All language subtitles for Defenders.of.Donbas.2023.1080p.WEBRip.x264-CBFM

They're one of Ukraine's
most decorated brigades

in a daily battle to hold back
Russia on the eastern front.

For the 1st Tank Brigade,
it's the fight of their lives.

Under constant attack
from air and ground...

Come, quickly.

..they gave us unprecedented
access to their front lines...

..while they fight
to keep Russia out

from a town
under constant attack.

DOG BARKS

EXPLOSION

The bombing is relentless.

EXPLOSION

Shallow trenches offer

the barest of protection
from Russian fire.

Come on! This way.

Down. Down, down, down, down.
Get in, get down.

We follow closely in their
daily life-and-death struggle

to halt their enemy.

Outgunned and outmanned,
they refuse to give ground.

EXPLOSION

They are
the defenders of Donbas.

First light
on the eastern front...

..and the opening battle
of the day

for Ukrainian forces
heading forward...

..is with the mud.

War has left Donbas
ploughed and churned.

This is their second spring
since Russia invaded,

their second season
of muck and misery

and their second year
in their struggle

to keep their country free.

Ukraine's eastern front

stretches for nearly
a thousand kilometres,

mostly across the Luhansk
and Donetsk regions

that make up Donbas.

Capturing here is now
Russia's principal war aim.

We met up with Ukraine's
1st Tank Brigade

on the zero line
just outside Velyka Novosilka.

Few know how to handle
this heavily contested ground

better than them.

With aged armour,
the battle-hardened crew

get ready to fuel up
and face their foe.

It's familiar territory.
They've been fighting Russia

in one form or another
in Donbas for eight years.

But the threat
hangs heavier now.

Their enemy is close by,
and Ukraine's forces

are outmanned and outgunned.

Still they show no fear.

HE LAUGHS

But does Russia have a chance
of winning this war?

And this is a well-worn routine
for tank commander Serhii.

First, he faced
Russian separatists in Donbas,

and now it's the Russian army.

Since the invasion,
he's only had a week away

from his tank and crew.

His brigade is one of
the most decorated

in the Ukrainian army.
Today, they're out to hit

Russian observation posts
near their lines.

Their tanks may be old,
but they've barely

given the Russians
an inch of territory here.

It's a fast game of
cat and mouse, life or death,

and it's left as deep
an imprint on the landscape

as it has on the men.

The shell craters stretch for
miles.

And Serhii and his crew
are soon in the thick of it.

SHOUTING

They've found their target
across the next field,

over 500 metres away, and they
unleash everything they've got.

GUNFIRE

Watch as Serhii's rounds hit
top right.

Seconds later,
they lay down a smokescreen.

The orders are
get in, get out...

GUNFIRE

..and take cover...

..before Russian guns can start
working on their positions.

A response is expected, so it's
time to move and to seek cover

wherever it can be found.

These fierce battles
happen daily

and have created a wasteland.

EXPLOSION

Go!

Drone. Quickly!

It could be a reconnaissance
drone or armed.

They don't wait to find out.

Go to position.
Go quickly. Go quickly.

Open ground is
their enemy's friend.

EXPLOSION

EXPLOSION

MESSAGE OVER RADIO

And the Tank Brigade

doesn't just have tanks
at its disposal.

They're using
everything they've got

to defend the town
of Velyka Novosilka.

The reminders of lives
once lived here

are scattered everywhere.

But the rubble of the town
is now as much of a front line

as the trenches.

This was
the local kindergarten.

It's now the temporary base

for the brigade's
armed drone team.

They're a small, light unit
constantly on the move,

climbing and crawling their way
through the town's ruin,

always on the lookout
for the closest position

to the Russians
to launch an attack.

These off-the-shelf drones
are armed with a grenade

and sent into flight.

Unlike the tanks, they're on
the hunt for smaller targets.

DRONES BUZZ

At the town's edge, a trench
comes into their crosshairs.

It's a direct hit.

Russian vehicles are next.

It's deadly effective.

But their enemy is using
these same tactics.

War now occupies
every inch of Velyka Novosilka.

And months
of Russian bombardments

are tearing apart what's left,
piece by piece.

Its people have mostly fled,
the pets they have left behind

driven wild
by Russian shelling.

DOGS BARK

At a secret location, we head
to a mobile command post...

..to meet the man
charged with holding the town.

Your men have seen
some really hard fighting.

As a leader, how do you
keep your men motivated?

This is what a year of Russian
shelling does to a town.

War's burden is crushing,
and for most of the people

who lived here,
it was too much to bear.

Russian shelling has blown
the life out of this place.

And along 600 miles
of the eastern front,

the Ukrainian army
is absorbing Russia's blows.

But its enemy isn't just
targeting soldiers,

it's targeting
towns and villages,

it's targeting civilians.

Now, Velyka Novosilka, where we
are now, was nothing special,

but the people who lived here
are very proud of

their new school, they sent the
kids to the local kindergarten.

Russian bombs mean
that all of that's gone now.

Emptied of life,
the streets still have traces

of a thriving town
that once existed here.

But few dare linger
out in the open.

As abandoned as it is,
Russian bombs still fall here.

EXPLOSION

A mortar lands

to the left of our car.

It's dangerous to spend too
much time above ground here,

but we risk the school run.

Rubble-strewn streets
have become bombers' alleys.

Much of the town is
within range of Russian guns.

EXPLOSION

Another mortar lands...

..even closer.

They're zeroing in.

Any movement here
captures Russian attention,

so speed matters.

Out here in the open,
a moment's hesitation

can prove fatal, so we move
fast in search of cover.

The school lies
broken and forlorn.

PIANO PLAYS

The last children were removed
a few months ago.

But the piano teacher
clings on.

Across empty playgrounds
and through silent hallways,

her music echoes.

Russia has shattered her town.

It has dulled and deadened
her piano.

But it hasn't broken
Iryna Babkina.

The memories of the town
that she loved and the children

that she taught keep her here
despite the hardship.

Iryna takes us to one of
the town's remaining shelters.

Oh, it's very cold.

The conflict raging above
has driven them down here.

In the darkness they've made
their home, they can survive.

But it's a place
of emptiness and sadness.

And almost unseen
in a far-off corner...

VIOLIN PLAYS

..a woman sits
alone and bereft.

What was life like here before?

Can you tell us what happened
to your husband?

We head back out
in the fading light,

slowing only for
broken bridges.

Russian guns
are still within range

and barricades and tank traps
along the road.

And we arrive at war's
familiar, stricken landscape.

Here, Russian eyes
are always watching.

The torn limbs of trees
are a reminder of the reach

of Russian artillery
and grenade fire.

We're heading to zero line,

the closest trenches
to the Russian positions.

Brigade infantryman Dima -
he's just 22 years old -

is escorting us forward.

GUNFIRE

Mortars, tank fires, Grads -

they get hit
by everything here.

Dima's just told me
the village over here

is half held by the Ukrainians
and half held by the Russians.

We're told to tread carefully.
Land mines litter the ground.

And they're not
the only danger.

GUNFIRE

As we move closer, Russian fire
begins to fly overhead.

EXPLOSION

It's time to head for cover.

Even the shallowest trenches
will do.

GUNFIRE

But the team is split up
after the first strike,

and some of us are left
exposed, out in the open.

GUNFIRE

HE BREATHES HEAVILY

Whoa!

EXPLOSION

Whoa!

That shell hits
just a few metres away.

Dima and my colleague
Darren Conway

call us towards the trench.

Come here, Liuba. Here.

Liuba, fast, fast, fast.

Come on.
Let's get to that trench.

Quick. Stuart,
there's a bunker here.

This way. Come on,
run, run. Run.

Straight to me.

Come on, this way.

Down. Down, down, down, down.

Down. Get in, get down.

That was two Russian shells
that have just come in.

I think it's tank fire

landing very close
to these positions.

It gives you an idea
of how exposed it is here.

There's absolutely no
tree cover.

The safest place for these men
is in the trenches.

They've already taken
a couple of casualties here

in the last week.

HE BREATHES HEAVILY

You all right? Yeah.
Keep down.

There's no time
to pause for breath.

Dima leads the way
to better cover.

These few logs
offer some protection,

but it's already
packed tight in here.

EXPLOSION

That was even closer.

They grab every inch of shelter
they can.

EXPLOSION

And when the next distant boom
might end in a direct hit,

it's hard not to flinch.

What is Dima fighting for,
we ask.

Those phone calls
let his mother know

her son has survived
another day.

But does Dima think
Russia could win here?

EXPLOSION

Dima stands lookout,

waiting for a sign
that the attack is over.

EXPLOSION

His adult life has
barely started, and already

war's toll is written plainly
across his face.

And, Colonel, what's your
message to the men out there,

the men that are in
the trenches, the men that are

in the tanks, your men
that are fighting every day?

What's your message to them?

And what's your message
to the rest of the world?

The war consumes
every waking hour in Ukraine.

A day on the zero line
can feel like a lifetime.

But the cover of darkness
brings Dima relief...

..for now.

In the gloom beyond
lies a constant threat.

Russia could attack again
at any moment.

And while its guns are silent,
Dima shows us the path out.

DISTANT EXPLOSION

But Dima will
stand his ground here.

And he's not alone.

A shift change brings
fresh reserves to the front.

For the defenders of Donbas,

this is more than just
the fight of their lives.

Their country is at stake,

but so too is the right
to live free

for generations of Ukrainians
still to come.