All language subtitles for Ukraine.The.Peoples.Fight.2023.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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Six miles from the front line
in southern Ukraine,

I've been invited to watch
this artillery unit

as they try and destroy
a Russian tank.

Even closer to the front line,

this drone operator's watching
from the air,

helping the gunners
hit their target.

When Russia first invaded Ukraine,
many - including the Russians -

thought that this war
would be over in days.

But we're now five months in,

and the Ukrainians
are still fighting back.

Some say they're actually winning.

There's no doubt that
foreign weapons,

like these American howitzers,

are making a big difference...

..but they alone don't explain how
this young country is holding off

one of the biggest armies
in the world.

Some bastards are dead today.

Mykolaiv sits right on the edge
of Ukraine's southern front.

A few miles down this road
is the front line

and a battle that could decide
the fate of the war.

Russia's invasion reached
as far as Mykolaiv's

neighbouring city, Kherson,

but Mykolaiv stopped the advance.

Now, every day,
Russian forces pound Mykolaiv

with artillery and rocket fire...

..hitting both military
and civilian targets...

..and sowing fear in
the residents that remain.

If Russian forces succeed in
capturing Mykolaiv,

the fear is
they could then sweep west,

cut Ukraine off from the sea

and take control of the ports
that support the national economy.

It'd be the beginning of the end
for Ukraine.

But despite months of
this punishment,

Mykolaiv - like the country -
is still fighting back.

And the question remains,
how is this possible?

I've been offered a trip
to the front line, to see for myself

how the Ukrainians are holding off
this Russian advance.

But before I leave, I meet
Mykolaiv's regional governor,

Vitaliy Kim.

He says there's something
I should see before I go.

He told me to turn my phone off
so it couldn't be tracked

and invited me to join him
on a trip across town.

You can stop filming.

Down an anonymous, unmarked street,

Kim leads me into
an old derelict factory.

Inside is an improvised war room,

with about a dozen intelligence
officers watching the war play out

on their screens in real time.

Kim introduced me to
the centre's manager, Yaroslav.

And there's more going on here
than just intelligence work.

So, what is this thing?

It's a strike drone...

..which can...
which can burn things,

which can kill things.

We have three bombs.

This drone is really loud
and really big,

so we can work only in night.

We are trying to use it
three or four times per week.

Yeah.

But you need to sleep,

so it's comparison -

to kill somebody
or to sleep a little.

As well as working in intelligence,

the people here are using
3D printers

to make plastic noses and fins

and fitting them to
old Soviet grenades and mortars.

Then they adapt drones and use them
to drop these improvised bombs

on Russian tanks and soldiers.

But the most striking thing
about this place

is not what these people are doing.

It's who they are.

Olexiy isn't a soldier.

He's actually an architect
with his own business in Kyiv.

And this whole centre is staffed and
run entirely by people like him -

non-military volunteers
with little or no training.

Russians started to kill my nation.

I have a possibility
to protect them,

and the only way to protect them
is to kill an enemy,

is to kill Russian.

That's why I'm doing this.

I have good education,
some mechanics, cartography,

computer technology,
and I'm a patriot.

The interests of my country
and of my nation

are higher than
my personal interests.

That's why I'm not an architect now.

I'm a soldier now.

In conflicts I've covered
in the past,

there's normally a clear distinction
between the civilian population

and the armed forces.

But here, the lines
are being blurred...

..and not just in
this intelligence centre.

Roman Kostenko used to be
a commander

in Ukraine's special forces.

But in 2019, he was elected as an MP
in the Ukrainian parliament.

When Russia invaded
his home city of Kherson,

he immediately hung up his suit
in Kyiv and set up this base

to recruit volunteers
to go to the front line and fight.

Russian soldiers are right now
occupying his family home,

just 50 miles away.

Is it where you keep cold drinks?

Yes.

Javelin.

Roman's a bit of a celebrity
in Ukraine.

He's won medals for bravery and
is often on TV speaking on behalf

of the Ukrainian military.

But in this war, his relationship
with the army is more complicated.

He may be back working with
Ukraine's special forces,

but he runs his own missions
with his own units...

..and he's offered to sneak me past
the checkpoints

to meet one of these groups
on the front line.

Approaching the front line,

the biggest threat now is
being spotted by Russian drones.

Their Orlan drone is noisy, but it
can spend up to 16 hours in the air

hunting for enemy targets.

The drone pilot can then communicate
the target's location

to nearby Russian artillery,
who are standing by to fire.

We're now the only car on this road
and close to the front.

We make an obvious target.

Then we get a radio call
from up ahead,

from the commander
we're going to meet.

This drone, Orlan,
it was in the air.

You can hear it immediately.

We were moving and
the shelling was chasing us.

Therefore, we decided to come here,
to meet you,

to not endanger you
from the first minute.

We will have 24 hours for that,
so you will get your portion.

Don't worry.

We spend about 20 minutes
in the village.

The drone that was chasing Hummer is
almost certainly still in the air,

but Roman decides to make a run
for the base.

This group of seven men has been
living in this abandoned village

for six weeks...

..and Hummer is responsible
for their safety.

He grew up in an army camp and
has 15 years' military experience.

But most of the others are rookies

who've never served
in the army before.

One just quit his job
in advertising.

Another sold rugs for luxury cars.

Until a few months ago,

Lys was working as a sailor
on container ships

before he fled his home city
of Kherson.

I don't like all what's happened,

and that is why I tell you
I hope we will finish this war soon

and the whole world will know
what is the real Russian...

..what is the Russian Federation.
This is killers...

..and...motherfuckers.

Excuse me.

This unit has been attacking Russian
soldiers using small mortars,

but they've never had the firepower
to destroy their heavy weapons.

Today's delivery could change that.

These heavy shells
from the Czech Republic

are three times more powerful,
enough to destroy a tank.

The hunt is now on
for new, bigger targets.

The next morning, two mortar teams
and Lys - the drone pilot -

are heading to different locations
to launch a large joint attack

on a nearby Russian position.

Let's go.

OK, guys, jump in.

Huh?

Now we are going to...

..use our firing forces,
all our firing means,

against the enemy's position -
to push them back as much as we can.

The enemy has unlimited amount
of the ammunition,

so they can afford to shoot
just randomly, everywhere,

once in several minutes.

We cannot do that. We...

Every round, every mortar
should go to the target.

And in order to do that,
we need to have presence in the sky.

This is a present for
our friends from England.

We show them how we work
and how we protect our home.

For the last few weeks,
Hummer's group has been attacking

this position
just across the fields.

It's manned by
about 60 Russian paratroopers

who've dug themselves into
a network of trenches and foxholes.

It's one of hundreds of outposts
that stretch for miles,

forming Russia's first line
of defence.

Before today, the group could only
target the soldiers.

But now, armed with heavy mortars,
they're aiming to destroy

the Russian weapon that
Hummer and the group fear most -

the tank that's hidden
in these trees.

From the moment the first shell
is fired, Hummer's got six minutes

before the Russians can start
locating this position

and fire back.

The first shell lands
300 metres long,

and Lys radios in the coordinates

to try and get the next one
on target.

The second shell lands closer,
just 30 metres from the tank.

They've now used up
more than half their time.

The third shell lands further away
and in the other direction.

It looks like something's wrong
with the mortar tube itself...

Let's go.

..but six minutes is up
and Hummer's out of time.

Now, we're the target.

The fear is that the Russians
can now pinpoint this position.

I don't like movement
during this time.

For Hummer, this return fire
from a tank is getting too close.

He decides we have to break cover

and get across the road
to a deeper ditch.

Guys, have a seat here.

As deep as poss-...

This is the most dangerous thing
in this war...

..to cut your ass with the bushes!

Hummer's been fighting
for five months.

The day the war started,

he sent his wife and three
young children abroad for safety.

He hasn't seen them since.

I'm fighting for my country,
for my family, for my identity.

I grew up in Soviet Union, and it
was like, kind of a shame in Ukraine

to be Ukrainian.

Ukrainian language, it wasn't
forbidden, you could speak,

but people will treat you
not equal person to the Russian

if you speak Ukrainian.

They were trying to convince us that
it was not such a nation, Ukraine,

it was invented by the West
against Russia, blah, blah, blah.

It was all bullshit,

that only Russia is the real...kind
of historical nation in this region,

blah, blah, blah. You know,
we are fake, all this bullshit.

And they are still trying to do it,
to continue.

Nevertheless, we have like,
30 years of independence,

we have still a lot of Russian
influence in Ukraine, you know?

We will win this war, definitely,

but the problem is, how many lives
will it take more, this war,

to get, to reach our goal?

And everybody understands that
we will win, but nobody wants to be

this person who will not see
the victory, you know?

Even me.

Hummer's got enough shells for one
more attempt to destroy the tank.

The heavy mortar may have
missed the tank,

but the other unit - using
smaller shells - got a lot closer.

These smaller mortars could only
have disabled the tank.

If they want to destroy
these kind of big weapons,

they'll need the larger mortar.

And that's now broken.

As this is a volunteer unit,
no-one here knows how to fix it.

I could feel Hummer's frustration.

In the regular army, he could have
just given this to engineers

and told them to fix it.

His new group of volunteers
might be committed,

but they're not used to
obeying orders.

The broken mortar may be holding
Hummer's team back,

but in Mykolaiv, the war is tilting
in a new direction.

For the first time
since the invasion,

Ukraine is going on the offensive,
launching a counterattack

to retake Mykolaiv's
neighbouring city, Kherson.

Kherson is the only regional capital
to be captured and held by Russia,

and retaking it could change
the course of the war.

This offensive is being
made possible by the arrival

of powerful new missiles
from America known as HIMARS.

These weapons are so accurate, they
can fire 200 pounds of explosives

through a window 50 miles away...

..and Russia has nothing
to match it.

And they've already begun destroying
key bridges, supply routes

and ammunition stores
far behind Russian lines

to prepare the ground for
the Ukrainian attack on Kherson.

At Mykolaiv's intelligence HQ,

the hunt is now on
for fresh Russian targets.

In the hunt for HIMARS targets, some
of the most valuable intelligence

doesn't come from drones
but from spies -

civilian informants
behind Russian lines

who secretly communicate
with people like Daryna.

Until a few months ago, she was a
secondary school teacher in Kherson.

News of the counteroffensive
has reached Hummer and his men.

Their morale is high,
but the routine's the same.

Every day, they're out
in the fields,

attacking the Russian paratroopers.

But they're tired.
And it's starting to show.

Lys's adjustments aren't helping.

Every round is landing further
from the target.

Every shell was off target
and no-one seems to know why.

By the next morning, no-one's
thinking about the argument.

The unit has received new orders.

The whole group is being redeployed
to one of the main launching points

for the Ukrainian attack on Kherson.

It's like, no, we cannot imagine
south of Ukraine without Kherson.

Kherson, for us, it's primary goal.

Strategically, it's very important.

And as soon as we get Kherson,

we understand that all
south of Ukraine is liberated.

We're going to the place
where another team is operating.

And guys are hearing that there is
some kind of advances ongoing there.

Maybe we will be more useful there.

This is a kind of first step
to see the new area of operation,

and maybe we will get more results
there and we will be more useful.

Do you feel you're in the right
place, doing the right thing?

I believe so, yes.
I really believe so.

I was 11 years, like, civilian.
It's still in my blood.

It's still in my mind.

I was quite good at it
back in the time,

and I know that...

..I can do it better than others.
And...

..me being here gives a chance
to the guy who doesn't know

what he is doing.

Hummer's unit has been tasked with
supporting another group

of inexperienced soldiers,

one made up of volunteers
from the police force.

Just weeks ago, they were giving out
speeding fines and parking tickets.

Now, they're heading to
the front line.

The police chief decided to create
among the police

some kind of battle unit, you know,

who will take part in the advanced
and offensive operations.

Few of these police volunteers
have served in the army before,

and one of them is
Hummer's younger brother.

My brother is part of this unit.

And yesterday, they started to move
from Odesa to this place.

All of them police officers,
they are volunteers.

So...

..one of the purposes is to check...

..that they will be used...

..in proper way.

The small town of Bereznehuvate

sits on the edge of Mykolaiv's
border with Kherson Region.

It's from here that much of
the counter-offensive

is being launched.

Roman's in town
to help co-ordinate the operation.

His units will all be supporting
the police volunteers as they mount

one of the first ground offensives
in the battle for Kherson.

Some of the police units
have already begun an assault

on the Russian front line.

Their first objective is to retake
the heavily defended village

of Andriivka.

This assault on Andriivka
has already left

one police volunteer dead
and four others injured.

They expect to start...offensive
operation in two days again...

Da.

..with my brother,
to send my brother...

..to storm this fort
and take over these villages,

which is covered with, like...

..I don't know,
hundreds of enemy troops.

No.

They all not experienced.

They haven't been in combat yet.

They've been trained
in some range back in Odesa,

and now they're sent here
to assault.

This unit's lack of basic weaponry
and training

is exactly what
Hummer didn't want to hear.

We're going to the position
of a mortar, of patrol police.

Hummer says he wants to show me

one of the police's front line
positions, but I'm pretty sure

he just wants to see for himself

what his brother was
letting himself in for.

We drive way out of town, and so
we reach what I later realised

was the zero line - the furthest
point of any Ukrainian soldiers.

This is the battle for Andriivka,

part of the first ground offensive
to retake Kherson.

That was a tank
firing on this position.

As usual, they take two shots.

We're waiting for a second shot.

How many days have you been here?

Mm-hm.

About three weeks.

Yeah.

Sleeping here?

Sleeping here, living here...

..fighting here.

And all these guys are police,
patrol police?

Have they been trained?

Er...

Seven days.

Seven days' training?
Seven days' training,

and now we use mortar... Mortar.

Is that you?

It was pretty stunning to see -

inexperienced soldiers,
fresh from civilian life,

living for weeks in ditches
on the front line

and clearly being highly effective.

Only three seconds.

It was a Russian tank.

Five minutes ago.

You were here.

The tank tried to attack us
when we hided.

It was this tank.

And you just got it?

So you're lucky guys.
Stay with us!

I'd come to Ukraine
with a question -

how was this nation standing firm

against the might of
the Russian army?

And perhaps one of
the most surprising answers

had been right in front of me
from the start.

As well as Ukraine's powerful
foreign weapons

and a regular army
with smart tacticians,

there was also this vast
shadow army of volunteers.

They were drawn from all walks of
life but had one thing in common -

they simply were not going to give
up until they could say they'd won.

And I think Hummer
was realising that, too.

Two days later, Hummer learns
that his brother has returned safely

from his first combat mission.

I'm proud of him.

I'm really upset.

I was, "What are you thinking?
Blah, blah, blah,"

and I was thinking,
"OK, go there one time.

"You will, you will...
You will have enough,

"and then you understand and go back
to sign the tickets...from parking."

After the first time, he said,
"Yes, yes, it's all good.

"I'm going a second time." I said...

.."I cannot stop him."

Cannot stop him.

And really proud of him.
Angry, but proud of him.

How many experienced people who
served in the army who were trained,

how many we have? I don't know.

Most of them are gone.

Five months of war,
and we need more and more and more.

And they are fresh and
unexperienced, untrained.

What we can do? We just do
whatever we can do to support them,

to use our, I don't know, skills.

That's what I said.
I understand that my place is here.

I can help those people
who doesn't have experience.

But we need to do the job
as professional as other people

who served years in such units.

Hummer has decided to allow three
of the most inexperienced members

of his group to conduct
a mortar mission on their own.

They are fighting for their land,
for their independence,

for their freedom.

People are not thinking
and counting on our president.

People are thinking and counting
on each other, on the nation.

And they know the purpose,
they know the main goal,

why they're here.

I'll be back.

If the president signed,
for example, peaceful agreement

with the Russians,
it will never stop. We will fight.

It's not about Zelensky and Putin,

it's about our nation
and our future.

And if our troops
will get to Kherson,

I can say it's like
Russians are done here.

Yeah.

Are you worried about them?

Yes, because it's the first time
they are going to shoot without me

and attack Russians there.
Yeah, because we trained them,

I believe we trained them very well.
But...

Let's go.