What does war look like when it is fought not in sweeping advances, but meter by meter — through forests, trenches, explosions and loss?

In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch, host and filmmaker Raney Aronson-Rath speaks with director Mstyslav Chernov and producer Michelle Mizner about 2000 Meters to Andriivka, a harrowing new documentary from FRONTLINE and The Associated Press that follows a Ukrainian battalion during the 2023 counteroffensive against Russian forces. Set almost entirely in a narrow forest corridor leading to a Russian-held village, Andriivka, that the soldiers are trying to reach and liberate, the film immerses viewers in the chaos, fear and violence of modern combat, using helmet-camera footage and on-the-ground reporting to show how every step forward comes at a cost.

Chernov describes how personal memory, history and geography shaped the film — from his childhood connections to villages like Andriivka to the echoes of past wars fought on the same soil. Mizner details how the immediacy of the helmet cam footage brings viewers closer to the experience of the soldiers, putting audience members on the front line in a way few films have. Together, the Oscar-winning filmmakers, whose documentary 20 Days in Mariupol won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2024, sought to balance the relentless intensity of combat with quieter moments of camaraderie, vulnerability and reflection among soldiers who refer to one another simply as “brother.”

The conversation also explores the responsibility of bearing witness: documenting death, honoring those who did not survive, and creating a record that allows soldiers and civilians alike to understand what is being sacrificed.

Chernov notes in his narration in the film that the longer the war goes on, the easier it is for the world to look away. 2000 Meters to Andriivka puts the Russia-Ukraine conflict back in focus, offering an unvarnished, deeply human account of a war still unfolding.

You can watch 2000 Meters to Andriivka on FRONTLINE’s website, on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel and on the PBS App. Want to be notified whenever a new episode of the podcast is released? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.