merz’s position as Chancellor; and a MP from Poland's ruling party tells us about increasing Russian aggression on Nato's eastern flank.

Presenter Julian Worricker discusses these stories and more with panellists Luke Harding, British author and The Guardian's senior international correspondent, and Sasha Dovzhyk, Ukrainian author and founder of Index, a research organisation documenting people's experiences of war in Ukraine.

(Photo: Artur Dron in the BBC Weekend studio. Credit: Albana Kasapi)