SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
"2,000 Meters To Andriivka" is a new documentary that opens with a blast and a profanity from a Ukrainian soldier in a trench...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "2,000 METRES TO ANDRIIVKA")
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER #1: (Speaking Ukrainian).
SIMON: ...And then worry about a soldier who has fallen. Morty, come on, brother. Get up. Live, they shout. But Morty has been killed.
In "2,000 Meters To Andriivka," journalists Mstyslav Chernov and Alex Babenko tell the story of a small Ukrainian platoon trying to advance just 2,000 meters - just a little over a mile - against Russian forces in the fall of 2023. It will take three months. Mstyslav Chernov joins us now from our studios in New York. Thank you so much for being with us.
MSTYSLAV CHERNOV: Thank you for the invitation. It is strange sometimes to hear the sounds of the battlefield and remember the battlefield and then find myself somewhere - an amazing place like New York.
SIMON: Well, thank you for bringing us this story. What was the terrain like in and around Andriivka?
CHERNOV: You know, that terrain - and Andriivka is a couple hours' drive from my hometown, Kharkiv. To be coming back to those forests and those fields and see them changed, see them mutilated by bombs, see them transformed into battlefields - it's devastating on its own. And, you know, in order to tell that story that is so personal, that is so painful for everyone who is fighting there, it is just absolutely necessary to go there and experience it. How is it to feel the heat and change of pressure of the bomb that lands a few meters from that trench?
SIMON: I want to ask you about one soldier in particular whose name we get to know, Gagarin (ph).
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "2,000 METRES TO ANDRIIVKA")
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER #2: Gagarin.
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSIONS)
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER #2: Gagarin.
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER #2: (Speaking Ukrainian).
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)
SIMON: And as we can hear, soldiers call out his name. When he doesn't move, they pull on his leg to see if he's still alive.
CHERNOV: Yeah, that - this moment is - was actually the moment why this film exists. We came to Donbas, where we met with Fedir (ph), the chief of the platoon, and then with his team. And just seeing their reaction, seeing their courage, but at the same time, they're feeling their loss. And looking at the map where that happened, looking at that tiny forest squeezed between two minefields leading to a little village of Andriivka - just experiencing all that with them made me realize that there is a film there.
SIMON: We see so many people die to return Andriivka to Ukraine. Who controls it now?
CHERNOV: Andriivka was occupied again by Russia almost a year later. And that's a big loss. Every city, every mile of Ukraine land that is occupied is a big loss. So, yeah. Unfortunately, it all went back to occupation.
SIMON: Yeah. May I ask - what would you say to Americans who think that what Ukraine is enduring is tragic and unfair, but it has nothing to do with them or America?
CHERNOV: There are many layers to this question. But I think we can start just from realizing how actually simple this story is, and how tragic and simple. Because we keep hearing about Ukraine as - in a context of a very political conversation, a geopolitical and political conversation. For Ukrainians, it's a battle for survival. And these men we see in "2,000 Meters To Andriivka" - these men are simply trying to protect their home. They took a gun in their hand, and they're fighting for it. So I would really want that to land very simply in everyone's minds. That's what I'm trying to say with this film.
SIMON: You know, but you say - I'm going to call up your own words to you because you say...
CHERNOV: Right.
SIMON: ...Yourself at one point, the longer it all goes on, the less the world will care about it.
CHERNOV: Yeah, that's very true. I think Ukrainians also realize that. You know, people - and this is my hometown, Kharkiv, and Fedir and his platoon right now are in my region. And what's going to happen to my hometown doesn't really depend on anyone in Europe, doesn't really depend on anyone in U.S. Ultimately, it depends on these men that are fighting there, and they're holding their ground. And of course, all the help from the world is appreciated and recognized, but I think the realization that you can ultimately rely only on the man next to you is landing on Ukrainians.
SIMON: Mstyslav Chernov - his new film, made with Alex Babenko, is "2,000 Meters To Andriivka." It's in theaters now and will be on PBS "Frontline" later this year. Thank you so much for being with us.
CHERNOV: Thank you. Stay safe.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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