Tonight, ‘2000 Meters to Andriivka’ premieres on PBS

As Mstyslav Chernov’s documentary 20 Days in Mariupol screened in theaters across the world in 2023, his homeland of Ukraine was under attack.

Even while Chernov attended screenings and walked red carpets in support of 20 Days in Mariupol — a vivid documentation of the early civilian toll of Russia’s assault on Ukraine that would go on to win an Oscar® — he was drawn towards home.

“Ukraine was on fire,” he told me last week. “The front line was on fire.”

So Chernov, a journalist with The Associated Press, returned to his besieged home country and began filming in the trenches with a brigade of Ukrainian soldiers. He was able to obtain an extraordinary trove of the soldiers’ own helmet camera footage that documented, in an unfiltered form, their grueling fight through a 2000-meter strip of forest trying to reach and reclaim the strategic Russian-held town of Andriivka. And he was there with them on their final push to try to raise the flag in Andriivka, capturing something equally devastating: the quiet moments as the soldiers realized that, for them, this war may never end.

2000 Meters to Andriivka, the resulting documentary from FRONTLINE and the AP, has been called “truly remarkable” (The New York Times), “extraordinary” (Rolling Stone), and “one of the best combat films ever made” (Documentary Magazine).

Following 2000 Meters to Andriivka’s decorated run on the film festival circuit, we are so pleased to present the documentary’s North American broadcast premiere tonight on PBS (check local listings) and streaming platforms.

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2000 Meters to Andriivka

November 25, 2025

We are also proud to say that the documentary is an official production of FRONTLINE FEATURES, an initiative we announced last week. The effort produces cinematic feature-length and short documentaries for global, multiplatform distribution, bringing our signature acclaimed journalism to film festivals and theaters ahead of PBS broadcast and streaming premieres.

It’s all aimed at sharing vital work like 2000 Meters to Andriivka with as many people as possible — from theatrical to festival screenings; to streaming on YouTube, our website and in the PBS App for free; to airing on PBS stations nationwide.

2000 Meters to Andriivka is written, filmed and directed by Chernov. It is produced by Chernov, FRONTLINE’s senior documentary editor and producer Michelle Mizner, and me. Mizner also edited the film, which is co-produced and includes additional cinematography by AP journalist Alex Babenko; is composed by two-time Grammy Award®-winning composer and music-producer Sam Slater; and is executive produced by AP’s Derl McCrudden and me.

We are honored to once again collaborate with the AP on this film, and to offer audiences both rigorous journalism and cinematic, feature-length storytelling. Following in the footsteps of 20 Days in Mariupol, we hope 2000 Meters to Andriivka will serve as a lasting record of history in documentary form, and a reminder of the human toll of this ongoing conflict.

In the words of The Guardian, “You will not emerge from this film unchanged.”