[GEO] DONETSK, UKRAINE, JULY 2013
[GEO] KIEV, UKRAINE FEBRUARY 2014
[GEO] DONETSK PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC, MARCH 2022
[GEO] MOSCOW, RUSSIA JUNE 2022
[title] POETS OF THE FRONTLINE
[Aleksandr] Shaven heads bald as a sheet
ALEKSANDR PELEVIN, POET
[Aleksandr] As if in '45 in the spring
[Aleksandr] Down on Sudoplatov Street
[Aleksandr] We step to a Wagnerian ring
[Anna] Brothers and sisters, The burnt-out generation!
ANNA DOLGAREVA, POET, JOURNALIST
[Anna] They hang up Lenin here, Bandera toppled from his station
[Anna] Time is short, night is at hand…
[Anna] Endure, Mother Russia, My dearest Motherland
[Zveroboi] My Motherland is returning
ZVEROBOI, ROCK BAND
[Zveroboi] My Motherland…
is returning!
[GEO] LUGANSK, LPR JUNE 2022
[Anna] Over the rise, across the water, Blast and boom!
[Anna] Such hills and rivers, An abundant land
[Anna] In Lugansk, acacia trees are in bloom,
[Anna] Ksyusha pushes baby in the pram
[Anna] I'm always eager to come back here. I remember that when
we lived here, I rented a 2-room flat. I had a very modest room
with Soviet-style decor: old furniture and small beds
[Anna] 2015 was, of course, an horrendous year for me
[Anna] But it's like Stockholm syndrome
[Anna] I came here when my boyfriend died
[Anna] I came, hoping to die
[Anna] Even though I was then just 26 or 27,
[Anna] I felt totally lost,
as if everything was over for me in this life
[Anna] I felt no fear though
[Anna] My religion kept me from committing suicide,
but I didn't want to live. Somehow, it seemed reasonable
[Anna] Not in the sense of, 'God, I want to end my suffering!'
[Anna] That phase came after a few months
[Anna] At that point, I felt like I positively and rationally
wanted to meet my boyfriend again
[Anna] To say, 'I still have a lot to tell you'
[Anna] Emerging from an unbearable yellow light,
[Anna] They open a can of stew, Cover the table with newspapers
[Anna] Drinking by the light of chestnut candles
[Anna] Under young lime trees
[Anna] Today, they talk to the living, And walk among the living
[Konstantin] - I saw you on the web in Donetsk [Anna] - Donetsk?
[Konstantin] Yes
[Konstantin] - Somewhere in Mariupol [Anna] - Yes, I was there of course
[Anna] The last time I was there was on May 9
[Anna] There was nothing to see
[Anna] I saw how the 'Azov' men got eaten by dogs
[Konstantin] They're about to eat their corpses here too
[Anna] Why don't they bury them? It's a hot summer!
[GEO] VICINITY OF LISICHANSK, LPR JUNE 30, 2022
[Konstantin] It's not up to us to do it. We don't have time
[Anna] I write reports, stories, articles...
[Konstantin] - It's OK. We're fighting through it! [Anna] - You're great!
[Konstantin] After I talked to you that time, I was wounded 2 days later
[Konstantin] - My codename's 'Cat' [Anna] - Yes, I remember
[Anna] I met you at Toshkovka. When was it?
[Konstantin] - In May... [Anna] - End of May, 26th - 27th, yes...
[Anna] - What happened? [Konstantin] - I got hit by mortar fire
[Anna] - Was it in Toshkovka? [Konstantin] - No, we were in the green area
[Anna] - What green area? [Konstantin] - Near Gorsk
[Konstantin] We went to secure the area and got shelled. Nothing special!
[Anna] - Badly wounded? [Konstantin] - No, concussion, a minor injury
[Konstantin] - But 'Boatswain' got it bad [Anna] - What happened?
[Konstantin] He's in hospital, maybe in Lugansk
[Konstantin] - He got it in the legs [Anna] - Right
[Konstantin] He's OK. Everyone got out alive
[Anna] - How long were you hospitalised? [Konstantin] - I was in hospital for 10 days
[Anna] - Any problems afterwards? [Konstantin] - No, I'm fine
[Anna] What are you doing now? Where are you fighting?
[Konstantin] We're mopping up
[Anna] - In Belaya Gora, Lisichansk? [Konstantin] - Yes
[Anna] How is it going? Is there anyone left on the way to Lisichansk?
[Konstantin] - Yes, there are [Anna] - Like partisan units?
[Anna] - Or are they stationed there? [Konstantin] - I don't know
[Anna] - What? [Konstantin] - I said I don't know who they are
[Anna] - I mean... [Konstantin] - 'Moldovan' knows
[Konstantin] 'Moldovan', you saw them, right?
[Anna] - Had any clashes lately? [Konstantin] - No, we don't provoke them...
[Konstantin] - We have a different job [Anna] - What's that?
[Konstantin] - To spot them, see if they're there [Anna] - Then tell the artillery?
[Konstantin] - Yep! It's what we're doing now [Anna] - Are you tired, it's taking so long?
[Konstantin] We've got to get the job done. Just one city left!
[Anna] Lisichansk? Then the LPR will be ours
[Konstantin] - Everything will be ours [Anna] - Yes!
[Konstantin] - Still a little bit to go [Anna] - Thanks a lot
[Konstantin] - Nice to see you! [Anna] - What?
[Konstantin] - I said, nice to see you! [Anna] - Yes
[Anna] Nice to meet you!
[soldier] No shooting, no movement... nothing!
[Anna] It has been a long time since he drank and sang this way
[Anna] Vodka warms him, And the numbness fades
[Anna] He's on leave from the front, With his buddies for a day
[Anna] Let them be warm, full, and drunk!
[Anna] They're joined by a young laddie, Now they're comrades four
[Anna] His boots are non-regulation, And his uniform's shabby
[Anna] Birds sing in the street, And cars drive through
[Anna] He says: 'Can I join you? I was killed yesterday too!'
[Anna] What did you do before?
[GEO] VICINITY OF LISICHANSK, LPR JUNE 30, 2022
[Konstantin] Lots of things. I drove a shuttle bus mostly
[Anna] - A shuttle bus driver? [Konstantin] - Yes
[Anna] - '10 roubles for the fare'? [Konstantin] - Something like that
[Anna] What made you...
[Anna] - You're from Ulan-Ude? [Konstantin] - Yes
[Anna] What made you come in March to fight?
[Konstantin] I wanted to come before that... in November
[Konstantin] But there were some circumstances
[Konstantin] Before all this!
[Konstantin] And in 2014, I also had...
[Konstantin] I wanted to come in 2015, after it started in 2014
[Konstantin] But my dad died, leaving only women in the family
[Konstantin] Now everything is fine there
[Anna] - Married? [Konstantin] - Yes
[Anna] - Kids? [Konstantin] - Granddaughter born on the 6th
[Anna] - I thought you must be younger [Konstantin] - 2nd granddaughter
[Anna] - How old are you? [Konstantin] - 44
[Anna] I get very attached to soldiers. Of course, it's very...
stupid, you shouldn't, because...
[Anna] I swore I wouldn't do it. Even if you just become friends,
then the person dies. It's just...
[Anna] It's too hard, too hard!
[Anna] But at the front, people are the most real,
the most awesome
[Anna] These are pictures and postcards
[Anna] It's a drawing of Putin
[Anna] I am not a woman here. I am the lens that sees,
[Anna] Voice recorder, camcorder… I contain these memories
[Anna] Unable to fix anything, I simply capture how they stand
[Anna] Still alive! Later I'll find no quarter Shan't birth green-eyed daughters
[Anna] When a fire breaks out, dial '0-1' - The call taken by an unborn son
[Anna] You hang in there, But there is no evading
[Anna] Winged missiles raining
[Anna] We are death, we are hail, We are born to fight
[Anna] Bones to feed the black soil,
[Anna] While birds sing in a tranquil spring
[Anna] What the hell do they call them heroes for?
[Anna] Stop bellyaching and moaning, You're at war!
[Anna] For 18 months, I struggled to beat a state of utter hopelessness
[Anna] I overcame it...
[Anna] Six months later, I met a handsome sniper
[Anna] We got married straightaway. Andrey Miloslavsky was a violinist
[Anna] Right off the bat, we began fighting
[Anna] I knew I just wasn't ready
to bury, once more, a man I loved
[Anna] Our fights got so intense that our marriage just fell apart
[Anna] Finally, we decided to divorce
[Anna] Two months later, my violinist was killed
[Anna] That's how it was...
[Anna] One's buried here, the other in Donetsk
[Anna] In the Ukrainian media, they call me the 'Black Widow'
[Zakhar] No one who, in one way or another, glorifies military work,
service and duty, is accepted in the Russian literary community
ZAKHAR PRILEPIN, WRITER, COLUMNIST
[Zakhar] They're not full-fledged members of that community
[Zakhar] Those involved in the war are seen as outcasts in literary circles
[Zakhar] Pegov, Steshin, Dolgareva, and war reporters who write
literature are 'Nightingales of the General Staff'
[Zakhar] They're not nominated for any literary prizes,
because they're awarded by people with opposing beliefs
[Zakhar] Dolgareva and Pegov are the people who are now,
in real-time, creating great Donbass poetry
[Semyon] This is where we ran. It was winter
[Semyon] Over there, in the corner, was a machine gunner
[Semyon] It was the jolliest run of my life!
[Semyon] Don't stray too far from this path, there may be tripwires
[GEO] DONETSK AIRPORT, JUNE 2022
[Semyon] This is real neo-Nazism! You don't engage them directly
[Semyon] But the guys are ready to confront them
[Semyon] It's about 800 metres to the Ukrainian Army, right?
[soldier2] Enemy positions are some 1.5 km away
[Semyon] It's a fact that they're targeting civilians
[correspondent] Yes, thanks a lot!
[correspondent] That was Semyon Pegov, a war correspondent
from the WarGonzo project, reporting from Avdeevka
[correspondent] And with the legendary scouts from the 'Sparta' battalion
[Semyon] OK, let's go. We have a little tradition…
[singer] Many a song we have composed in our hearts,
[singer] Singing of our native lands...
[Semyon] In many ways, I was shaped by the way I was raised
by my parents and also by my grandma and great-grandma
SEMYON PEGOV, WAR CORRESPONDENT, POET
[Semyon] That was in the village of Peresvetovo, near Smolensk
[Semyon] When I moved to Moscow and worked for Life News,
[Semyon] I had many war assignments:
Egypt, Syria, Kiev, all of Maidan, then Crimea, and Donbass again
[Semyon] Syria, Donbass, Syria, Donbass...
[Semyon] When 'Life' folded, I decided to launch my own project
[Semyon] It's called WarGonzo. I've been busy with it ever since then
[Semyon] - Car won't start? [driver] - Check the connection
[Semyon] We need a fuse
[driver] Something's wrong with the fuse. We're working on it now!
[Semyon] Many guys want to ask about this
[Semyon] At the frontline, they can't drop their rifles near Avdeevka
and run off to look for their mums here
[Semyon] In Krasny Liman, they ask us to stop and enquire about them
[Semyon] We'll look for a 'Sparta' soldier's mum in Krasny Liman
[Semyon] No news of her since April 30!
[Semyon] We have some addresses
[Semyon] We'll go and see if her house has been damaged
[Semyon] At least we'll have something to tell him about his mum
[Semyon] It's a beast!
[driver] And you said it wouldn't go!
[singer2] The best yoga is to chop up a tree
[singer2] And if you pour water into a pail
[singer2] Time freezes, as dead as a nail,
[Semyon] Turn right soon!
[singer2] When you are roughly 33
[Semyon] For me, war reporting is a kind of poetry and vice versa
[Semyon] But, of course, I became a poet first
and later a war reporter, because I was a poet
[Semyon] Anyway, it doesn't feel superficial now
or some kind of wordplay
[Semyon] It's become a statement from the heart,
from a heart that's already been through something
[Semyon] These poems are different in that sense
[Semyon] I wouldn't say that my poetry
describes everyday life in war time
[Semyon] No! Even what I wrote about Mariupol
was rather a collection of different snapshots
[Semyon] War poems and songs help us to understand what war is,
why it's happening,
who we are in this war exactly
[Semyon] You can't figure it out without art
[GEO] KRASNY LIMAN, LPR JUNE 2022
[Semyon] Tamara Nikolaevna!
[Semyon] Knock, knock, knock!
[Semyon] Wait, it's Tatyana...
[Semyon] Tatyana Nikolaevna!
[Semyon] Tatyana Nikolaevna…
[Semyon] Tatyana Nikolaevna, hello!
[Semyon] My name's Semyon Pegov
[Semyon] Your son asked me to find you, to see how you are
[Semyon] Thank God you're alive and well
[Semyon] He asked us to stop by 2 weeks ago
[Semyon] We were delayed in Svyatogorsk
[Semyon] He's on duty there. We cross paths all the time
[Semyon] He asked if I'd gone. I promised that we'd make it this time
[Tatyana] Communications are down
[Semyon] He's been out of touch since April 30, worried for 6 weeks
[Tatyana] - Understood! [Semyon] - OK, all the best! Goodbye!
[Semyon] People crave comforts and other junk
[Semyon] A smooth appearance is what they affect
[Semyon] Without too much body or facial hair
[Semyon] People are often alike in this respect
[Semyon] They think it's cool to be a red-blooded punk
[Semyon] But I'm just a country boy! I'll die as one for sure, in some war,
[Semyon] Without any of the comforts of home
[Semyon] In a land where blood blooms from the loam
[woman] There they are
[Semyon] OK, good!
[woman] Kids, hold on a bit!
[Semyon] Yes, we put three here!
[Semyon] There's another yard, isn't there?
[woman] There are kids over there
[Semyon] OK, got it!
[woman] And there's a little girl there. We'll distribute it all
[woman] Thanks very much!
[Semyon] - Where to now? That entrance? [woman] - Yes, that one
[soldier] - This? [Semyon] - Yes, over there!
[soldier] - Great to see you! [Semyon] - Likewise!
[Semyon] - Be good! [soldier] - Sure, we'll wait for you
[Semyon] - You're from Lisichansk? [soldier2] - Yes
[Semyon] We've entered its suburbs from Malaya Dolina direction
[soldier2] - You mean Mirnaya Dolina? [Semyon] - Mirnaya Dolina, of course
[Semyon] OK guys, let's go!
[soldier2] We're going home, and then I'll shave my beard
[Semyon] - No, I'll do it in Kiev [soldier2] - 'Fifty' and I will shave!
[Semyon] I had a deal with 'Motorola': we'd do it in Kiev
[soldier2] - Rest in peace 'Motorola'! [Semyon] - Yes...
[Semyon] We said we'd shave our beards off in Kiev
[soldier2] Now the guys will know they didn't die in vain
[Semyon] Of course!
[Semyon] OK, let's go!
[soldier2] - Good luck, men! [Semyon] - Thank you, brother!
[Chicherina] This is a no-man's land,
[Chicherina] At night, fluid as a river
[Chicherina] Nothing is more blue or colder,
[Chicherina] Or stronger than a Red Army soldier
[Semyon] The main thing now is to write songs, books, create a snapshot
of everything that is happening, in paintings, and so on
[Semyon] I'm sure a moment will come, when these paintings will hang in
the most fashionable European art galleries
[Semyon] Victory's the most important thing
[Zakhar] Pegov has been writing poems for a long time, since his youth,
so he's had time to find his own poetic voice
ZAKHAR PRILEPIN, WRITER, COLUMNIST
[Zakhar] Then he realised he was a man of war
[Zakhar] He's been in Donbass since Day 1
[Zakhar] He's a real torchbearer for war poetry
[Zakhar] So he's among the central figures:
[Zakhar] Pegov and his friends Arsen, or 'Motorola', 'Givi', and Zakharchenko
[Zakhar] He's a man that's been through it all
[Zakhar] He's immersed in literature and knows what poetry is
[Zakhar] You can't go to war and…
[Zakhar] When war starts, many think about writing poetry
[Zakhar] They do begin writing poems, but you have to know how to do it
[Zakhar] You must prepare and master the skills
[Zakhar] You must know some basics, and Pegov did!
[Chicherina] - There's nothing here [soldier3] - Kevlar vests stop shrapnel
[soldier3] Can't be cut with scissors
[soldier3] It's true! It bends inwards
[GEO] DONETSK, DPR, JULY 2022
[soldier3] The fibres are thinner than a human hair
[Chicherina] Can it stop a pistol bullet too?
[Chicherina] Let him eat burnt bread
[Chicherina] Surviving the cold and heat
[Chicherina] On the cliffs, the signal is 'Hello'
[Chicherina] Is that what is said?
[Chicherina] What was burned in the middle of the day
[Chicherina] Was scorched in the senselessness of leaving
[Chicherina] The prosecutor is looking for me
[Chicherina] The Ukrainians threaten me with life in prison
[Chicherina] The SBU don't know how else to scare me
YULIA CHICHERINA, SINGER, MUSICIAN
[Chicherina] They have no other options
[Chicherina] I went to the prosecutor and SBU, but no one would meet with me
[Chicherina] They ran off like cockroaches
[Chicherina] Nothing is more blue or colder
[Chicherina] Or stronger than a Red Army soldier
[Chicherina] The Red Army is dominant of course
[Chicherina] The Red Army is the strongest force
[Chicherina] In Melitopol, I put a red victory banner on the SBU building
[Chicherina] There was no one there
[Chicherina] I've been 'round most of the long frontline: over 300 km!
[Chicherina] The northernmost part I've been to so far is Kupyansk
[Chicherina] And the southernmost part is Melitopol and its environs
[Chicherina] So, I've travelled this entire road many times
[Chicherina] I even took a shortcut to Crimea and back
[Chicherina] Here the only ones that drowned
[Chicherina] Were those who found
[Chicherina] Their heroic emptiness
[Chicherina] Could not come to ground…
[Chicherina] Cool song, right?
[Chicherina] No one's heard it and no one will!
[Chicherina] I keep a low profile and only tour army units,
the People's Republics' and Russia's
[Chicherina] I've been here since 2014, so I'm used to living here
[Chicherina] I sing along with my soul. War's everywhere... here too
[Chicherina] It works: the wounded recover faster because of the songs
[Chicherina] Wounds heal faster... doctors confirm it!
[Chicherina] A change happens to them on some mental, even spiritual level
[Chicherina] Energy improves, and the wounded simply recover quicker
[Chicherina] Hello brothers! I'm Yulia, this is German
[Chicherina] Our band's called 'Hand Rolled'
[Chicherina] We're here to play for you
[Chicherina] Bullets whistled over these lands
[Chicherina] While men were torching tanks
[Chicherina] In a trench, the enemy's ranks
[Chicherina] Hacked at soil with both hands
[Chicherina] Before February 22, the war in Donbass was a toxic subject
[Chicherina] It was discussed, but in a very superficial manner...
and not by everyone!
[soldier4] On behalf of the battalion, I present you this gift
[Chicherina] It's a great helmet!
[soldier4] - We're the 'Ironheads' [Chicherina] - Yeah! We're 'Ironheads'!
[soldier4] It's hard to defeat us!
[Chicherina] Yes, impossible!
[soldier4] - 'Musician'! [Chicherina] - Sign the guitar?
[Chicherina] - So, should I always wear this helmet? [soldier4] - As you wish
[Chicherina] - Nice helmet! [soldier4] - Many thanks!
[Chicherina] - You can boil soup in it [soldier4] - And even more!
[Chicherina] A chamber pot, too!
[soldier5] - Autograph, please! [Chicherina] - Got a marker?
[soldier5] - Yes [Chicherina] - A permanent one?
[Chicherina] It won't wipe off?
[Chicherina] - On this side? [soldier5] - Yes
[Chicherina] What shall I put?
[soldier5] To 'Musician' all the best, Yulia
[Chicherina] - It's your codename? [soldier5] - Yes
[Chicherina] After February 22, it all changed
[Chicherina] Bombs dropped, but smart folk still go for walks
[Chicherina] I like it more now. Before it felt hopeless
[Chicherina] Now, it's everyone's concern, and that's better
[Zakhar] Yulia Chicherina is a symbol of the resistance
[Zakhar] She was one of the first to go...
[Zakhar] And perhaps the only one to stay there
[Zakhar] She must've played at all the frontlines...
all of them! All the militia leaders, everyone knew and loved her
[Zakhar] Donbass gave her a whole new artistic direction
[Zakhar] She started her pop star career 25 years ago
[Zakhar] This was one of those rare outcomes, when a pop star
transcended all that and became a national artist
[Zakhar] In fact, she should now enjoy the same status
in our music and media world
as Klavdia Shulzhenko had, and also Lyudmila Gurchenko,
who recorded a cycle of war songs too
[Chicherina] How this nothingness mocks with ill tales!
[Chicherina] Under the ice again, The swimmer flails
[Chicherina] Through fluid vacuum, Rogue particles rip
[Chicherina] Like a ferryman ploughing the River Styx
[Chicherina] I released an album called 'Songs of the War Years'
before the special operation
YULIA CHICHERINA, SINGER, MUSICIAN
[Chicherina] All its songs are about Donbass
[Chicherina] And I have new ones that are not in an album
2 days ago, we shot a video for our new song
'The Red Army is the Strongest'
[Chicherina] Today, we present for the first time a new song called
'The Red Army is the Strongest'
[Chicherina] The best yoga is to chop up a tree
[Chicherina] And if you pour water into a pail,
[Chicherina] Time will freeze, as dead as a nail,
[Chicherina] When you're roughly 33
[Chicherina] The verses are Semyon Pegov's, my best songs use his poems
[Chicherina] Besides being a fearless war correspondent,
he's a real poet
[Chicherina] Not a lyricist, but a poet, like Pushkin
[GEO] MARIUPOL, DPR, JUNE 2022
[Semyon] Dealers and gasbags scratch heads
[Semyon] Azov sea snails crunch in mouths
[Semyon] Immersed in the frontline squabble
[Semyon] Gun bolts never snapped their brains
[Semyon] Jingling low-loaders munch the dirt
[Semyon] Nightmarish corals stick out of houses
[Semyon] In the city of Mary's smouldering ruins
[Semyon] Where 100 checkpoints were unbending as iron
[Semyon] In the thaw of a painful spring
[Semyon] The forks and crosses of 'Azov'
[Semyon] The spring that undermines us
[Semyon] The dusks that bring us to our knees
[Semyon] No matter how loudly you advocate for courage,
[Semyon] We the Decembrists convicts and pirates
SEMYON PEGOV, WAR CORRESPONDENT, POET
[Semyon] Storm the front that's senselessly ablaze
[Semyon] Stubborn as asses bowing to no tsar uselessly
[Semyon] Wasted in the wastelands
[Semyon] These ravenous and barbaric men
[Semyon] In an eternity of sweet longing
[Semyon] Lying scattered in Mariupol's sand
[Semyon] Our souls crippled by the war
[Semyon] Our blood flows like Christian wine, Still pumping life through veins
[Semyon] Far from the dealers' canting cries
[Semyon] My Novorossiyan horde swarms in ranks of three
[Aleksey] I was born and raised in Mariupol, I lived there half my life
[Aleksey] It brings back childhood memories
of the sun-soaked city, sea, sand,
my parents still living, and grandmothers too...
[Aleksey] The song was born as a response to these events and feelings
[Aleksey] Its message is that the city will be reborn
ALEKSEY IOVCHEV, BAND MEMBER, ZVEROBOI
[Aleksey] It's alive now, it hasn't died
[Zveroboi] My Mariupol is like a seagull with a broken wing
[Zveroboi] My Mariupol, my dear home is a stricken thing
[Zveroboi] My Mariupol, struggling through bitumen like dogged green grass
[Zveroboi] My Mariupol will rise up and live again at last
[Aleksandr] Our last trip to the LPR was literally a week ago
[Aleksandr] We visited our guys
[Aleksandr] Well, not their positions,
but we talked with them at their bases
ALEKSANDR NOSKOV, BAND MEMBER, ZVEROBOI
[Aleksandr] We gave like 6 concerts…
[Dmitry] - In 2 days [Aleksandr] - In 2 days
[Aleksandr] We're happy to welcome our acquaintances:
[Aleksandr] Father Dmitry and the 'Vostok' battalion guys
[Aleksandr] By the way, we played a concert at your base in Mariupol
[Aleksandr] It was fantastic
[Aleksandr] Thanks for having us!
[Aleksandr] Let's go!
[Zveroboi] 3rd day sleepless and numb
[Zveroboi] But forward march is our fate!
[Zveroboi] My spring will surely come
[Zveroboi] So let the whole world wait!
[Zveroboi] For 8 long years, a bitter fight,
[Zveroboi] We've been resisting defeat
[Zveroboi] Now I glimpse a glowing light
[Zveroboi] And hear your marching feet!
[Zveroboi] My Motherland is returning
[Zveroboi] My Motherland is returning!
[Dmitry] We've been doing this for 8 years
[Dmitry] Since Kiev began to drown Donbass in blood
[Dmitry] Creatively, all was clear, we knew what to sing about
DMITRY SOSOV, BAND MEMBER, ZVEROBOI
[Aleksey] Thing is that our songs reflect reality
[Aleksey] Evil has emerged
[Aleksey] It's materialised
[Aleksey] It can be seen through binoculars
[Dmitry] It's still the same, with swastikas and torchlight marches
[Dmitry] Every sane person instantly saw that and took a certain stance,
a certain side
[Dmitry] And we did too
[Zveroboi] APCs just keep on rolling
[Zveroboi] Through the Donbass land
[Zveroboi] Bandera's successors patrolling
[Zveroboi] Replacing his bloody hand
[Zveroboi] Their helmets, how they gleam, Masked and fascist compatriots:
[Zveroboi] Chevrons, swastikas, a Nazi team, Hunting down Russian patriots
[Aleksey] The songs played today, and the ideas opinion leaders voice
will decide the future of our children,
or whether they'll see one at all
[Aleksey] So, it's very important what songs are sung,
who takes and will defend what position
[Aleksey] So, the cultural front is actually very important
[Zveroboi] The Russian boys never change:
[Zveroboi] War, revolution, Russian roulette…
[Zveroboi] Die before you have a chance to get older
[Zveroboi] In the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries
[Zakhar] If a war is not reflected in
ZAKHAR PRILEPIN, WRITER, COLUMNIST
literature, poetry, prose, or cinematography,
it doesn't remain in national consciousness or self-identity
[Zakhar] So, this is hugely significant for culture
and national consciousness,
as well as those fighting and dying who want all this
to be noticed, remembered, and sung about
[Zakhar] This is critical
[Ruslan] Running home to brush your hair
[GEO] LAKE BAIKAL, JULY 2022
[Ruslan] You were just 10 years old
[Ruslan] A young body lying lifeless there
[Ruslan] Among fragments of a Nazi rocket
[Ruslan] Women are crying
[Ruslan] Men are crying
[Ruslan] Mother can't believe the scene:
[Ruslan] Her daughter ripped, torn in two
[Ruslan] A nightmare, but this is no dream
[Ruslan] Pools of blood and mothers crying
[Ruslan] It drills right through to my soul
[Ruslan] Ukrainian monster, why all this dying?
[Ruslan] Shelling kids is disgusting!
[Ruslan] And now, under the sod, under the clay
[Ruslan] Sleeps a child with an angel's face
[Ruslan] The Russian nation is in mourning today
[Ruslan] Rest in peace, Veronika, in God's grace
[GEO] DONETSK, DPR, JULY 2022
[Ruslan] Lake Baikal has a special energy
[Ruslan] My poems, my work, spring up
by themselves in these surroundings
[Ruslan] I've been writing poems for over 8 years
[Ruslan] I wrote and wrote… always for myself
[Ruslan] I barely showed my poems to anyone
[Ruslan] When the Special Military Operation began,
RUSLAN BASHIROV, POET
the people around me didn't understand what was going on
[Ruslan] And that's when I realised my talent,
if you can call it that, be it weak or strong,
must be channelled into the right cause, the right direction
[Ruslan] That's when the first poem that I published was born
[Ruslan] It's called 'Why were you silent 8 years?'
[GEO] IRKUTSK, RUSSIA, JULY 2022
[Ruslan] Why were you silent 8 years?
[Ruslan] When they were burning, shooting, looting, and beating?
[Ruslan] Expecting the crowd to cheer?
[Ruslan] I must ask you:
Where were you when they torched the Trade Union House?
[Ruslan] When peaceful skies became a dream for ordinary folk
[Ruslan] I want you to remember:
[Ruslan] Who lives by the sword, Dies by the sword!
[Ruslan] My writing's not bad, but it's not great either
[Ruslan] Take Chicherina or Dolgareva...
[Ruslan] I can try to catch them,
but they're the vanguard and I'm the rear
[Ruslan] We're all part of this whole creative group,
providing as much support as we can
[Ruslan] It may be weak, it may be strong,
but the fact is,
we didn't stand to the side and carry on as usual
[Ruslan] We didn't keep silent
[Ruslan] Even people who wear 'Z' T-shirts
or draw a 'Z' on their cars…
that shows they care!
[GEO] DONETSK PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC, MARCH 2022
[Ruslan] When you're in a trench and learn someone like
[Ruslan] Ruslan Bashirov or Chicherina supports and talks about you,
saying: 'Listen! Everything's going to be OK, don't worry!
[Ruslan] The Russian people are with you!'
[Ruslan] He hears that,
and his fighting spirit and morale immediately grow
and his resolve hardens
[Ruslan] And the man thinks: 'Yes, I'm doing the right thing,
and there's a sturdy wall behind me:
our multinational Russian people'
[Ruslan] This is my target audience
[Ruslan] These are the people I dedicate my poems to
[Ruslan] And I understand that...
the work I'm doing now, at this very moment,
is essential
[Ruslan] Be damned, you fascist monstrosity!
[Ruslan] We shan't forgive or forget
[Ruslan] Though I stood by, Watching the atrocity
[Ruslan] Know you'll never get a reprieve
[Ruslan] For defiling our mothers
[Ruslan] Is an act you'll surely come to rue
[Ruslan] Henceforth, the Russian people
[Ruslan] Will spare not a shred of pity for you
[Zakhar] For those taking part in combat,
appeals to the 'eternal' can take on extreme forms
[Zakhar] For a man who, any minute or hour,
could part with life or sacrifice himself...
[Zakhar] For him, the most important thing
is to find a place in human memory
[Zakhar] 99% of our society can't relate to this
[Zakhar] 99% of people here think Russian musical culture ends
with Philipp Kirkorov, Stas Mikhailov, and that lot
[Zakhar] They've never heard of Zveroboi or Akim Apachev,
who's just recorded a brilliant song,
half in Ukrainian, or 'mova', half in Russian,
where he sings: 'I'm taking 'mova' as a trophy'
[Zakhar] That's a powerful blow to the Ukrainian infosphere,
which claims 'We're Ukrainians, we speak 'mova'
[Zakhar] The Russians will come take it, along with our 'Ukrainianness',
and enslave us'
[Zakhar] He says: 'No, I speak perfect 'mova'
and consider it my language,
that of Kovpak, Bogdan Khmelnitsky, and me -
Akim Apachev'
[Akim] I lived in Mariupol before 2014
[GEO] MARIUPOL, DPR, JUNE 2022
[Akim] Ukrainian has been embedded in my brain since childhood
[Akim] Before the war, I wrote some music about our region as well
AKIM APACHEV, JOURNALIST, MUSICIAN
[Akim] Then, that which was inside me took flight,
and of course, emotionally,
it couldn't help but to pour into poetry and words
[Akim] The idea for a song in Ukrainian 'mova' was born on February 24
[Akim] The form and concept were clear,
[Akim] I just had to come up with the contents
[Akim] Tell that devil about the Muscovite
[Akim] Pass on every word
[Akim] This is my home, my Crimea, my land
[Akim] And I'm taking 'mova'
[Darya] A duck is swimming
[Darya] Girls are dancing
[Darya] In 'Azovstal'
[Darya] Demons are being buried
[Akim] Darya Frey fit the role perfectly
[Darya] I'm really grateful to Akim for giving me this opportunity
DARYA FREY, SIGNER, MUSICIAN
[Darya] A chance to open up to people, since I'm actually rather shy
[Darya] I knew he was writing the song,
but I didn't think I'd be chosen to sing the chorus
[Darya] A burning hut in the middle of the wild
[Darya] The Mother of God gives birth to a child
[Akim] All right, we need to turn those vocals down
[Darya] As we were recording,
we discussed what he wanted in greater detail
[Darya] I was surprised it was in Ukrainian
[Darya] The Mother of God gives birth to a child
[Akim] What do you think of the effects? Can we tone them down?
[Darya] - On the last take? [Akim] - Yes
[Darya] Maybe, but I messed up and need to try again
[Akim] OK, OK
[Akim] Let's do it again, but take out the echo effect
[Akim] I appeal to the collective unconsciousness of Ukraine
[Akim] To that place where, for some reason,
parts of Bandera, Petlyura, and Mazepa have reappeared
[Akim] I say that this is a sick kind of 'Ukrainianness'
[Akim] You've been drugged, and you're still being drugged
[Akim] My friends, we have a cure
[Akim] Let's start cutting out the diseased tumours
[Akim] Let's get rid of them and reinstate genuine 'Ukrainianness'
[GEO] DONETSK, DPR, JUNE 2022
[Akim] After the video's release,
[Akim] Ukrainian internet warriors came who promised to kill me,
but I take it with irony: it strengthens me
[Akim] I'm in no more danger than my neighbours
[Akim] With the constant shelling, nowhere in Donetsk is safe
[Akim] Yes, this is a cultural war for minds
[Akim] If they kill me, it will only raise interest in my music
[Darya] I get threats from Ukrainians on Instagram
[Darya] They say they'll make me watch as they gut my entire family,
that I've signed my own death sentence
[Darya] It's quite interesting, actually
[director] A little more... Stop, right here!
[GEO] ‘AZOVSTAL’ STEEL PLANT MARIUPOL, DPR, JUNE 2022
[director] That's it, you're in place! Action!
[Darya] A burning hut in the middle of the wild,
[Darya] The Mother of God gives birth to a child
[film crew] I carry a handkerchief
[film crew] Under a lilac bush
[film crew] Whom shall I give it to?
[film crew] I will never tell you!
[film crew] - Good or bad? [director] - Great!
[Darya] A burning hut in the middle of the wild
[Darya] The Mother of God gives birth to a child
[Darya] The song has a strong message, especially the last few lines,
when Akim sings 'we're taking 'mova' as a trophy'
[Darya] Those really get to them
[film crew] Akim, take three
[Akim] This is very…
[film crew] - Ready? All good? [operator] - Yes, I'm recording
[film crew] All right, go!
[operator] Lots of smoke in the frame
[Akim] Tell that devil about the Muscovite
[Akim] Pass on every word
[Akim] This is my home, my Crimea, my land
[Akim] And I'm taking 'mova'
[director] Akim, take… I dunno, seven?
[Akim] Tell that devil about the Muscovite
[Akim] Pass on every word
[Akim] This is my home, my Crimea, my land
[Akim] And I'm taking 'mova'!
[Darya] A duck is swimming
[Darya] Girls are dancing
[Darya] In 'Azovstal'
[Darya] Demons are being buried
[film crew] - That's it? [director] - Yes, super! Done!
[Akim] Any war has 3 components: 'Athena' is economic war,
'Ares' is combat, and 'Apollo', the war for minds
[Akim] We know how to fight the wars of 'Athena' and 'Ares', but not 'Apollo'
[Akim] To fight the 'War of Apollo' we need to propose something new,
but we don't
[Akim] We can't offer new ideas now, we just react to the situation
[Akim] It seems to me that this is our problem
[Akim] If we paid due attention to this,
we'd have acted a little differently and more effectively
[GEO] DONETSK PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC, MARCH 2022
Come on, boy! Come on, here!
[voice] - Good boy! Good boy! [voice2] - He made it!
[man] A direct hit!
[woman2] All right, get a grip! Mariupol…
[woman3] - All I have left is what I'm wearing [woman2] - It's all right
[Zakhar] People are upset and tormented
ZAKHAR PRILEPIN, WRITER, COLUMNIST
[Zakhar] They want someone to recognise their suffering
[Zakhar] Yet they can't name one name, because there are none
[Zakhar] Not a single one!
[Zakhar] We have 400 filmmakers, big and small,
but not one has said, 'I support you and will make a film about this'
[Zakhar] They fled to Estonia, Georgia, Israel, Italy
and curse Russia from there
[Zakhar] They received awards, medals, accolades here, you name it...
[Zakhar] They went there and now support the other side
[Zakhar] They aren't pacifists
[Olesya] Take the bug net
[Olesya] Let's go
[GEO] TVER REGION, RUSSIA, JULY 2022
[Olesya] They don't leave to achieve something
or do good for their country
[Olesya] They leave to leave
[Olesya] These people's children forget their own language in 2 months
and pick up an accent
[Olesya] I realised these are my enemies
[Olesya] Enemies of the Orthodox faith
OLESYA SHIGINA, POET, WRITER, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER
and enemies of my children
because I don't want my children growing up in such a value system
[girl] Take this
[girl] Make a stick
[girl2] Mum! I want to go to the river now
[Olesya] And what if a wolf attacks you?
[girl2] Let's go... Ah, MAMA!
[Olesya] Wow, those are beauties!
[Olesya] Those berries are huge
[Olesya] You can just... You know?
[Olesya] When I realised I could make films myself,
[Olesya] I decided to shoot films about real Russian heroes
[Olesya] If a person works for their motherland, they're my hero
[Olesya] I even put that at the end of every film:
'A film for the motherland'
[Olesya] When I went to Donbass, many people said:
'How can you go to a warzone when you have 2 little kids?
[Olesya] It's reckless and stupid!'
[Olesya] But I knew I had to see what was happening there for myself,
otherwise I wouldn't be able to film or write anything
[Olesya] In each of our soldiers I filmed or listened to...
[Olesya] I saw a son
[Olesya] So, I know my trip wasn't in vain
[GEO] DONETSK PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC, JUNE 2022
[Olesya] - What did you do as a civilian? [soldier6] - I'm an ordinary welder
[Olesya] - And you? [soldier7] - A little bit of everything
[soldier8] A tractor driver
[Olesya] - And you? [soldier9] - Jack of all trades
[soldier10] - A fisherman [Olesya] - Oh, my son's a fisherman!
[soldier11] - Tractor driver [Olesya] - A tractor driver?
[soldier12] Mechanic
[Olesya] - And you? [soldier13] - A teacher
[Olesya] Russia is with you with all its heart
[Olesya] My son longs to come here
[Olesya] He's only 21
[Olesya] He left Moscow State University, plays 3 musical instruments,
speaks 4 languages, and yet,
he wants to protect his motherland
[soldier14] Thank you very much for coming here
[soldier14] It's very touching
[soldier14] Big thanks to you
[Olesya] Thank YOU guys, we didn't do anything
[soldier14] We won't back down
[Olesya] The hugs have all but melted away
[Olesya] Under a cloud, I wave and I pray
[Olesya] My dress billows in the breeze
[Olesya] Son, I am here, the armour you need
[Olesya] This is my son
[Olesya] He's 14 here
[Olesya] He's in the army now
[Olesya] He's serving his motherland and...
there are many boys like him
[Olesya] I've long taken part in poetry circles
[Olesya] When that date arrived, the 24th of February,
many poems appeared in reaction to what was happening
[Olesya] Very different... Everyone had their own take
[Olesya] I realised I had to film the best poets' work
while events were still fresh
[Olesya] It resulted in these short videos where they read their own poems
[Anna] He says,
'As heroes they stood
[Anna] Didn't have time to quit the trench'
[Anna] And this is me choking on blood
[Anna] I'm choking on another's blood
[Anna] A live target shelled in a trench
[Olesya] These are psychological portraits
[Olesya] I try to discover every hero's inner tragedy
and see what drives them forward
[Anna] What a fur ball you are 00:52:35:00 [GEO] ‘KOSHKIN DOM’ ANIMAL SHELTER LUGANSK, LPR, JUNE 2022
[woman4] Oh, she's so white!
[Anna] What a good kitty!
[woman4] It was shameful, they wanted to put her to sleep
[Anna] At some point, when life became completely unbearable,
I took a kitten from the shelter
[Anna] I took it in October, but by December,
I felt I just couldn't live anymore
ANNA DOLGAREVA, POET, JOURNALIST
[Anna] It wasn't living, but some kind of extremely painful existence
[Anna] And I thought: 'Why not end it all?'
[Anna] But I realised, 'Damn! I have a cat! They won't find me right away'
[Anna] So, I went to the hospital in Lugansk and said,
'Hello, I have suicidal thoughts, treat me, please'
[Anna] That I recognised these thoughts and wanted to get rid of them…
it's all thanks to this cat
[Yulia] That was a turning point
[GEO] LUGANSK PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC, JULY 2022
[Yulia] That which came before
[Yulia] Will become clear later on
[Yulia] My rock and roll
[Yulia] Isn't an end
[Yulia] Or even a means