Original subtitles

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Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

[upbeat Ukrainian pop music]

[music continues]

[cars braking]

[pop music playing on the radio]

[explosions]

[car alarm squealing]

[people shouting]

[ambulance siren blaring]

[sombre string music]

January 2023.

A Russian supersonic missile

designed to destroy battleships

hits a block of flats.

[music continues]

It kills forty-six people

[people shouting]

six of them, children.

See the yellow kitchen?

[mournful male singing]

This is where a few days before

a little girl blows out the candles

[children celebrating] on her birthday cake.

[sombre music continues]

The rocket kills her dad.

[mournful violin solo]

[distant sirens blaring]

[building burning]

[air raid siren blaring]

[music continues]

[rubble crunching]

[distant sirens wailing]

[distant siren echoing]

[sombre piano music]

We all have a person in our phone

A number you can't call anymore,

who won’t ever call you back.

Our country is not very big, we thought before.

And now it's like we all know each other.

[air raid siren wailing]

Can't go anywhere without them.

You can hear the air raid siren again.

You hear it all the time,

they're always attacking.

[air raid siren continues]

Our windows overlook this courtyard

so we didn't understand right away

what had happened.

Victoria is filming her kids

when the missile strikes

[explosion]

[rubble falling]

[sombre piano music]

I wouldn’t wish this on anyone,

and I'd like our children to grow up

in normal conditions.

[wind blowing]

I think you need to tell people

what's going on here.

Not everyone understands,

but we do.

[soothing piano music]

[traffic screeching]

[fire burning]

[tank creaking]

[piano music continues]

[building burning]

A year before this attack

Vladimir Putin launched his big war on Ukraine.

[dramatic music]

[music intensifies]

The Russian way of war

is to smash the enemy

into submission.

Killing innocent civilians

is not an accident.

[dramatic drums]

It is deliberate.

[drums continue]

This isn't the first time

Russia has done this.

[drums intensify]

[solemn strings]

The master of the Kremlin

did it in Chechnya

in 2000.

I know because I saw evidence

of Russian war crimes

with my own eyes.

[tense music]

He did it in Syria

when he sided with the tyrant

Bashar al-Assad

but for his big war in Ukraine

the Kremlin's killing machine

is being supported

by a lie factory.

[ominous drums]

We're doing quite well,

killing the Ukrainian Nazis,

and their nameless allies.

And too many people in the West

are on side.

Ukraine is not a democracy.

It has never been a democracy.

And for some powerful people

it's working.

[sinister music]

How much more for Ukraine?

Is there any limit?

Which billionth dollar

really kicks in the door?

A grifter's got to grift.

Russia denies war crimes.

[sinister music continues]

Russia denies targeting civilians.

Russia denies

it is even at war.

So I'm going to show you

what's really going on

[dramatic music]

on the ground

right here

on the front line.

[intense string music]

[thunder clapping]

[tense music]

Welcome to the Donbas

[car accelerating]

We're driving towards the front line,

towards Bakhmut

a city under siege.

This is where the fighting

is most fierce.

[car rumbling]

So Paul,

how often

do you think those noises will be happening?

That is the permanent sound

of this area.

It's really not a case of, you know,

they happen and they stop.

It's pretty much a constant shelling

in the Bakhmut area.

Okay.

[tank rumbling]

Something's burning up ahead

i.e. something could have been hit up ahead.

[car stopping]

This little row of shops

by a block of flats

is not a military target.

[car door slams]

[tense string music]

[music intensifies]

[car speeds past]

[indistinct chattering]

Yeah, so I just spoke to

this military man right there.

They're fixing the car

and I asked them,

they said there was a dead body

right there

over here

and there was also a lady

there she said, on the fifth floor.

Her apartment is like, totally smashed.

You know, windows and the walls.

This isn't artillery, this is a rocket, yeah?

Yes, and I have

they gave me a video

so we'll actually send...

I'm receiving the video right now.

[explosion]

Because of course

all of this got on fire

[shouting]

[siren wailing]

And they also told me

that towards that way

yesterday, last night

just basically a few hours ago

there was phosphorous

um, fire.

I have the video as well.

[small explosions crackling]

[dark tense music]

- Once again these fuckers are bombing us.

The stuff in the video Zarina's got hold of

looks like white phosphorous.

It falls from the sky

silently.

[wind whistling]

Its military purpose

is to mask big troop movements

from the enemy

but it burns

at two thousand five hundred degrees centigrade

and melts everything it touches.

It should never, ever be used

against civilian targets.

That would be a war crime.

[wind whistling]

Our contacts tell us

that white phosphorous has also been used in Kherson,

a city in southern Ukraine

that has recently been liberated

from Russian occupation.

[tense high-pitched music]

The interesting thing about Kherson

is...

the Russian army

is on the other side of the river

and the river is about

a thousand feet, three hundred metres wide

and...

they're shelling the city

a lot...

so it's pretty scary.

[car engine starts]

Well we have to go

in and out very fast

very, you know

calm, productively, boom

in and out in three minutes, we go.

[tense bass music]

Big fire.

[artillery echoes]

So this house has been hit three times

the river's just there.

It's armoured glass

which fell out when the house was hit.

Guys, it can hit the house.

[fast, tense strings]

Every night they shoot at the city,

aiming at different districts,

and shooting comes mainly from the

Oleshki and Hola Prystan' regions

And here we are in the middle of it all.

I was at home,

I only filmed this strike.

It was the third time it happened in this area.

I filmed this from my seccond-floor window.

This area in particular is very dangerous.

You cannot go there now.

[translating] you cannot go there now

Put your helmets on

and follow Volodymr.

So we're making a quick walk

to the pieces of the lustra

and then we're getting out of here.

Nice and easy.

If you walk around this area,

you will find these pieces everywhere.

We found these under our feet.

What do you call this?

What is it?

-What do you call this? -This is incendiary ammunition.

[translating] that's the lustra

the illuminating...

Lustra.

This piece was by his car.

I had to extinguish it with a bag of soil.

So when they're landing, they're burning

there's still smoke coming out.

I just cover it with a bag. That's it.

So that's how he puts them down And it stops burning.

like extinguishes the fire. There's no ther way.

Volodya, this is a sensitive question:

are there any military targets here?

No,there are no military targets here and there never were any.

They never were here...

There's nothing here, it's a private sector.

Why are they doing this?

Why do you think they're doing this?

Targeting peaceful people?

They are terrorising us.

They are terrorising us.

It's no secret Russia is a terrorist state,

terrorising the peaceful population here.

Were any houses burned down by the lustra?

Were any houses burned down by the lustra?

Burned down? Yes.

Two houses up the hill. We can go there and you'll see.

There were two houses up above,

and down below...

It's very dangerous to go there

to shoot.

Thank you very much, thank you.

No problem. Thank you very much.

Goodbye.

[tense beat]

[car door slams]

[engine starts]

[car accelerates]

The reason we're driving at some clip

is because the river's that way

and the Russian army

is on the other side of the river

and today is significantly

noisier than yesterday

so we're not hanging about

[car engine roars]

[car engine idling]

[car door slams]

So it looks like, John,

this house wasn't "hit" by anything.

This is just melted and smouldering.

There's no glass damage, there's no shrapnel on the ground.

Yes...

that's right.

[dog barking]

There's no pitting

that you get from artillery.

Hey! It was here.

The magnesium.

We jumped out of the house,

my cousin was almost hit.

- You live on this street?

My cousin does.

That house over there got burned down with magnesium

because it wasn't hit by a missile.

Come here, Yurii.

There's another eyewitness right there.

Good Afternoon.

What did you see?

What happened?

I already gave my comments.

People came to talk to you.

It came from that side. From Oleshki.

Some explosives landed here,

most likely an incendiary weapon.

Lustra?

Yes, Lustra

It hit right here.

What did it look like?

Like a nightmare. But the person survived.

- This is nothing,

compared to how bad it was down there.

And that's all because of one missile.

A local shows us a house

a hundred yards away

that has been burned by the fire from the sky.

[whistles]

Jesus.

This was somebody's home.

We couldn't reach water, anything...

Is that your neighbor's house?

Yes, that's our part and that over there is the neighbor's.

- So they're connected? - Yes

[foreboding music]

When did you first realise your neighbour's house was on fire?

We were inside the house,

but we didn't even notice it.

People started shouting from the street that we're on fire.

So they were inside

and they didn't even know it

that their adjacent building was afire.

We didn't hear it.

Is it quiet?

[translating the question]

There was no sound at all.

You can't hear it.

The Russians just want to...

It's genocide.

[dramatic music builds]

They don't want Ukraine to exist.

Back on the street

the locals have some white phosphorous cartridges

to show me.

Is this more?

-So this is... -Yes, this one is charged.

...this is the source of the fire from the sky.

Thank you.

So this is evidence.

and we're going to talk to somebody who knows about this

[sigh]

because...

...this shows absolutely

we've got that entire sequence of events

checked out again and again and again.

The fire comes from the sky,

we've got a video of it

and then numerous villagers

have given us this stuff.

There's no Ukrainian army around.

This feels like

a crime against humanity.

[inquisitive music]

To check everything we found,

we need to get hold of an expert.

Someone who knows what they're talking about.

[video call ringing]

Hamish it's great to see you again.

Tell me your rank,

your expertise in this area.

Yeah, well I was

a Colonel in the British army.

I was the commander

of NATO and the UK's

chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear forces.

I spent a lot of time in Syria, uh

looking for evidence of

use of chemical weapons

under the guises of the Russian occupation.

So we got some of this stuff.

Now...

...they call it a special word

which is "lustrum."

Can you tell me

what thermite is, what it does

and, is it ok

for an army to use this stuff

against a civilian...

...it was a civilian area

there are... as far as we could see

there are only people's homes there.

What you've got there is either thermite

or something that carried white phosphorous.

Both are incendiary

devices...

um, and they

burn at incredible high temperatures

and they set things on fire

and create devastation.

Now...

this is something I saw a lot of

in Syria.

This scorched earth policy,

a sort of Syrian/Russian

tactic,

when basically

you want to terrify the population

you burn them out

almost like rats.

Sadly it is a tactic

developed by General Surovikin

the Russian commander in Syria

and now the Russian commander

in Ukraine.

And, yeah,

being so indiscriminate

purely attacking civilians

it is illegal under the Geneva Convention

and probably also illegal

under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

In simple terms

using this stuff

is a crime against humanity.

Yeah?

If you are using it

directly against civilians,

non-combatants,

it is absolutely

a crime against humanity

and crime against the rules of war

and the Geneva Conventions.

Hamish confirms my worst fears.

Russians are using white phosphorous

or thermite against civilians.

Our evidence makes the Russian denial

a dark fairytale.

[news jingle] False information is given,

with the message that strikes

are being carried out on Ukrainian cities.

There are none.

Only military facilities have been destroyed.

In other parts of Kherson

residents have been shelled

and come under constant artillery fire

since the Russian army fled.

This woman's flat is hit

while we were in the city.

Mainly older people live here,

most are over sixty years old.

This puppy was almost killed,

it's a miracle he was saved.

[translating] it's a miracle he was saved.

He was buried under the rubble.

[distant artillery bang]

[translating] all the rubble fell on the puppy

Inside, we meet Liudmila's mum,

eighty-five years old.

Frail, and poorly

she's too weak to move.

[mournful music]

The windows were shattered by the blast,

we had to cover them with cardboard.

It was so scary.

We were so scared.

Today the shelling was especially bad.

The explosions were horryfying.

It was very loud today. From eleven pm to one in the morning.

we had to take cover in the hall.

It was so scary.

I had to crawl under the sofa,

and hide under there.

What's happening is terrifying,

people are in shock

that this is happening.

I am so scared.

When Kherson was liberated

we met the cars in the street.

They were honking at us,

and we were waving at them

with tears in our eyes.

You just can't put it into words.

[emotional music] Just goosebumps.

Everyone was crying, carrying flags.

We met the soldiers, waved at them and greeted them.

[children chanting]

The military are driving through,

they're playing the national anthem

and people are just running out

tears in their eyes

to express their gratitude

for liberating the city,

for coming in here

and bringing it back

under Ukrainian control.

Everyone wants to show gratitude

to a Ukrainian soldier

[woman weeping] - We have to go now.

and collect autographs.

- Thank you! Glory to the Armed Forces of Ukraine!

There haven't been many scenes like this in Europe

since American GIs

helped defeat the Nazis

in World War Two.

- Ukraine! - Above all!

It was like nothing I've ever felt in my life.

[crowd cheering]

But a very short time has passed,

and they started to bomb us from the left bank.

We weren't expecting it,

we thought they'd go back up to Crimea,

but no, they started bombing us.

[tense music]

[artillery explosions]

This was unexpected. We thought they would leave completely.

[music continues]

All I want is to hear we've won,

I want them to go back home

and leave us alone.

Why are they killing our children?

Go home.

It's just so scary.

[children playing] [distant artillery explosions]

In war, everything degrades.

Individual soldiers and rogue units

indulge in violence.

But the stories coming out of Kherson

point to something darker.

I was abducted in May,

by the russian occupation authorities,

as they called themselves.

[unsettling music]

They put me in a temporary detention centre

in Kherson,

where I was tortured for a few days.

[music continues]

They beat me up, i was electricuted.

I was morally abused.

They threatened to shoot me and my family.

[car passing]

Mostly, they were having fun,

they were enjoying beating and torturing us.

[music intensifies]

I saw with my own eyes

as they dragged away a body

of someone they killed by torturing them.

[sigh]

It's very hard to think about.

Since the liberation of Kherson,

I hear rumours

that it wasn't just the Russian army

who were guilty of torturing Ukrainians.

We try to check this out.

The last month I was there,

it was no longer the military who were torturing us...

it was the official Russian police.

[ethereal piano music]

The torturers

in this case

were not rogue soldiers.

They were Russian police officers.

This first hand account

points to state sanctioned torture.

Through a network of victims

we come across a second witness,

Alexander.

Horrible as it is for him,

he wants to show the world

the truth about what the Russians did to him.

Alexander met us

in the police detention centre

in Kherson,

the very place where he was held for months

by the Russian occupiers.

This is the first time he's been back

since liberation.

As he walks through the hallways

trying to find the cell

where he was tortured

dark memories flood in.

[creepy music]

This is where I was kept.

We were all tortured in different ways.

There was a police officer

in our cell.

They tortured him with a taser.

You could see the pustules, taser wounds on his body.

Alexander, were they Russian officials?

Yes.

Yes, they were.

I know what a Moscow accent sounds like,

and I can say with certainty

they were from the outskirts

or from the centre of Moscow.

Their accents were clear.

When we were in the cell,

the door would open,

and they would threaten to beat us

if we didn't shout

"Glory to Russia".

"Glory to Putin. Glory to Shoigu".

If one person didn't say it

they would starve everyone

and taser us

and beat us with police batons.

They forced people to learn the Russian anthem,

and if someone didn't know it by heart

everyone would suffer.

Alexander's testimony

speaks to something darker.

They wanted to strip him

of his Ukrainian identity,

to brainwash him into becoming a total believer

in greater Russia.

Oh look! Our calendar!

We marked the dates.

[cathartic music] On this calendar.

We wrote here every day.

Every day meant a chance that we might escape.

[music intensifies]

I'm sorry, I'm having flashbacks.

[music continues]

It's better not to remember all this, but...

[sobbing]

[music continues]

- I'm sorry.

Do you have nightmares, still?

Not sometimes, all the time.

I can't sleep.

[music continues]

[sobbing]

It was hell on Earth...

...right here in Kherson.

[car rumbling]

I thought it was powerful evidence.

I mean obviously...

You know, he used to manage a condominium...

he's not some big shot...

he's not...

He's just a decent man

who was somehow captured by the Russians

and they gave him hell.

And I, you know

like...

[sighs]

I believed him

but then

the moment he saw his...

his name, written on the cell

you knew his story was true.

[flock of birds flapping]

[emotional music]

Alexander tells us

of a second torture chamber,

even worse than the one

he was held in.

Based deep under Kherson's main police station,

the cells date back to Stalin's time.

[ominous music]

When Ukraine gained independence

they closed this place.

[debris crumbles underfoot]

But when the Russians took the city in 2022,

they opened it up again

and threw their most

high value prisoners inside

[haunting string music]

So here there was a

what's it called?

A rope.

There was a rope.

A hanging rope.

So maybe they, uh

hung people from behind their back.

So what Andriy's saying

is here...

there was...

they hung a rope

and classically what you do with a rope

is that you...

you get a prisoner

and you tie their hands behind their back

and then

and they're suspended

by the weight of their shoulders.

But it's a way of torturing people

just by holding them,

it's a classic evil torture.

[haunting music continues]

So, um, this

it looks as...

I mean it smells very

awful

but there haven't been

prisoners here for a long, long time.

No, for decades

since the Soviet Union fell.

They didn't have anyone here

and then the Russians

didn't clean anything,

they just threw people inside

these dark and dusty rooms.

This is "Slava Rossiya"

Yeah this says "Glory to Russia"

Glory to Russia

“Slava Rossiya”

And the other one said

"Russia is here forever"

[tense music]

So this...

this basement

it's impossible to describe

just how chilling it is here

but it's really cold and dank.

Tells you something about the two systems.

The Russians use

a Soviet era prison system

to keep the prisoners of occupation

locked up

Yes.

And the Ukrainians

abandoned this place

because it was too inhumane.

Exactly.

And it's the story of the war

written in brick and mortar.

Right so this is a Soviet era gas mask.

What you've got is a...

a tube here

and what happened was

they would throw this away.

This is the filter

and then what the Russians would do...

some of the time in Chechnya

is they would squirt CS gas.

So this is on your face

and your hands are tied behind your back

and you can't breathe.

And what they do is...

they can put CS gas there

or they just hold the tube,

and you start to asphyxiate.

You start to die.

And they call this

because of the snout

"The Elephant".

And the Russian army

has been doing this for twenty-three years.

The stories of what the Russians

have done to Kherson are harrowing

on so many levels.

But what about the people fighting back?

[rain pours]

We headed east

towards the eastern front

where fighting is intensifying

and ordinary men and women

have signed up to the military

to push Russia back.

We're going into territory

where we are well within range

of most weapons systems,

so there's always a risk

doing something like this.

[car engine revs]

[high tempo tense music]

[shouting]

We got stuck!

[music continues]

He definitely has [a rope].

I asked him, he's going to bring one.

Lovely, thank you.

Stuck in mud,

normal service will be resumed shortly.

[car engine revs]

[music intensifies]

[artillery bangs]

That was outgoing, it's okay.

You sure?

Yeah.

[close artillery bang]

Outgoing.

So the difference between

incoming and outgoing is

outgoing is a clean sound.

You hear a bang

and you don't feel it through your boots.

Incoming is quite different.

There's a bang.

[loud artillery bang]

That again, is outgoing

that's fine.

Correct.

Absolutely correct.

[laughing]

[heavy machinery rumbles]

Vladimir Putin, what he's doing

he's brought 1914-18

back to Europe.

This machine

digging trenches.

The reason they're digging trenches here

is if they do pull back from Bakhmut,

which is over there

then this is going to be the new front line.

[artillery banging]

[loud explosion]

That was incoming.

You get used to it.

[shouting]

[car engine roars]

[tense music continues]

Part of the war is being stuck in the mud

like up to your knees.

That's the reality.

[car doors slam]

[artillery bangs]

Zarina let's go.

So as ever in war

the moment you try and do something,

something goes wrong.

It's a constant.

They had a thing in the Second World War

SNAFU.

Situation Normal, All Fucked Up.

However, we've switched cars

and now we're moving that way.

[engine revs]

[car door slams]

[calm music]

[mud squelches]

Well our brigade has been

deployed in

pretty much all major conflicts

in this war

major areas of this war.

We've been...

parts of our brigade was near Kyiv.

We were...

at the beginning of the invasion we were

near Kherson.

[dark tense music]

So, we're waiting for...

Ukrainian intelligence is...

military intelligence is working out

from the drones, what to hit next.

So there's going to be a bit of a wait.

[music continues]

[tank fires]

What did you do before the war?

I was a software engineer.

And when the war's over

you're going to go back to that?

Probably.

I hope.

What's...

Why are you fighting?

Well, this is our land.

This is our country and we're defending it

and...

I don't know how to put...

[tank fires again]

We have no other option

but to defend our land,

our country, our people.

[tense bassy beat]

Videos have been circulating

on Russian social media

of their soldiers executing

captured Ukrainian fighters.

This too, is a war crime.

- Glory to Ukraine!

[machine gun fire] - You bitch...

[machine gun fire echoes]

[artillery shelling]

It was a city once.

[gunfire echoes]

Home to seventy thousand people.

Now, it's a graveyard.

Artillery fire never stops.

[explosions and gunfire]

Every day in Bakhmut

volunteers risk their lives

to evacuate the last civilians in the city.

[whistling]

Turn around.

Here?

I will walk, hide [the car] somewhere here.

We join one of the crews

racing to get civilians out of Bakhmut.

[distant gunfire]

Passports and phones. Passports and phones.

Don't forget.

If she doesn't have a passport

but has an ID code and birth certificate

Everything you have, of course.

Do it fast!

Do it fast, please!

[tense beat]

[indistinct chatter]

[nearby explosion]

Fast, fast, please.

[distant shelling]

[artillery whooshes and explodes]

[debris sprays]

Go! Go! Go!

[engine idling]

Go! Go! Go!

Go!

Go. Go!

[door slams]

Fucking fuck!

See something?

Go!

[car accelerates sharply]

[car keeps accelerating]

How did you decide to leave now?

Last night my house was in flames.

All the windows have been blown out.

The house infront of ours burned down completely.

We thought that we would get piled with rubble.

We have nothing left.

[translating] "They had nothing."

"No water, no heat, no electricity."

Nothing. Nothing at all.

[distant shelling]

Civilisation left Bakhmut a long time ago.

[translating] "Civilisation has left a long time ago".

[tense music]

We have only the clothes we're wearing now.

They just grabbed their clothes to wear

and nothing else.

Are those your cats?

Yes.

That's my ginger cat and her sister.

[vehicle creaking]

How can we be happy?

We'll never see our homes again.

Where would we go back to?

We'll have to rebuild our homes.

He said like, "Where would we come back?"

"How can we come back?"

"We can't rebuild our house."

Where will you go now?

We're going to Kramatorsk,

but I don't know where to go from there.

[music intensifies]

[door slides open]

[quiet murmuring]

[soft music]

I can do it myself.

How are you feeling?

[music continues]

Not here, not there.

[translating] "Not here, not there."

In between places.

[cars pass by]

We didn't just arrive here,

we ran here very fast.

Under constant artillery fire.

[talking on phone]

[soft emotional music]

- How are you feeling? - Not well. I got carsick.

[sobbing]

I'm stressed today.

I just need to lay down for a bit

and drink some tea, that's all.

How do you feel about the people doing this?

[bittersweet piano music]

- I don't want to curse.

- Curse!

- I don't even want to say anything.

They also have families, they also have children.

If they were treated like this,

how would they feel?

And that's a question for them, not for me.

So...

[music continues]

- There is no electricity, no gas, no water.

- Is it a house or a flat?

- A flat.

So, the building next to them was hit

and they have no gas, no heat, no light

no water, nothing.

So the volunteers came and grabbed them

without any stuff

so right now they don't have anything.

[chattering]

Some people can stay with relatives.

This maths teacher is going to Germany.

But most don't know where they will end up next.

So they are leaving right now...

They have next to no money,

only the clothes on their backs.

The future is bleak.

Good luck!

Good luck to you!

- Good luck! - Good Bye!

[emotional music crescendoes]

[shelling continues]

[car accelerating]

So I'm just looking at the local chats

for Kostyantynivka.

I'm like in three of them, and

they are discussing

the explosions...

Yeah, I actually have the coordinates.

I'm just going to try and put it in the Google Map...

I think that's the building, that is the building.

That's it.

Hundred percent that's the same building in the video.

The team are on the road not that far from Bakmhut

when...

this...

[cluster bomb explodes]

[explosions continue]

[distant car sirens wailing]

Let's get out of this city.

Let's just not drive while it's going mental mate.

Get yourself down

[explosions continue]

Is it going to get closer?

I don't know Caolan. We just wait and see now.

What have I said about the best place to be

in any situation?

Is on the ground mate.

If you're in a car, if you're driving

if you're running

you're high.

[breathing]

A cluster bomb.

[tense music]

Where's Zarina?

She's right there but she'll come in the car.

[music continues]

Zarina, let's get in the car.

We're going to drive out now, before it happens again.

We are driving away from where it hit.

It hit right on the corner

where we stopped.

Our team made it out to safety

but the Ukrainians can't leave.

That day, six people in this area

were killed by cluster bombs.

[tense music]

To the north you have front line,

to the east you have front line

to the south you have front line.

Reasonably far away

but basically it's hard to get in and out.

There's a lot of humanitarian aid coming in,

but very little water.

So...

you've all got your helmets on now,

you've got your vests on.

I recommend keep that on the whole time

until we get back at least to here.

So Caolan with me,

you guys following.

Greg is a volunteer

who gave up his old comfortable life

in the USA

to deliver water to villagers

who've been cut off from the mains.

[engine starts]

[tense music]

So we're headed to a small city called Sivers'k.

Pre-war population of seventeen thousand.

There are roughly two thousand people left.

[distant shelling]

Due to the combat

a lot of the water systems are destroyed

and a lot of the water systems straddle the front line.

You can see in the distance

some large smoke stacks.

That's essentially the front line.

Where those industrial facilities are

out there,

there are...

I don't even know who controls

where those facilities are

but as a result of that

it's quite obvious we're pretty close to the front line.

[engine revs]

I think anybody who's in range

of any kind of artillery

should always be at least a little bit nervous.

When they see Greg's van arriving

the villagers come with water pales

to fill up.

[van door slams]

["Here Comes the Sun" plays from the van's radio]

Good health!

How are you feeling?

Alright? Cool.

You need water?

Cool.

["Here Comes the Sun" continues to play]

[distant shelling]

[chattering] That's a beautifu trolley.

No problem, no problem.

No, my farm is here I can't leave it.

I've got my pigs, chickens, cats and dogs...

They're like my children.

There's no one else to take care of them.

There's definitely indirect fire risk.

And...

we can't predict what's going to happen.

We plan for the worst case scenario...

the worst case scenario being...

similar to Bakhmut, where humanitarian aid can't come in.

[distant machine gun fire]

That's fucking machine gun fire.

[tense music]

Where we're heading is just the Ukrainians

and the Russians slugging it out.

Despite the artillery bangs,

we stay to ask these villagers...

what life is like here.

Our life is not that good.

We have no gas, no light, no heat, no water.

Of course it's scary.

Life was good before...

not anymore.

But where would I go?

We were hiding in the basement,

and they destroyed our house.

Over there.

We've been living in the basement

since July 2022.

It has become hell.

You never get used to it.

Our roots are here.

Where is the guarantee

that it will be better anywhere else?

No, we can't go.

Where would I go?

Why should I go?

Tell me please. I'm old already.

My children have already left,

Where will I go?

nobody needs me.

So I will finish my life here.

For as long as God allows me to live,

I will live.

What do you want?

I want the war to stop.

Yes, peace and quiet,

and peaceful skies above our heads.

We're praying to God

that he takes care of us.

[uplifting music]

[car doors slam]

The thing about Ukraine's ordinary people

is that they are so extraordinary.

[uplifting music continues]

Bleak as everything is...

their spirit remains unconquerable.

[distant explosions]

We built those houses and planted those trees in 1970

and we planted the park full of trees.

Decorated with beautiful chestnut trees.

[melancholic music]

They were growing for so many years,

and now we have to cut them down for firewood.

It's painful to cut down such beautiful trees

just to use for heating...

and cooking in our basements.

See here the new flowers are blooming.

Look here, the first bloom,

a spring blossom.

It makes you feel warm in your heart.

When this war is over,

and we can hold our heads high again,

when things are better...

we will plant the trees again.

We will plant the flowers

so everything is beautiful again.

[far off explosion]

For our children, and their children,

we will leave a world

still full of life.

[projector whirring]

Throughout human history

[piano music plays]

monsters, tyrants, dictators...

have attempted to cover up their crimes.

Sometimes... they succeed.

Right now Russia's lie factory is working full time

to deny reality.

And too many people in the West have fallen for it.

That's why we've made this film.

When the Kremlin denies reality

it is lying.

[piano music continues]

When Putin denies targeting civilians

he is lying.

I think you need to tell people

what's going on here.

When Russia denies it is even at war...

- This is our country, we're defending it.

it is a lie.

[explosions]

Phosphorous,

torture,

targeting civilians with artillery,

[explosions]

This film is documentary evidence of what is happening

in Ukraine at this very moment.

[dramatic music crescendoes]

And the extraordinary resolve of ordinary Ukrainians

fighting for their very lives in a hell.

Sent from Russia

[very loud explosion]

without love.

[upbeat music]

We were waving our flags.

It is still sinking in...

the magnitude of this moment.

[music continues to build]

[music continues]

[music fades out]

It was hell on Earth...

...right here in Kherson.

[gentle piano music]