Original subtitles

Ukrainian forces have now launched their much-talked-about counter-offensive,

expected to be the biggest military operation in Europe since World War II.

From Frontline and the Associated Press, a special presentation of the award

-winning film 2,000 Meters to Andreevka.

This program contains graphic imagery of war which may not be suitable for all

audiences viewer discretion is advised

Do you understand?

Yes. I turned it on just for this.

Yes.

Ah, I got it, I got it.

I'll give you my word.

I'll give you GPS.

But,

but, calm down.

Be careful.

Hold on, guys.

FPV, guys, FPV.

There he flew, he flew, he flew, he flew!

Come here!

Fly, fly, fly!

Come on, come on, bro, faster!

Me? We're going to save the guys!

I'm going forward.

Come on, I'll take a look.

Fara! Fara, Fara!

Morty! Bro!

Fara!

Fara! Fara, Morty! Morty, my friend!

Morty!

Morty!

Come on, bro!

Come on!

Come on!

Breathe out!

Morty, bro!

The blood is flowing!

It's cold,

it's cold.

It's cold, it's cold. It's cold,

it's

cold.

Go, go, go, go, go!

Come on!

Come on! Come on!

Let's go,

let's go!

Just take your stuff and go!

Throw it, throw it, throw it!

What's wrong with him, bro?

Hands, legs... The car is not moving!

The car is not moving!

The car is not moving!

The car is not moving!

The car is not moving!

The car is not moving! The car is not moving! The car is not moving!

The car is not moving!

The car is not moving!

The car is not moving!

Emka didn't go, she got fucked up.

Well, that's the story.

Moroz-300, Liza-300.

Guys, let's move.

Did you pull him over? He gave me all the ends.

All the ends?

Yes.

Take off the armor.

Take off the armor on the face.

What's up bro?

No,

Piro! Pint and crawl!

Bro, I won't crawl.

You will crawl! Fox will crawl!

Frost will crawl! And you will crawl!

Come on!

Pint!

I have a fracture.

Can you roll over?

Come on, bring it!

Let's go to the pit, Pyro.

It hurts.

Hector, come on.

Friends, give me a hand.

I'll fight there. No, guys.

Don't even think about it.

Got it?

I'm coming back!

Both Ukraine and Russia are reporting fierce fighting along the front lines.

Ukrainian forces have now launched their much-talked-about counter-offensive.

The new counter-offensive, expected to be the biggest military operation in

Europe since World War II.

Russian forces are concentrated. They are deeply embedded. They've been

building fortifications and defenses.

With virtually no independent reporting from the front lines, it's impossible to

assess the degree to which Ukraine's operation is underway or whether it's

having success.

I want to tell you a story.

A story thousands of years old.

A story of men fighting for their land.

There is a forest in eastern Ukraine.

A narrow strip of trees squeezed between two minefields.

The only way to Andreevka.

A village on the outskirts of Bakhmut.

This is the story of this forest.

And the people who will remain there.

AM. We are in the 3rd assault brigade headquarters.

The Ukrainian counter-offensive is underway.

Here on the eastern front.

The brigade's task had been to move through 2000 meters approximately one

mile of the heavily fortified forest and capture the strategic village of

Andreevka.

This would cut the Russian supply road to the occupied city of Bakhmut.

And we want to be there when it happens.

But it's hard for journalists to get to the battlefield.

Our only chance is to meet with Fedya, the officer on ground.

He's busy.

Duda.

The coordinating officer has an idea.

We managed to convince them to take us.

Duda tells us we're idiots for wanting to go.

The positions have been changed.

Ryaba and... Our

landing, through which we will move, Zhizhka, here it is. It leads directly

to Andreevka.

This is so that you knew in case of any trouble, so that no one would break away

from you, or someone would f**k up.

To send the flag and a note to Fedya.

If Andreevka is liberated, his task will be to raise the flag.

I just saw how they approached the storm three times. They

just go through half the field, they are bitten, they do not roll back.

Around the fields, the landing goes straight to the bottom.

Wearing the blue journalist vest on the battlefield is no longer an option.

It makes us priority targets.

If we are lucky, today we'll get to Fedya and film him raising the flag.

But we are all nervous.

The forest leading to the village has killed many men.

Before departing, I kept looking at the map.

2,000 meters.

Three months.

It didn't make sense.

Why did it take so long?

Then they showed us.

Videos from helmet cameras.

Drones.

Records of all the violent battles on the way to Andreevka.

Each one an attempt to get closer.

Each one.

taking its toll.

Come on, go there, get out of the car!

Run there!

Get up!

Get up!

Get up!

Get up! Get up!

Go! Go!

Go! Go!

Go!

Go!

Go!

Go! Go!

Who's burning there? Maybe we'll go and pull him out.

Back! Back!

Back! Back!

Back!

Back!

Back! Back!

Back!

Back!

I hit him, but he didn't fall.

Where is he?

He is with Ruth.

Bro, give me your hand.

Do you have a marker?

I'm looking for it.

It's an RPG, guys.

Pull yourself up there.

Let's go.

Bro, are you going?

Pull him up! Help me!

Look for it!

Brother,

hold on and get out.

You can't let him go.

You can't, brother.

You can't, brother.

Hold on, please.

Let's go under the house.

We'll get in, even if it's not visible.

Some of these battles gained ground.

Some pushed the brigade back.

But they kept fighting.

And now we follow their steps.

8.30 a.m.

Our transport reaches the forest.

One of the soldiers tells me it's like landing on a planet where everything is

trying to kill you.

But it's not another planet, I tell myself.

It's the middle of Europe.

Now we have to get to Fedya.

But instead of him, we meet one of his soldiers with a gold sign.

Freak.

He calls us pencils so that the Russians intercepting radio chatter don't know we

arrived.

The battles moved forward, closer to the village, leaving the destroyed

armored vehicles and bodies behind.

The fields and roads around were mined by the Russians.

The village is 2000 meters ahead.

35 seconds for a mortar shell to fly.

A 2 minute drive.

A 10 minute run.

But here time doesn't matter.

Distance does.

And it's measured by pauses between the explosions.

I hear over the radio.

that Fedya is in the middle of the fight.

The battle in Andreevka is raging.

Good.

You can use gas. You can wash it.

What gas?

What?

You can use gas that causes tears and nausea. Yeah.

Just so you know.

If you start, there might be some gas.

Got it.

Good. Can't you see it? You can't see it at all.

Yeah.

Listen, can you come to us, buddy?

Friend, do you want us to have a dugout?

It's up to

you.

This is

our helicopter?

Yes.

Fish, fish, I'm lava, from me azimuth, 85-90, I can hear...

I'm from Hryvniy Rada, Provsky district, here in the area.

Nice Ukrainian.

Yes, I moved there.

We also moved there from Kharkiv.

I myself spent 4 years in Kharkiv.

Did you study?

Yes. Where?

Kharkiv. I still study there.

By the way, I'm from Kharkiv National University of Radio and Electronics.

I know such.

Yes, I'm a student.

Well, it's scientific.

Snure, it seems, right? Yes, Knurek, Knurek.

And we are fighting Snure, we are just from KPI.

I know.

I was a minister once.

So, that's it. Listen, give me one more, damn it.

Brother, there is silence between us, and I am far away. Now we will go to the

side, we will figure out who is better. Of course, he is a good person, brother.

As we talk, I'm thinking about Andreevka, focusing on the radio chatter

and losing the thread.

when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014.

When a full-scale invasion started, he left university, returned to his

hometown and joined the territorial defense.

From there, he moved to the 3rd Assault Brigade.

At the time we speak, he is 22.

Five months from now, he will be injured in a battle for another forest.

His body never found.

Some say it's fate.

Your bullet will be yours.

Do you think so too?

No, I think it's my actions.

How I'm going to behave.

Fate is more likely to decide. The truth is that you made the wrong choice.

It's hard to lose something when you're fighting for...

A piece of wood, right?

Well, if you think about it, it's just a landing, right?

It may be easier to move forward when you think that this is your fate.

Well, for some people, yes.

I would like to think that when I get there, I will be alive.

Frick told us how the brigade fought for this part of the forest.

Trying to push Russians from their trenches.

Halfway to Andreevka.

Their helmet cameras captured every step of the battle.

One is there.

Hold it.

Hold it.

Come on, come on. Turn it on, turn it on.

Who's coming with me?

Move forward, guys, move forward!

Come on!

Good!

Good!

Cover it!

Cover it!

Cover it or not?

Hold it! One!

Two! Cover it!

Bitch, come on!

I'm going to kill you!

I'm going to

kill

you!

What do you want?

What do you want, bitch?

What do you want, bitch? What

do you want, bitch? What do you want, bitch?

What do you want, bitch?

There's another one here!

Fuck!

Right under my feet!

Fuck!

Get out!

Get out!

Get out!

Get out!

Get out!

We are not going to shoot.

Get out. Do you get

out or not?

We are looking for a bomb. We are doing everything we can.

Try to throw a grenade and you will lose two.

Hands up!

Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on,

come on, come on,

come on.

How many more of

you

are there?

How many?

Get out and you'll be alive!

Get out!

We won't touch you!

One wanted to throw a grenade, he's 200!

Let's give him a ball!

Bro,

either we throw a ball now, or you give up!

Get out!

Without a grenade!

Three guns.

That's it. Come on, come on, come on. Come on, come on.

Come on, come on.

Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on. Come on, come on.

Come on, come on.

Guys, the trench is ours, it's burning in the middle, we can't get in.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

We're still pinned down in this damn foxhole, waiting to get to Fedya.

Is there anything against the objective?

Yes.

In short,

Kharkiv was liberated.

And all the same, the places where I was a child, you know, where grandmothers

go, but they are no longer there.

Are you going to the ruins or to the graves so that they are liberated?

It looks like they are getting rid of your house, but they are getting rid of

ruins and graves instead of getting rid of the house.

But if they don't get rid of it, it will be even worse.

They are getting rid of the names and they will put up a flag just to...

I received a call.

Friend, yesterday we were in a gang.

Get out, get out on the street. Copy that.

Copy.

At last, we start moving.

Andreevka is now 1000 meters ahead.

Halfway.

The smell of death, explosives and freshly cut trees becomes stronger.

I try to focus on what needs to be done.

We need to be there when the PDA raises the flag.

His first question to us, where are your guns?

Video is 24.

Battle promoted sergeant.

He has a scar on his lip from playing war in his childhood and a job in a

warehouse for the invasion.

There was such a traffic jam that they did not drive the bulls, and we went out

there.

It's just luck.

The

21st

century.

But for now, we pass the task to the front.

Fedya, brother, writes Duda.

Today, 12 people of the 93rd brigade are coming.

Six on our company, six on the 2nd OSHB.

They need to be disbanded, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.

You have all the work left, you know, from me, Polyana.

Tomorrow we will give you two flags of Ukraine and the 3rd OSHB. And we will

give two photographers, they only want to work with you.

Leave for tomorrow those guys who you need.

Friend, extreme rush.

I'm here, Sanya, until you come out. Brother, extreme rush.

That's how it is.

Sit from there and who?

And Ivar.

I knew what he meant when he

said he never wanted to be a soldier

None of us did.

When we were children,

every boy in school got military lessons.

We marched, assembled and disassembled Kalashnikovs.

We shot.

Ten bullets for each young man.

But few of us saw any point in this.

There was no one to fight with.

We had no enemies.

Before

each

battle, Fedya trained his men.

He shouts at them and swears heavily.

He knows that some of them will die.

When Russia invaded Ukraine each one of us had to make a choice I took

a camera and started filming Fedya took a gun He was

sure Ukraine will win this war

Video told us after the brigade liberated two-thirds of the forest it

was his battalion turn to push forward.

The first assault operation for many of his men.

Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go,

let's go, let's go.

Two, move!

Step back a little.

Move!

In headquarters, Duda and other officers guided Fedya and his team through the

battlefield.

It will be very important. The sector is starting.

Clear,

clear!

Sit down, guys. I'm holding.

Brother, Duda, Duda, tell me what's ahead.

What's ahead?

There's going to be a fire 5-6 meters behind us.

If you're ready, we're ready.

Tell me 120, we're ready.

Fire and supply. Fire and supply.

APU, APU, work, APU-2.

Fedya, Fedya, it's going to be 20.

Be careful, be careful.

We need to cut them into 120 pieces.

Guys,

let's go to the roof.

Where is he going?

Where does he want to go?

I'm ready to work.

Let him jump.

Jump!

Fedya, Fedya, there's a shell in the dugout, guys. They're shooting.

They're shooting,

yes.

Guys, the mortar is on its way. Guys, be careful with the mortar.

Yes! Yes!

Yes!

Where the

f**k

are you?

Let Stryukov work.

This is a counter-offensive!

We have a lot of 300, a lot of 300.

Bro,

my ass is bleeding.

Is there?

Give him help.

Give him help.

Guys, be careful, be careful, be careful, be careful, be careful, be

careful.

Another 300 meters were taken.

But the further they advanced, the harder it was to keep pushing.

Eriks could not believe all these casualties were coming from that tiny...

forest.

If they continued losing so many men...

They would not be able to finish the offensive.

U.S. officials say Ukraine's much-anticipated offensive is slowly

moving forward.

Progress is modest but steady, according to the Ukrainian forces, as they reclaim

villages and trenches dug by Russian forces.

Ukraine says it has liberated several villages from the Russians in recent

days. Villagers emerge from the basements, the bunkers they've been

hiding in, and we're overjoyed to see Ukrainian troops there, to see the blue

and yellow Ukrainian flags flying over their village once again.

Over in the northeast, that cauldron of violence,

Bakhmut, has also been the scene of some Ukrainian gains of a few kilometers in

recent days.

Ukraine also taking high casualties.

Ukraine is a relative David to Russia's Goliath. It can't afford to lose three

times the soldiers that Russia does, so it has to proceed carefully. If that

isn't good enough, and actually they still end up in a stalemate, Western

confidence is likely to dip.

If we're not getting results here, then perhaps Ukraine wants to think about

another plan, even some land concessions for peace.

If Ukraine falls, then Russian forces will be on Europe's doorstep that

becomes NATO's war.

What's your position?

1.30 p.m.

We stop again to wait for the artillery duel to finish.

The day seems endless.

After his injury, Fedya was sent to the hospital.

He quickly recovered and returned to the forest.

Plus, plus, possible roll to the right, copy.

Copy, copy. Work in the same direction, I see.

In Andreevka, in Andreevka. And also worked from 110 azimuth, reception.

Also in Andreevka.

Wait, there's a tank somewhere there, right? Yes, yes, yes.

They used to have SPG there on the white walls and cones.

I see.

But it was demolished.

In Andreevka, just go up and run.

It's not just...

Move fast. Move fast.

And there are four of us, yes, four people in a collapse in 10 minutes and

that's it. And you will come in calmer.

Later?

Later. If you are going to pull up, I will go there.

Oh, so I understand.

We have a ceremony.

Let's go.

And you will come in too?

Plus.

There is nothing left of the village.

Why are we fighting for it?

To rebuild it.

These are our lands.

Even with the example of these fields and settlements, everything grows.

Everything blooms and grows anew. The same goes for the cities we fight for.

They will be rebuilt over time.

And maybe, on the contrary, we will live better.

I think that war is probably the best moment in life when you can

start from scratch. And we have such a moment now. We need to hold on, knock

out and start from scratch. And I think we will be fine.

It's your first time here?

You don't smoke?

I smoke like a train.

But... Do you want me to turn it?

Yes, of course.

Turn it, turn it.

Turn it. Yes, now... Now I'll do it.

But after this exit, I won't be here for a long time.

To train?

Yes. And... Cigarettes.

Maybe... I'm not going to worry that I'm not going to smoke.

Maybe I'll go here, but I'll set the norm.

I'm not going to smoke in these streets.

And then a little faster.

And then make an evening walk.

Rucksack, GPS.

Just open it.

What's interesting?

Cigarette. Huh?

Interesting cigarette.

I'm not a gourmet, but I smoke L.M.

And this is absolutely, absolutely, cardinally.

I like these much more than cigarettes.

First of all, you twist yourself and smoke less, because you need time to

twist.

It's much more.

And decisions. Well, decisions.

Because so you took the aero, you smoke everything. Yes, yes, yes. And so you

need to sit down, slowly twist, smoke.

You still calm down while you spin.

Here is already a very good idea for me after leaving,

right? Buy a self-propelled gun.

I'll leave you this tobacco.

No, no, no.

Do you

like

it? No, I don't like it.

Well, no, it's not that. It seems to me that for me smoking is some kind of

aesthetic activity.

Aesthetic activity.

Today I understood my wife.

That she is living for me.

Because today I started to live for her.

And I started to live for her because she lives for me.

Because she goes to work, works, helps children, helps grandchildren, takes

care of children. And after that she needs a lot of strength for these

experiences. And I am living for that water to take her to my house.

Because she is still a little child.

The main thing is water.

The water fell into the well and made it dirty.

We planted a well only 15 meters away from the well, and there should be clean

water there. The first thing is that there is enough water for the well,

because there is no water in the well anymore.

Did you burn your wife?

Well, now it's already like that.

And what about her?

Go home.

Sheva is 46.

At the beginning of the counteroffensive, he left a comfortable

position in the military police to volunteer.

over the 3rd assault brigade.

He will be injured in a battle 5 months from now and will die in a hospital.

How do you think?

For the next battle, Fedya's friend and second in command, Gagarin, replaced him

in the forest.

He was 24.

Hometown, Polone, Western Ukraine.

He worked as a truck driver in Europe.

When the full-scale invasion started, he returned and volunteered.

He led the platoon to battle.

They had to move another 300 meters and reach the end of the forest.

After that, it was Andreevka.

His friend, Kobzar, followed him to the battlefield.

Wait, what happened?

What happened?

What happened?

What happened? What happened?

What happened? What happened? What happened?

The machine gunner!

A fish! A fish!

A fish!

You should have asked them to take it.

Kagarin was laid to rest in his hometown, Volone, 972 km

from Andreevka.

And the entire neighborhood came to his funeral to be with his mother as she

cried.

They said it was the 56th funeral here.

They say the heroes don't die.

Really, guys, don't be stupid. I take it like a door.

The heroes are really taken away. And in such a city, believe me, there is such a

thing that the heroes are taken away.

Our heroes don't die.

The soldier who held Gagarin's hand as he was dying in the forest will be

killed five months from now by a drone strike in a battle for another village.

Who are we hiding?

We are hiding our children.

Wives are hiding their husbands.

Children are hiding their parents.

And, unfortunately, we are also hiding the parents of unborn children.

They had it all in front of them, our boys.

They had it all in front of them.

They could have been entrepreneurs,

breadwinners, miners.

But when the time came, they took up arms and went to defend us with you,

dear ones, us.

square miles of territory since then.

U.S. intelligence is now saying that Ukraine will fail to meet their

counteroffensive key goals.

How sustainable is this level of support when there's really no end in sight to

the war?

Russia has millions more men from whom to draw.

There's no path to a military victory here, only more death.

Mmm.

was failing.

Few believed Ukraine could advance any further, but the brigade decided to make

its last stand.

As Gagarin was laid to rest, the final battle for Andreevka began.

All the battalions gathered their forces.

First, they took positions on the edge of the forest and in houses on the

outskirts. Then, under the cover of the smokescreen bombs, they moved in.

FPV drone! FPV! FPV!

Come in. Come in.

I have a problem.

Bro,

fall, fall, fall!

Grenade!

What do you want from me?

2-0, plus-plus.

Come on, faster,

faster, faster, faster, faster.

Pull him back, pull him back.

How many people were here?

How many more people?

There are 20 people here. Who is the commander?

The commander is called Yava.

You sit here in the basement, right?

Your last name, last name, last name.

How many people do you have left, combatants?

No one.

I've always dreamed, guys, at the age of 19, you... What?

2PM We are 100 meters from Andriyivka

We are finally in Andreevka.

As Russians retreated, their artillery shot indiscriminately.

They were erasing the village from the map.

In the last 100 meters, there are bodies scattered everywhere.

Mostly Russians, few Ukrainians.

As we walk in, Petey receives a message that one of the soldiers in his platoon

has been injured.

Who is it?

He is severely shell shocked.

We run to the ruins of another house.

This one at least has a basement.

Buhun, how are you?

Red Fedor, Red Fedor.

Good.

We are waiting, waiting.

Now it will be quiet and we will move.

We will need to fix the flag.

We are handsome.

We really are in Andreevka.

But the village doesn't exist anymore.

Among the ruins, there is hardly a place to raise the flag.

The villagers are dead or gone.

Everything is destroyed.

People, animals, memories.

And all that is left of it is a name.

Red, red, give me the status, it's already red, it's already red, it's just

from Vinnytsia.

We need to get out.

Up?

Yes, yes.

I think

that's

it.

I don't argue, but I doubt it will happen.

I know Ukraine doesn't have enough resources to continue the

counteroffensive.

I know the Russians will continue to reduce cities to a state where There

aren't even bricks left.

And the longer it all goes on, the less the world will care about it.

I'm afraid this land will remain frozen frontline for years.

Osku in nature, in Andreevka.

Is that a boy or a girl?

A girl.

She's three months old. She's three months old.

She's

three

months old.

Come on, close it.

Slowly close the backpack.

Lock, lock.

What kind of air will come in here?

TPE. Will be a Cossack.

And we will tie it all up completely.

We

will

tie it up like this, right?

We'll screw it a couple of times and it won't go anywhere.

Will it work?

Are you ready?

Are you ready?

I'm ready.

They're right at the top of the wall.

Yes, yes, half an hour, half an hour.

Is that it?

Turn off the video, Aika.

It's the 16th of September now.

The third storm completely took the village of Andriivka.

Glory to the nation!

Death to the enemies!

That's it.

Let's go.

That's it, Andreev is our guy. We gave him a beat.

That's it, guys. We're tanks and we're out.

8 PM When we were sitting in the basement Fedya told me

In his dreams he fights like hell in this forest Then he wakes up

and goes back to the battle

And I thought, this war is a nightmare none of us can wake up from.

I envy Fedya, because he believes we will.

He has the names of his friends and the cities he has lost.

And a gun and a flag to avenge them.

Plus, plus, I just hear a taxi on the Elks.

Just a little bit more.

Just a little bit more. Just a

little

bit more. Yes, yes.

That's it.

This is the hardest part.

Do you want to say something to the police?

I want to sleep in this forest.

I want to go home.

I want to wash, eat and sleep.

I want to sleep.

How long will you sleep?

Until the morning.

And in the morning there is still a lot of work to do, in addition to going out.

Sheva, come here.

Why are you so sour?

Sheva, come here.

Smile, smile.

What if this war will last until the end of our lives?

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Go to pbs.org slash frontline for more on the making of this film.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, each one of us had to make a choice.

I took a camera and started filming.

And see all our previous reporting and films on Russia's war in Ukraine.

For more on this and other Frontline programs, visit our website at pbs.org

slash Frontline.

Frontline's 2,000 Meter Tuandrivka is available on Amazon Prime Video.