All language subtitles for 20.Days.in.Mariupol.1080p.WEB.h264-BAE

Someone once told me, "Wars

don't start with explosions

they start with silence."

NARRATOR: From FRONTLINE and
The Associated Press a

special presentation of the
critically acclaimed feature

film on the first days of
Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The war has begun and we have
to tell its story...

If the world saw everything
that happened in Mariupol, it

would give at least some meaning

to this horror.

NARRATOR: Now, 20 Days in
Mariupol.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
This is the first time

I saw "Z,"
the Russian sign of war.

The hospital is surrounded.

Dozens of doctors,
hundreds of patients, and us.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
I have no illusions

about what will happen to us
if we are caught.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
February 24, 2022.

The city looks normal.

Someone once told me, "Wars
don't start with explosions.

They start with silence."

When we realized
that the invasion was imminent,

our team decided to go
to Mariupol.

We were sure it would be
one of the main targets.

But we could never imagine
the scale

and that the whole country
would be under attack.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
An hour after we arrive,

the first bombs hit
in the outskirts of the city.

A military base
with anti-aircraft systems.

Russians are clearing the path
for warplanes.

Huge port, industrial city,

a bridge to Crimea.

We were here eight years ago
when Russia tried to take it.

And, without a doubt,
they will try again.

We drive to the Left Bank,

the part of the city
closest to Russia.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
This is the first person

I speak to today.

CHERNOV (voiceover): I don't
know if I should keep filming

or try to calm her down.

Oi.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
I was wrong.

An hour later, shells do hit
this neighborhood.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
There are no directives

to evacuate the city,

but some people
are leaving anyway.

Oi.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
I understand their anger.

Their country is being attacked.

It's our country, too,
and we have to tell its story.

There are almost no real
bomb shelters in the city,

so people hide in the basements
of their apartment buildings.

Suddenly, the lights go out.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
We send videos and photos

to our editors.

The war has begun.

Ukraine is now a nation
at war.

190,000 Russian troops
and their proxies

coming from Ukraine's northern,
eastern, and southern borders,

Russia is moving fast.

After Putin stopped speaking,

on cue, the missiles
and air strikes began.

Air raid sirens
sounded on and off.

Kharkiv in the east
and Mariupol in the south

both came under heavy fire.

There's real anger
in the air.

The hatred for Vladimir Putin
is, is palpable.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
February 26.

This is
emergency broadcast system.

Russians are starting
to surround the city,

taking towns and blocking
the roads on the outskirts.

A quarter of the residents
have left.

But most decided to stay.

This is
Terrasport fitness center.

Now it's one of
the biggest improvised shelters

in the city.

People put tape on the mirrors
so fewer fragments are created

when bombs fall.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
This woman,

she's the one I told
to stay home on the first day.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
I apologize.

I'm glad she is okay.

CHERNOV (voiceover): As I
look at all these children,

I think about my daughters.

They also have to leave
their home because of this war.

News comes from
all over Ukraine,

and I cannot
get over the feeling

that something terrible is
going to happen to this city.

Missiles fired
at civilian locations,

according to the Ukrainians,

even though the Russians say

they are not
targeting civilians.

Their worst nightmare
coming true,

thousands of citizens
are trying to flee the country.

And those who are left behind
have filled bomb shelters

amid fears of rocket attacks
overnight.

Ukrainian soldiers like these

have put up a stout defense
of Mariupol

because, as a large port,
it's economically vital,

and as a major city
just 30 miles from Russia,

it's strategic.

For both sides in this war,
it is quite a prize.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
February 27.

Soldiers are patrolling around
Emergency Hospital Number Two,

a couple of kilometers
from the front line

on the edge of the city.

So far, Russians have not
been able to break through.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
For the first time in Mariupol,

I hear a sound
of a fighter jet.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
The soldiers are tense

and don't want to be filmed.

(voiceover):
We're interrupted

by an ambulance siren.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Evangelina, four years old.

U.S. officials warn

that Russian forces are turning
to their old and brutal tactics

of laying siege to cities

while targeting civilians
and infrastructure from afar.

...these punishing artillery
and air strikes.

Heavy losses, as indiscriminate
shelling rained down

on apartment buildings,

the university in flames.

"Show this to Putin,"
a doctor said

to an AP reporter.

The doctor wanted
Vladimir Putin to see, quote,

"the eyes of this child
and crying doctors."

Anyone wanting
to leave Mariupol

probably has to hit the road
by tomorrow,

after which the last route out
is expected to close.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
March 2.

Russian strikes are
causing problems with internet

and electricity.

CHERNOV (voiceover): All the
international journalists

we met in Mariupol have left.

But we decide to stick with
the medics for a few days.

We drive to the Left Bank,

where the heaviest fighting
is happening.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
This woman was standing

on her balcony
when the shell hit the house

on the opposite side
of the street.

CHERNOV: But shells don't
just hit the Left Bank.

These days, attacks happen
all across the city.

Mm?

CHERNOV (voiceover):
The boy was playing soccer

with his friends
when shelling started.

His legs were
completely blown off.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Ilya.

16 years old.

The front line is closing in.

We've sent
all the photos and videos.

Note to editors:
graphic content.

This is painful.

This is painful to watch.

But it must be painful to watch.

In the port city of Mariupol,

local officials say hundreds
of casualties are now feared.

A father lost in grief

over the body of
his 16-year-old son Ilya.

The electricity's gone.

The internet's gone.

The Russians are coming.

Mariupol awaits its fate.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
March 3.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
The shelling has reached

the neighborhood
around the hospital.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Patients are moved away

from the windows,
and day after day,

the conditions in the hospital
get worse.

CHERNOV (voiceover): This is
one of the boys who was hit

while playing soccer.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Doctors smile at him,

but I hear a whisper
that his leg

may need to be amputated.

There are almost no antibiotics
left to stop the sepsis.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
The internet and phones

have stopped working,

and I'm sending short dispatches
to our editors

over the satellite phone.

The morgue is full, so doctors
store bodies in utility rooms.

CHERNOV (voiceover): We stay
and sleep in the hospital.

So far, it seems to be
the safest place.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
From our observation point

on the seventh floor
of the hospital,

I see the battle
on the front line continues.

Russians are still trying
to break into the city.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Kyryl, 18 months old.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
All night, we sit

on the seventh floor
of the hospital,

hoping to catch a connection,

to find a way
to get these images out.

Nothing works.

I think about all this country
has been through

over the past eight years,

all that I've filmed.

Revolution of Dignity.

Crimea's annexation.

Russia's invasion of Donbas.

MH17.

Donetsk airport siege.

War that seems endless.

Thousands have died.

We keep filming,
and things stay the same.

Worse, even.

Propaganda turns everything
upside down.

I think about my daughters.

They were born
into a world at war.

I wish I could see them now.

But all I have is
a satellite phone

to make short calls to editors.

We tell them,
"Mariupol is under siege.

"Russians are killing civilians.

"We are holding up.

Tell our families we love them."

Evacuations of
two besieged cities in Ukraine

are being delayed amid reports

that Russia is violating
a temporary cease-fire.

City is surrounded
by Russian troops,

and there is no way out,

even for any humanitarian help.

The situation is
really dire in Mariupol.

A corridor was planned
to evacuate people from there,

and we've heard
that it has not happened,

that Russian forces have
continued to shell the city.

That's what the mayor has said.

Um, we have
no real-time information

of what's going on in the city.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
This is the only radio signal

you can catch in Mariupol now.

Over the next weeks,
Russia will bomb buildings,

cut electricity,
water, supplies,

and finally, crucially,

the cell phone,
radio, television towers.

We have to get
out of the hospital

to try to find a connection,

to see what's happening
to the city.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
March 4.

A mall near the hospital
was destroyed.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
As we search for a connection,

we go neighborhood
to neighborhood.

Houses we saw standing days ago
are destroyed.

Oi.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
We follow the smoke.

Houses hit by shells burn.

A humanitarian corridor
was opened on March 5.

Vehicles fled the city,

only to be blocked
by Russian forces.

Then the road was closed.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Red Cross, police,

Ukrainian soldiers try to help
and calm people down.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
The more people realize

that they are trapped,

the more desperate they grow.

CHERNOV (voiceover): The city
changed so much so quickly.

When we were in the hospital,
one of the doctors told me,

"War is like an X-ray.

All human insides
become visible."

CHERNOV (voiceover):
"Good people become better,

bad people worse."

CHERNOV (voiceover):
But I thought,

"It's not only the bombs,
lack of food, water.

"It's isolation, the inability
to contact relatives,

to find out what's happening
in other cities."

People charge cell phones
from a generator

just to use them
as flashlights.

Cut off.

We feel the same.

We still cannot send
our images.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
That night,

as we watch artillery shooting,

our phones suddenly
pick up connection.

I split the footage
into ten-second clips,

set three phones
on the windowsill, and send.

Bombs continued to rain down

on the southern Ukrainian city
of Mariupol,

which was fully surrounded
by Russian troops.

The Russians say
they aren't targeting civilians.

This is 18-month-old Kyryl.

Medics try to save the boy.

They cannot.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
March 9.

Like a disease,
war is taking over the city.

We are back at the
Emergency Hospital Number Two.

The few city workers
that are still on duty

collect bodies to be buried.

I recognize this sheet.

It's Ilya, the boy who was
killed playing soccer.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Somewhere among these black bags

lie the other children
we filmed.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Another truck arrives.

Bodies from the streets.

My brain will desperately want
to forget all this.

But the camera
will not let it happen.

The shock wave.

Ears and skin
feel the change of pressure.

We hide in the entryway
of a building

and wait for another strike,

praying it will not hit us.

(voiceover): We go to the top
of the building

and see the smoke
just a few blocks away.

It's a hospital.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
I try to find out

how many dead and wounded
there are.

But in this chaos,
nobody can answer.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
The name of the police officer

speaking to us is Vladimir.

He wants to make a statement.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
And then he asks once more.

Russian troops commit

war crimes.

Our family, our womens,

our children need helps.

Our people needs help
from international society.

Please help Mariupol.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Vladimir showed us

the only place in the city

where we could catch a signal
and send the images.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Outside a looted grocery store

on Budivel'nykiv Avenue.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Air strikes are

happening constantly.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Vladimir said the footage

from the maternity hospital

will change the course
of the war.

But we have seen
so many dead people.

Dead children.

How could more death
change anything?

Air strikes on
the southern city of Mariupol

destroyed a children's
and maternity hospital.

For once,
the aftermath of a bombing,

here at the city's
maternity hospital,

was filmed for the world to see.

Horror and devastation.

This is clearly the, the
worst and most egregious attack

we have seen in this war so far.

...mundial
por el bombardeo ruso

a un hospital pediátrico
en Mariúpol.

The Associated Press
also reports

that city workers
have had to create

a mass grave to bury the dead.

And Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky

calling this attack
a war crime.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
March 10.

The city is still being bombed.

And now I can also hear
heavy machine guns.

That means Russians
have entered the city.

Vladimir, the officer
we met yesterday, is with us.

CHERNOV (voiceover): The last
functioning fire department

in the city destroyed
by another air strike.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
I don't know if he survived.

We try not to stay long
in one place.

The biggest university
in the city was destroyed, too.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
New wounds every day.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
We drive back to catch a signal

at the spot
on Budivel'nykiv Avenue.

It's still the only place
where you can get internet.

It's past curfew,
so Vladimir accompanies us.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
We check the news

and speak to editors.

Sorry, what?

Hold on, hold on.

It's coming back � hold on.

CHERNOV:
Hold on, hold on, hold on.

This mother(bleep)
is flying around.

Hold on � I can hear him.

I, I don't think
there has been a moment today

when there was not, not
an airplane in the air.

And, uh,

the prognosis
is very pessimistic.

I think they're take
the Left Bank already.

(voiceover):
I give them the latest.

But there are disturbing updates
for us.

Okay.

These women's stories have epitomized

the tragedy unfolding
in Ukraine.

And yet, even their suffering
has been questioned,

with Russian officials
claiming on Twitter

and in news programs
that they must be actors.

(translated): This maternity
hospital had already been

seized by the Azov Battalion
and other radicals.

All the pregnant women,
all the nurses,

all the service personnel were
already expelled from there.

(translated):
This is information terrorism.

CHERNOV (voiceover): We hoped
that the pregnant woman

on the stretcher survived.

So we went to search for her

and other victims at the
Emergency Hospital Number Two.

Soldiers are guarding
the entrance.

Vladimir says
this is the red zone now.

The Russians have entered
the neighborhood.

So he comes with us.

Floor by floor, we search
for the pregnant women.

There is no maternity ward,

so we try
the surgery department.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Surgeons are overwhelmed

and low on painkillers.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
This piece of shrapnel

was taken from a patient.

CHERNOV (voiceover): Finally,
we find one of the doctors

who treated the woman
on the stretcher.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Her name was Iryna.

They said she screamed,
"Kill me,"

when they brought her.

She knew her child was dead.

Other survivors are here.

One of them
has just given birth.

Another is taken
to an operating room.

She lost part of her foot
in the bombing

and doctors worry
about the child.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
We have to leave.

But the corridors
are filled with people

who lost homes, relatives.

CHERNOV (voiceover): We head
to the exit, but it's too late.

Soldiers say a sniper
just shot and injured a nurse

in front of the hospital.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Two soldiers are still trapped.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
We hear a low rumble.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
So we run to the seventh floor,

to our observation point.

It's risky.

They can open fire at the
upper floors of the hospital.

But from here, we can see more.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
They are coming closer.

If reinforcements don't arrive,

the soldiers downstairs
will not be able to stop them.

They will take over
the hospital.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
What should we do?

We need to send
all this footage:

survivors from
the maternity bombing;

tanks shooting
at residential areas.

There is no connection here,

and we can't get to our car.

And if we get caught,
Vladimir says,

"Russians will make you say
everything you published

was a lie."

The night is sleepless.

Feverish thoughts
of past, present, and future

race through my mind.

I want all of this to stop,
but I have no power over it.

My memory keeps carrying me
back home

and back to war.

If someday my daughters ask me,

"What did you do
to stop this madness,

this sadistic virus
of destruction?"...

...I want to be able
to give them an answer.

This is
a special military task force.

All night,
we hid inside the hospital,

and Vladimir used
the last of his radio's battery

to contact them.

This morning,

they broke into the surgery
department to rescue us.

They said we were already
behind enemy lines.

(voiceover):
We are still wearing the scrubs

the doctors gave us,

in case Russians entered
the hospital that night.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
We run,

abandoning the doctors
who have sheltered us,

pregnant women
who had been shelled,

the people who live
in hospital corridors

because they have
nowhere else to go.

CHERNOV (voiceover): The
Russians took over the hospital

a few hours after we escaped.

They've taken the Left Bank,

except the Azovstal
steel factory.

And they are closing in
on the city center.

Ukrainian forces fight back,
but they are outnumbered.

The city is slowly dying,
like a human being.

On the day we escaped
from the hospital,

the military task force
moved us and Vladimir

to an area
still under Ukrainian control.

And for days, we tried to find
a way to get out of the city

with all the footage.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
March 13.

Shelling of residential areas
continues.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
Without any information,

people don't know who to blame.

(voiceover):
Vladimir keeps insisting

we need to find a way to leave.

But we no longer have our van.

It was left behind
in the hospital.

And anyone who drives us with
our cameras and hard drives

through miles
of occupied territory

would be taking a risk.

On March 15,
our editors send us a message:

"Yesterday, some people
were able to leave

"with a Red Cross convoy,

and there is another one
leaving today."

We go to the last functioning
hospital in the city.

The Red Cross convoy has left.

CHERNOV (voiceover):
I wish I could do more.

Stay longer.

But we need to leave.

One of the doctors tells us
to follow him to the basement.

CHERNOV (voiceover): We need
to catch up with the convoy.

Vladimir says he can try
to take us with his car.

I tell him it's dangerous.

But he wants to help to get us
and our materials out.

And he still hopes,
if the world saw everything

that happened in Mariupol,

it would give at least
some meaning to this horror.

Vladimir's car was damaged
by shelling,

but, miraculously, still runs.

We are with his family.

We make it
through 100 kilometers

of occupied territory

and 15 Russian checkpoints,

cameras and hard drives
hidden under seats.

By dawn, we finally catch up
with the Red Cross convoy.

Yesterday, I told one of
the officers who extracted us

from the hospital,
"Thank you for saving us."

He said, "Thank you for telling
the story of this city."

And yet, as we drive away,

I keep thinking
about all the people

whose tragedies
will remain unknown.

I will see my daughters.

And I can only hope
that these people survive

and will be
with their families, too.

The total number of refugees

who have fled Ukraine so far
is now nearing three million.

And Russians continue
to strangle

and starve Mariupol.

Got some new video
this morning

of 2,000 cars
that officials say managed

to make it out of Mariupol
through a humanitarian corridor

that Russia did not renege on.

Devastating images are now

emerging from Mariupol, where
the mayor says the death toll

could be as high as 20,000
since the war began.

Leaving people
without supply lines

for food or water,
without internet connection

to the outside world.

It was a tragedy.

This woman and her unborn child
later died.

And we know about the
atrocities that have been

happening inside Mariupol
because of journalists

from the Associated Press.

The only international reporters

to remain
after the Russian bombardment

bore witness to what have become
indelible images of the war.

AP reporters on the ground

showed the world a mass grave
in Mariupol.

I'm talking about
narrow trenches in Mariupol

with babies' bodies in them.

AP, AP journalists
have, have been there.

I've seen so many fakes.

Who wins the, the information
war, the one who wins the war.

Do you really, truly believe
this?

Do you truly believe
what you're saying?