VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISE
INCLUDES GRAPHIC AND VIOLENT CONTENT THAT SOME VIEWERS MAY FIND DISTURBING
[ Andrey ]I go to the front line, where people get killed
[ Andrey ]8 years, I'm used to it
[ Andrey ]Explosion! Look!
[ Andrey ]Smoke! That was close!
[ Andrey ]F***, a blast!
[ Andrey ]There, look! Explosion!
[ Andrey ]Well, you saw it for yourself
[ Andrey ]It blew up here! A shell from a D-30 cannon.
[ Andrey ]Just 50 m away... Thank God the shrapnel didn't get us. Let's go.
DONBASS UNDER FIRE
[ VO ]Since the breakaway of the Donetsk People's Republic, war has been raging in Donbass.
[ VO ] Ukrainian artillery has been shelling the region's civilian towns and mining villages there.
[ ELENA PAVLICHENKO, DONETSK RESIDENT, DPR ] We can't wait for our boys to come here and kick out those Ukrainians!
[ VO ]On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation.
[ VO ]Its goal is to free Ukraine from ultra-nationalist units.
[ Woman 1 ] The 'Azov'!
THE ‘AZOV’ REGIMENT – A RADICAL RIGHT-WING UNIT WITHIN THE UKRAINIAN
NATIONAL GUARD, RECOGNISED AS EXTREMIST AND BANNED IN RUSSIA
[ MARIUPOL RESIDENT, DPR ] I don't know how many there were, but 'Azov' took 250 of ours.
[ Woman ] Ordinary people. They lined them up, then followed and shot at them from the ground floors.
[ Woman 2 ] What are they doing? Making a human shield!
[ KALINOVKA RESIDENT, DPR ] They hide behind old men! Idiots!
[ Woman 2 ] Damned Ukraine!
[ Woman 2 ] It makes me so angry!
[ Woman 3 ] It was just unbearable! Swine! Ba****ds!
[ MARIUPOL RESIDENT, DPR ] You want to fight?! Go to the field and fight there! Why hide like rats?!
[ VO ]Every day, volunteer Andrey Lysenko and his son Vladislav buy groceries using money donated by his.
subscribers. They pack the groceries at the check-out and deliver them to where only they dare to venture.
[ Andrey ]We're going to Trudovskie, it's constantly shelled. We'll take all this to the people there.
[ Andrey ]Ukraine's army is behind the trees in Maryinka.
[ Andrey ]We notice every rustle, it’s where shells come from
[ GEO ]TRUDOVSKIE, DONETSK SUBURBS, DPR
[ Andrey ]Dispatch!
Look, it's about to hit, right?
[ Elena ]Yes, it's a Grad.
[ Woman 4 ] It's a Grad. [ Woman 5 ] Yes, a Grad.
[ ANDREY LYSENKO, VOLUNTEER, DPR ] When you help people,
they don't just need the food that you bring them to survive,
more than that, they need hope.
[ Andrey ]When you bring the food packs or some medicine or something,
it's hope that they're not forgotten
[ Andrey ]They're remembered
[ Andrey ]That people are trying to help, and that gives them hope.
[ Andrey ]Take this food! There are some sweets there for you too.
[ Woman 6 ] Thank the gentleman
GORNYAK, DONETSK SUBURBS, DPR
[ Andrey ]Wow! It's coming! Go quickly, it's coming down somewhere close!
[ Boy ]Let's go, let's go home!
[ Woman 7 ] Thank you so much!
[ Andrey ]Don't cry!
[ Woman 7 ] How can I not?! I have 4 hungry grandchildren! Granny is the only one to feed them!
[ Woman 7 ] How can I not cry?!
[ Woman 7 ] You think this is all for me? It's for my grandkids!
[ Andrey ]Damn! Explosions! So, go on, get inside quick!
[ VLADISLAV LYSENKO ANDREY’S SON ] I have a well-trained ear, now I know that even if they shoot from far away,
it might still land here, close to you.
[ GEO ]TRUDOVSKIE, DONETSK SUBURBS, DPR
[ Andrey ]Shells! One just hit Aleksandrovka here! And behind us in Petrovka.
[ VO ]Elena Pavlichenko is one of the groceries’ recipients. She ran here to pick.
up her bags and then dashed straight back home, to the safety of her cellar.
[ Elena ]We go and hide in the cellar, there's no time to get to the neighbors.
[ Elena ]This is our half, that's our neighbor’s.
[ Elena ]But now it's all one, I wonder how we'll make it work!
[ Elena ]Here's where I live.
[ Elena ]I said, this is all that's left, where else can we live?
[ Elena ] Somehow, we survive, we carry on.
[ Elena ]All we can do is cry and hope for the best. We've been waiting for better since 2014!
[ Andrey ]Shells are flying right over us.
[ Andrey ]We're in Trudovskie, near the front, and somewhere near Pet... listen!
[ Andrey ]Fire from the Ukrainian side.
[ Andrey ]Where will it go?
[ Andrey ]It's very uneasy now, we hid behind those houses.
[ Andrey ]There!
[ Andrey ]It landed quite close.
[ VO ]While Elena was carrying her groceries home, the shelling started.
[ Andrey ]We can't go, it's all flying over us.
[ Andrey ]We can't use the road because of the shelling.
[ Vlad ]I've helped Dad for some time, since late 2015.
[ Vlad ]I was near a car, and a machine gun started up.
[ Vlad ]I was sixteen at the time.
[ Vlad ]I heard bullets flying very close to me.
[ Vlad ]In the corner of my eye, I saw a bullet hit a gate.
[ Vlad ]Then, of course, I was quite stressed.
[ Vlad ]It took a day to recover, but after that,
[ Vlad ]I guess you can say, you start to get used to it.
[ Vlad ]I mean, the more we travelled, the less scared I became.
[ Andrey ]Now we'll take some secret roads.
[ Andrey ]There's no one and nothing.
[ Andrey ]We'll try to make it.
[ Andrey ]If we succeed...
that means we'll live!
[ Andrey ]Only a fool isn't scared.
[ Andrey ]Naturally, every time shelling or something starts, you get scared.
[ Andrey ]Here are dispatches!
[ Andrey ]We must go through now, guys.
[ Andrey ]Explosions heading this way! Now!
[ Andrey ]I open the window to hear the whistle, to know where it's going,
to navigate the situation.
[ Andrey ]Because it's all very sad.
[ Andrey ] Let's go! [ Man ] What is it Andrey?
[ Andrey ]A Tochka-U tactical missile hit in Donetsk
[ VO ]After escaping one shelling, Andrey rushes to another…
DONETSK AFTER UKRAINIAN MISSILE ATTACK MARCH 14, 2022
[ VO ]Ukrainian artillery hit Donetsk with a “Tochka U” rocket equipped with cluster munitions banned by
international convention. 23 people died and 37 were wounded. All were civilians: bus passengers and pedestrians.
[ Basurin ]The Ukrainians launched a Tochka-U cluster-type missile
[ EDUARD BASURIN, SPOKESMAN, DPR MILITARY COMMAND ] Air defense shut it down, but it lost a cluster unit,
which caused many civilian casualties in the city center.
[ VO ]This woman came looking for her husband. He’d gone out, saying he’d be back soon. She wasn’t allowed to.
cross the police line. So, she called her husband. And a phone rang in one of the dead people’s pockets.
[ Woman 8 ] It's Lyonya! [ Man 1 ] It's his ringtone
[ Woman 9 ] The thing is, I can't hear it ringing and the subscriber is unavailable.
[ Man 2 ] Him? [ Woman 9 ] Yes, it's him.
[ Man 2 ] A passport... Open it, we'll see
[ Woman 9 ] Sergienko.
[ VO ]During battles with Donbass defenders, the nationalists and the Ukrainian military, thousands of
families lost loved ones. Many were killed. Some managed to leave, but then couldn’t be contacted.
[ VO ]For many, the most important thing now is to find their loved ones: parents, children and relatives!
[ MARIUPOL RESIDENT, DPR ] We don't know where our grandchild, daughter, or son-in-law are, nothing
[ Man 3 ] They took the car and left.
[ Woman 10 ] We know nothing about each other.
[ KALINOVKA RESIDENT, DPR ] Some live, some must think we're dead.
[ Woman 10 ] We think… Well, don't think anyone died.
[ Woman 10 ] We only think the best, that they all made it!
[ OLGA DUMBASAR DOKUCHAEVSK RESIDENT, DPR ] February 24th was the last day I spoke to my sister, who's in Volnovakha.
[ Olga ]We don't know where, or how to find them.
[ IVAN DUMBASAR DOKUCHAEVSK RESIDENT, DPR ] We want to know, to go there and find out.
[ VO ]Olga and her husband Ivan live in Dokuchaevsk. Since 2014 they’ve been citizens of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
[ VO ]It’s only 25 kilometers from Dokuchaevsk to Volnovakha, which was on the Ukrainian side, but they rarely saw.
their relatives. The front line separated them. On March 11, 2022, Volnovakha ceased to be Ukrainian. There was
fighting in the city and whole streets were destroyed. There’s been no news from her sister. So, they pray for a miracle.
[ Olga ]It's awfully scary.
[ Olga ]It was a city.
[ Olga ]Just ruins now [ Ivan ] Left, on the left!
[ Ivan ]Left, and you can stop here. Here!
[ Ivan ]Oh gosh!
[ Olga ]Oh! Someone's in the yard!
[ VO ]The first-person Olga saw was her sister’s husband.
[ Olga ]And where's Lyuda? [ Gena ]There!
[ Olga ]You're frozen!
DISABLED SENIORS INSIDE
[ Gena ]No one's left! I'm the last one in the area.
[ Ivan ]Let's go! [ Gena ] Where?
[ Ivan ]To our place [ Gena ]Really?
[ Olga ]This is a blessing!
[ Olga ]Hush! Don't cry! Everything's okay, Lyuda!
[ LYUDMILA CHERNIKOVA, OLGA’S SISTER ] The house was shaking and bouncing!
[ Gena ] They shot through the window The bullet hit the kettle.
[ GENNADY CHERNIKOV, OLGA’S BROTHER-IN-LAW ] See, here, and I was sitting right there
[ Luda ]It exploded right in the well.
[ Luda ]All 3 windows in the big room were blown out.
[ Luda ]The glass rained down on my head.
[ Luda ]For what?
[ Luda ]My God! I was so waiting for you! Oh God! Thank you for coming!
[ Gena ]They were shelling day and night!
[ Luda ]I've been praying to that icon nonstop.
[ Luda ]Maybe it helped.
[ Gena ]There's no one around, I'm here alone.
[ VO ] Everything’s in ruins, but her sister refused to leave the house.
[ Luda ]No, this is my yard.
[ Luda ]I know everything here by touch...
where to turn right or left.
[ Olga ]But we actually came to take you away, Lyuda.
[ Luda ]No, no.
[ Luda ]Where would we go?
[ Luda ]We only hope to rebuild it to at least some extent.
[ Gena ]What? Just leave? No way!
[ Gena ]That's it! Goodbye! Thanks for coming!
[ Gena ]Goodbye!
[ Andrey ]We're going to Elenovka, where a residential area was shelled an hour ago
[ Andrey ]We'll go there, bring some food, and see what's going on.
[ Woman 11 ] This is how we live! Before this, a shell hit my roof.
[ GEO ]ELENOVKA, DPR
[ Woman 11 ] Half of its gone.
[ Woman 11 ] Right over there [ Man 4 ] What's with that roof?
[ Woman 11 ] The power lines on that roof are down.
[ Andrey ]It's very dangerous here, let's do this quickly.
[ Woman 12 ] Agreed, come here.
[ Woman 13 ] Thank you all for your help.
[ Andrey ]A 120 mm shell landed here, I guess you saw it all.
[ Woman ]You come and help us.
[ Vlad ]1 - 1.5 hours ago.
[ ELENOVKA RESIDENT, DPR ] No power, no water, you do what you can.
[ Woman ]They hit the water tank They hit the water tank.
[ Woman ]At least they brought some technical water.
[ Woman ]Well, in short, it's scary.
[ Woman ]But we'll manage somehow.
[ Woman ]We'll wait for victory.
[ Woman ]There's no other option, we'll wait for victory.
[ Woman ]At least we're alive! Don't break my crutches!
[ OKSANA PARFILKINA VOLNOVAKHA RESIDENT, DPR ] Hang in there! We're all alive and well! Our parents are with us.
[ Oksana ]We eat and cook outside.
[ Oksana ]Everyone's alive! You hang in there!
[ Oksana ]God grant we meet, or maybe speak by phone.
[ Oksana ]Hang in there!
[ Andrey ]Maybe having dogs is what saved my life.
[ Andrey ]I'm home in the morning and evening to walk the dogs,
so, I'm not out during heavy shelling because I have responsibilities,
so, I'm still alive.
[ Andrey ]I have to eat, smoke, and drink coffee without stopping.
[ ANDREY LYSENKO VOLUNTEER, DPR ] I can even sleep a bit behind the wheel
[ Andrey ]However it works out.
[ Andrey ]We're now on our way to Grabari, it's very dangerous there.
[ GEO ]GRABARI, DPR
[ Woman ]Lera, get some soap!
[ Andrey ]Hold on! Here's some rice and buckwheat that they brought from Russia.
[ Andrey ]It's relatively quiet today.
[ Andrey ]I don't know why, but right now we can socialize freely without listening for anything.
[ Andrey ]It's more or less calm.
[ Andrey ]Who didn't get soap?
[ Andrey ]In August of 2014, Krasnoflotskaya Street was heavily shelled.
[ Andrey ]It was a horrible scene.
[ Andrey ]A girl about twelve years old was lying near a tree.
[ Andrey ]The doctors were doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and other things.
[ Andrey ]She was blinking.
[ Andrey ]And I looked at her, and she looked at me, and then…
her pupils contracted, and the doctors said, 'That's it!'
[ Andrey ]And…
I realized the last thing she saw in her life was my face.
[ Andrey ]Eventually, I decided I'd exclusively help people survive on the front line.
[ Milana ]A girl.
[ Milana ]Mashka.
[ Vika ] Milana is helping me pack food for granny - Yeah.
[ Vika ] Now, we'll go bring granny some tasty things [ Milana ] Yeah
VIKTORIA FORKAVETS, KHARTSYZSK, RESIDENT, DPR ] We can't reach her.
[ Vika ] We've been told she's hiding in a cellar with neighbors,
but we haven't seen her.
[ MILANA FORKAVETS, NATALYA’S GRANDDAUGHTER ] I feel sorry for granny.
[ Milana ]I want her to come see us…
very much!
[ Vika ] OK, bye! [ Milana ]Bye!
[ Vika ]I'll return with granny, lock the door.
[ VO ] Viktoria Forkavets lives in Khartsyzsk, in the Donestk republic. She is going to Volnovakha, now part of the DPR.
[ Vika ]I can't believe I'm going home after all these years.
[ Vika ]My heart is pounding.
[ VO ]Viktoria promised her daughter that she’d bring her granny.
home, but she doesn’t even know if she’s alive. She can only hope.
[ Vika ]It's been two years since I've seen my mum.
[ Vika ]What a nightmare!
[ Vika ]It's unrecognizable.
[ GEO ]VOLNOVAKHA, DPR
[ Vika ]I can see our building's roof is damaged.
[ Vika ]That's our balcony, the windows are blown out.
[ Vika ]Seems Mum's covered the balcony.
[ Vika ]Pull up there, by the first entrance.
[ Vika ]I'm shaking all over.
[ Vika ]Now, I need to find her.
[ Vika ]
[ Vika ]If only she was home!
[ Vika ]Where is she?
[ Vika ]I don't know where to look.
[ Vika ]Cellar's locked.
[ Vika ]Maybe behind the house?
[ Vika ]I'll go knock again, maybe she's not answering the door.
[ Vika ]If I shout, 'Mama', maybe she will.
[ Vika ]Mama!
[ Vika ]No, she's not in.
[ Vika ]She isn't home.
[ Vika ]She's not here.
[ Vika ]We lost contact.
[ Vika ]Last time she texted me: 'Everything will be OK, let's keep in touch'.
[ Vika ]That's what Mama wrote.
[ Vika ]My sister lives here.
[ Vika ] We'll look for Mum here.
[ Vika ]Her windows are broken too.
[ Woman ]We cook on a fire and still live in the cellar.
[ Vika ]It's very cold in the flats [ Woman ] Very cold!
[ Woman ]There are about 15 people left in the house.
[ Vika ] Have you seen Natasha Angeleva here? [ Woman ] No.
[ Vika ]Is my sister's flat open? [ Woman ]It's been broken into.
[ Vika ]I'm in shock!
[ VOLNOVAKHA RESIDENT, DPR ] We're also in shock, but we hope things will turn out OK.
[ Woman ]Of course they will.
[ Woman ]All will be fixed and we'll live on, we're optimists.
[ Woman ]A shell flew in.
[ SVETLANA MURSALOVA VOLNOVAKHA RESIDENT, DPR ] There was a Ukrainian tank over there.
[ Woman ]It drove in between the fir trees and fired directly at Volnovakha's center
[ Woman ]It was the Nazis.
[ VO ]Ukrainian prisoners of war: infantry, reconnaissance, sappers. Not a single.
one admits to shooting civilians, but once captured, they condemn the war.
[ Oleg ]And Kiev? What about Kiev?
[ OLEG KASIANENKO, LIEUTENANT COLONEL, UAF PRISONER OF WAR ] War is a terrible thing, really terrible!
[ Oleg ]So many civilians have died.
[ Oleg ]Unjustifiable casualties!
[ Oleg ]I don't know how to describe it.
[ Oleg ]It's been hell!
[ Oleg ]This bloodbath should never have happened.
[ Oleg ]Never!
[ TARAS RADCHENKO, HEAD OF INTELLIGENCE, AIDAR BATTALION, UAF PRISONER OF WAR ] War reduces us all to the level of animals,
and we stop being human.
[ DMITRY KORNYUKHIN, ENGINEERING COMPANY COMMANDER UAF MECHANIZED BRIGADE
PRISONER OF WAR ] Had I known what was going to happen, I'd never have joined up.
[ Vika ]Aunt Marina!
[ Vika ]Mum, hi! I'll be there in 15 minutes.
[ Vika ]I've been to your place, but you weren't in.
[ Vika ]I'll be there with you soon, just wait a little!
[ Vika ]Let's go, we're here again!
[ VO ]After looking for her mother in Volnovakha for over an hour, Viktoria finally finds her alive!
[ Vika ] Mum! Mum! [ Natalya ] I'm OK, I'm alive.
[ Vika ]Come with me! - No, no, no!
[ Vika ]Mum...
[ Natalya ]The windows there are broken, I feed the cats under fire.
[ Vika ]She'll kill me, I've come for you.
[ NATALYA ANGELEVA, VIKTORIA’S MOTHER ] No! I feed the cats when they're bombarding us...
and there's a bird in the kitchen.
[ Vika ] You sleep here? [ Natalya ] Here, yes.
[ Natalya ]I spent 18 days in the cellar.
[ Natalya ]Now I sleep here, and cover myself with 3 blankets.
[ Vika ] Why is flight mode on? Tell me! [ Natalya ]They say it saves the battery.
[ Vika ]So that's why we can't reach you! Let's go outside, it's warmer there.
[ Natalya ]I'll come later, there's work to be done.
[ Natalya ]I have the cats and the bird, I won't abandon them.
[ Natalya ]I feed them under fire, so, I can't abandon them.
[ Natalya ] It's so cold in the flat... below zero! - Yes, it's minus 2.
[ Vika ]Do you cook for yourself?
[ Natalya ]I do, I have everything I need.
[ Natalya ]I cook for myself and the cats.
[ Natalya ]I have food.
[ Natalya ]I cook a bunch and it lasts 3 days.
[ Natalya ]Then I only have to heat it up.
[ Woman ]We're making Ukrainian borsch.
[ VOLNOVAKHA RESIDENT, DPR ] I'm afraid to go out
[ Woman ]There could be a mine or something else.
[ Vika ] Let's go, Mum, please! [ Natalya ]Well, I don't know…
[ Vika ]Let's go, my girl! Let's go... Let's go!
[ Vika ]Please...
[ Vika ] Let's go... I love you so much. [ Natalya ]OK, let's go!
[ Vika ]OK, let's get ready.
[ VO ]Viktoria kept her promise to her daughter. She came back with her grandmother.
[ Natalya ]I missed you so much!
SOLOVYANENKO OPERA AND BALLET THEATRE, DONETSK, DPR
[ Viktoria ]No matter what happens to us outside the theatre,
[ Viktoria ]I think it's important to keep…
fairy tales, love, faith, and hope alive in ourselves.
[ VIKTORIA GUBRIY, FIRST SOLOIST DONETSK OPERA AND BALLET THEATRE ] Sounds like big words, but…
what else can help and sustain us?
[ Viktoria ]We should remain human beings in any situation.
ROMEO AND JULIET TRAVIATA
WE WON IN 1943, WE’LL WIN AGAIN NOW!
STAND UP FOR OUR MOTHERLAND!
CONTACT RECRUITMENT CENTRES
[ Leo ]Some of our dancers and musicians volunteered and are now on the front line.
[ Leo ]We must all unite now and put our differences aside.
[ LEONID EISMONT CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR DONETSK OPERA AND BALLET THEATRE ] We must unite as one...
to end this war and be victorious.
[ Leo ]We're all Russian
[ LIDIA SYLKA VOLNOVAKHA RESIDENT, DPR ] When we're hit, we rise up!
[ Lida ]Hit us again, and we rise once more because we're Russian!