Ukraine: Life Under Russia’s Attack
Tues., Aug. 2, 2022
Airing at 10/9c on PBS & on YouTube
Streaming at 7/6c at pbs.org/frontline & in the PBS Video App
facebook.com/frontline | Twitter: @frontlinepbs | Instagram: @frontlinepbs | youtube.com/frontline

 

When Russia began its attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, in February of 2022, many people expected the city to fall in days. But the Ukrainians refused to surrender.

Now, a new FRONTLINE documentary, Ukraine: Life Under Russia’s Attack, offers a dramatic and intimate look inside the Russian assault on Kharkiv, told by the people living through it: the displaced families trying to survive underground, the civilians caught in the fight, and the first responders risking their lives to protect them.

“Only a fool is not afraid,” says Tatiana, a paramedic who had spent her days trying to save shelling victims since the war began. “Everyone gets afraid. Fear is normal.”

Filmed on the ground over the first three months of the war in Kharkiv, a city just 25 miles from Russia, Ukraine: Life Under Russia’s Attack premieres Tuesday, August 2 on PBS and online (check local listings). Filmed, produced and directed in Ukraine by Mani Benchelah and Patrick Tombola with producer Volodymyr Pavlov, with additional direction by Teresa Smith and executive production by Oscar-nominated filmmakers Ben de Pear and Edward Watts (For Sama) and Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, the documentary tells the story of the battle for Kharkiv through the experiences of those who stayed in the city, despite the ever-present threat of the war.

Among them is Roman, a firefighter, who moved into the fire station with his wife and young daughter amid near constant shelling. “My wife doesn’t like when I’m going,” he says. “When we are coming back from the fires, she always cries. But she’s already used to it.

In a city transformed into a war zone, the documentary follows Roman, Tatiana and other first responders on urgent missions as they work to save the lives of Ukrainian civilians.

Civilians like Sergey, who lost one arm when his apartment was hit by shelling. “Why should I go somewhere far away? If this is my home, shall I go and lie in a ditch?” he says, while living with other displaced people in the basement of a school. “If we are helped a bit, we shall keep on living here. This is my motherland.”

In vivid and indelible scenes, the documentary shows how the war has upended the lives of children like 10-year-old Vika, who with her mom, grandmother and little brother Misha were among hundreds of people who moved underground into a metro station that became a makeshift bomb shelter. “We understand there’s a war,” Vika says. “But we don’t understand why it has started.”

Neither do some adults: “How is it possible to kill another human being?” asks 86-year-old Vitali, a former theater actor who was living in the subway station. “I think it’s all stupid and unnecessary.”

As the war enters its sixth month, Ukraine: Life Under Russia’s Attack is a powerful portrait of how the people of Kharkiv are trying to make the most of an uncertain future, while living under daily threat.

“It’s not like, ‘Ok, I’m ready to die, and I’m not afraid,’” says Roman, the firefighter. All of us are afraid.”

Still, they are not giving up.

“I think the war has brought us together, to tell you the truth,” says Tatiana, the paramedic. “People who couldn’t stand each other are now united because of this disaster.”

Ukraine: Life Under Russia’s Attack will premiere Tuesday, August 2, 2022, at 10/9c on PBS stations (check local listings). The documentary will also be available to stream at pbs.org/frontline, in the PBS Video App and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel. Ukraine: Life Under Russia’s Attack is distributed internationally by PBS International.

###

Credits

Ukraine: Life Under Russia’s Attack is a Basement Films production for GBH/FRONTLINE in association with Channel 4. Filmed, produced and directed by Mani Benchelah and Patrick Tombola; produced in Ukraine by Volodymyr Pavlov; directed in London by Teresa Smith. The editor is Agnieszka Liggett. The production manager is Leah Gowns. The executive producers are Ben de Pear, Edward Watts and Cate Blanchett. The executive producer and editor-in-chief for FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

 

About FRONTLINE
FRONTLINE, U.S. television’s longest running investigative documentary series, explores the issues of our times through powerful storytelling. FRONTLINE has won every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 100 Emmy Awards and 28 Peabody Awards. Visit pbs.org/frontline and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to learn more. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Park Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Laura DeBonis. 

 

FRONTLINE Press Contact:
Anne Husted, FRONTLINE, Manager, Public Relations and Communications
frontlinemedia@wgbh.org  |  6173005312