Precis

The world is watching on in shock as Putin's army invades Ukraine. Despite months of Russian military build-up on Ukraine's borders, many thought Putin would never dare to try and crush his neighbour's independence with military might.

Now these two countries, with a shared history spanning centuries, are fighting each other in the streets of Ukrainian cities. How did it come to this?

In the weeks leading up to the invasion, Foreign Correspondent explores both sides of this dangerous conflict.

Reporter David Lipson travels across Ukraine to find a country whose identity has been forged in the heat of the eight-year war between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists occupying regions in the east.

Former Moscow correspondent Eric Campbell works with a local Russian crew to get rare access inside the separatist region. He speaks to locals whose loyalties lies with Russia and who believe Ukrainians are Nazis.

Starting in the capital Kyiv, Lipson meets a young mother who's bearing the scars of the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has lost 14,000 lives in the conflict that began in 2014.

"At that moment we already understood who the enemy was and we just wanted to stop him from going further into our land," says Viktoria, a former soldier whose partner was killed by a landmine. "I am sure this war has definitely changed the country."

As Lipson travels east towards the frontline, he discovers just how much the country has changed. Close to the separatist region there are destroyed villages, their residents living under constant shelling. One farmer has been cut off from his farmland. The young have fled. The old remain.

"My heart aches every time I turn on TV, for our soldiers. What did we do to deserve this?" cries one old woman, who is caring for her blind husband. "I was born in 1942, during the war, and I have to witness it again, the ninth year in a row."

In Mariupol on the east coast, also close to the frontline, Lipson finds a city increasingly divided. Pro-Russians are suspicious of the Ukrainian government, pro-Ukrainians are preparing to take up arms.

Inside the separatist region, we meet a young woman who says she will never live under Ukrainian rule. "We can't live in the same country as the Nazis. We can't forgive all that we experienced through the years," says Alexandra.

Days later, she evacuates into Russia, as Putin's propaganda machine bombards the region with stories of Ukrainian saboteurs and aggression.

The courage and determination of ordinary Ukrainians to stand and fight the Russian invaders has stunned the world. But will it be enough to save their country?

Episode intro.
Tanks and missiles

Music

00:10

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  On the frozen ground where the armies of Napoleon and Hitler met their match, war has erupted. The most significant European military offensive since World War Two. Russia’s forces have seized territory and key strategic positions across neighbouring Ukraine. Now they’re battling for control of the major cities.

00:21

DENIS PROKOPENKO, AZOV BATTALION: We'll fight in the forests, on the sea, in the fields, wherever the enemy is, we'll fight them.

00:51

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  It’s a hauntingly familiar play for power and territory that could shape the continent -- and the world -- for generations.

00:57

GALINA SHKURATOVA: I was born in 1942 during the war. I have to witness it again.

01:06

Super:
David Lipson
Reporter

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  In the days before the invasion, we travelled across Ukraine to track the path to war.

01:10

Title: ROAD TO WAR

Music

01:21

Map. Ukraine/Russia

01:27

Civil defence drills

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  We arrive as Ukraine is counting down to war. In civil defence drills across the country, ordinary people are learning combat skills. They’re prepared to fight to the death, with determination eight years in the making. But there aren’t enough guns for everyone.

01:37

Map. Ukraine/Russia. Highlight on Kiev

02:02

Return Alive Foundation volunteers pack weapons and supplies

02:10

CU 'fuck u putin' lanyard

02:19

In the capital Kyiv, workers at the Return Alive Foundation are packing gear for soldiers who’ve been fighting Russian-backed rebels since 2014.

02:22

ANDRIY: We need all this to equip our army.

02:33

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Russia has been funding and arming separatists in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk.

ANDRIY: I’m going to the east tomorrow.

02:36

Andriy interview

Our aid lifts their fighting spirits and they say to the enemy “Welcome! We're from Ukraine and we'll show you a thing or two!”

02:46

Viktoria, Andriy and others pack supplies

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  This gear’s been crowd-funded by volunteers like Viktoria Dvoretska, herself a veteran of the conflict.

02:56

Music

03:06

Lipson visits Viktoria, looking at photos

"So this is you?"

VIKTORIA: This is me. I'm 21 years old, it was the summer 2014. I went wearing sneakers. No one thought it would be such a big war. No one thought the war would be real.

03:13

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER: A lot has changed since then, hasn’t it?

VIKTORIA: Well, I don't look that young anymore. A lot has changed; eight years have passed. Everything has changed in these past eight years. The country has changed, the people have changed, we have changed.

03:29

Viktoria with son

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER: During three years on the front line, Viktoria was wounded several times. And her partner, Anton, was killed by a land mine.

03:51

VIKTORIA: I spent six month in a hospital for health issues, including depression.

04:03

Viktoria dressing son

"Look at Mum. Here you go. That’s it. Handsome aren’t you."

There's a saying that children decide when to be born. Ivan came as a big surprise. He has changed my life. Now I clearly realise what and who I live for.

04:11

"Are you going to carry it yourself? You’re a good boy."

04:37

Kyiv GVs

Music

04:45

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  The conflict began in 2014 when mass protests in Kyiv toppled Ukraine’s pro-Russian President. In retaliation, Putin seized Crimea, and backed the separatists in the east. Since then, Ukraine’s western aligned government has fought to wrest back control of its territory.

04:49

Driving to Mariupol

We want to see the frontline for ourselves to get a deeper understanding of the causes of the Ukraine-Russia conflict. As we get closer to the separatist areas, the military is on alert. Ukrainian cruise missile units are on the move.

05:13

Map showing location of Mariupol and Donetsk

05:31

Mariupol GVs

05:39

Mariupol ice skating

When we arrive in city of Mariupol it looks calm, but it’s vulnerable. In 2014, pro-Russian militants easily took control of the city, but were eventually forced out.

05:42

Mariupol port/Lipson to camera by sea

It’s a run down, industrial port city on the sea of Azov. And it’s wedged between Russian territory. About 20 kilometres that way is the front line where the fighting grinds on and beyond that, the Russian border. And along this coastline is Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. If Vladimir Putin wants to join the two, he needs to come right through Mariupol.

06:05

Mariupol GVs

Music

06:28

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Around half a million people live here – it’s roughly an even split between Ukrainians and ethnic Russians. Remnants of the separatist conflict are all around.

DIANA BERG: You don’t see any threat around,

06:33

Diana interview

because the city just started living with this threat. It’s integrated in us.  And that’s it. There is a threat.

06:51

Playground

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Diana Berg came to Mariupol after fleeing Donetsk – around the time it fell to the Russian backed forces.

07:01

Diana interview

DIANA BERG: And we had to just leave for a while. We thought for a week. Yeah. That's it. That’s how we left.

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  And that was eight years ago?

07:11

DIANA BERG: Yeah, that's how I just left my home and I never came back.

07:41

Dog walking, park

Music

07:28

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  She made a new life here – but the conflict has followed her.

07:29

DIANA BERG: Some Ukrainians have only started understanding it, realising and feeling it.

07:34

Diana interview

Feeling what we felt. Now it's like all Ukraine is feeling the same. And maybe this is something that will unite us more.

07:41

Mariupol GVs

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Mariupol’s sprawling steel mill used to employ some 60,000 people. These days there are 15,000.

07:54

At home with Vladimir and wife, afternoon tea

One of them is Vladimir Khabarov who supports Russia.

08:03

DAVID: "Yes, please. Um… maybe this one? … looks great. Thank you."

VLADIMIR: "A small piece, just a small piece."

DAVID: "Oh, that’s huge!"

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Vladimir fondly remembers the communist years, before Ukraine’s embrace of western capitalism, and what the factory calls – “optimisation”.

08:12

Vladimir interview

VLADIMIR: Money, money, no other way. But education used to be free. At school, I didn’t need to chip in, same when I studied for my trade. Everything was free. Now you have to pay for everything. My father lived in Stalin’s Russia. He said kindergartens were free.

08:34

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  In recent years, few here dare to be so openly pro-Russian. The consequences can land you in prison, or worse.

09:02

Vladimir into car and driving

VLADIMIR: In 2014 I came out of the factory, four armed men attacked me, pointed a gun at me and threw me in the trunk of my car.  I was bleeding from my ears, with a swollen black eye. I was barely standing. My ribs were broken, and my leg was hurt. They took me for an interrogation. This is how I was set up. They wanted to put me in jail.

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Vladimir spent 18 months behind bars – accused of a plot to storm a Ukrainian military base – before being released due to a lack of evidence. He now has little time for those in charge of Ukraine.

VLADIMIR: Those in Parliament say they are so nice, that they are a democracy.

09:12

Vladimir interview in home

So why were two or three TV channels shut down? Why is the main opposition leader under house arrest?

10:04

Steel mill GV

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  In this cauldron of contested ideology, communism isn’t the only historical throwback.

10:12

Azov Regiment members at memorial

The Russians say there are Nazis here, too. A day of memorial for fallen comrades. Amongst the soldiers here, members of the Azov Regiment, a group of fierce fighters, with a reputation for hard-core nationalism. Denis Prokopenko is the local Commander.

10:22

Denis interview

DENIS PROKOPENKO:  We will fight in the forests, on the sea, in the fields, wherever the enemy is, we'll find them there and fight them. The Ukrainian nation is unbreakable. The Muscovites won’t break our spine.

10:49

Azov Regiment members

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  On their arms they wear the letters – NI – to signify the words National Idea. Any resemblance to neo-Nazi iconography, they say is pure coincidence, driven by Russian propaganda.

11:03

Denis interview

DENIS PROKOPENKO: That's why today, unfortunately, our unit does not get any humanitarian aid or lethal weapons.  We don’t get any training from our western partners.

11:18

Azov Regiment members at memorial

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Despite its status as a global pariah, the once volunteer unit has proved its worth in battle, and is now a regiment in the Ukrainian armed forces.

11:29

Interview with volunteer

AZOV VOLUNTEER: In moments like this, the community and the army come together and this is a sign of our country’s integrity.

11:44

Driving to Gnotovo

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Just 30 minutes out of town, we’re on the frontline. Here, the fighting never stopped. We’re heading to Gnotovo, a village well within firing range of the pro-Russian separatists.

11:58

Vox pops with Gnotovo residents

YULIYA: What’s it like living here?

MAN IN BEANIE: Here? It’s like hell, I tell you. They keep shelling, all the time.

12:24

WOMAN AT BUS STOP:  It used to be very good here. We used to have a lot of young people. Some still live here, but many have gone abroad. They go to Czech, Hungary, Estonia, Poland… to Russia as well. There's only old people here now.

12:36

Sergiy interview

SERGIY PRIKHODKO: Now it's more or less quiet. Before, they were constantly shooting, especially at night and early in the morning.

12:57

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Sergiy Prikhodko is cut off from his farmland, which lies in separatist held territory. His home has been hit several times.

13:05

SERGIY PRIKHODKO: We hear the shells. They fall with a specific whistle. We can even distinguish between 120mm and 80mm and others.  

13:14

Sergiy shows cellar

I hid my grandchildren in this cellar. The hatch up there would tremble all over. Why would I be scared? I’m sorry for my children and grandchildren. This is my wife’s compote, preserved veggies, cucumbers, here are cherries, tomatoes, apple juice. We do everything ourselves.

13:27

Galina's on street

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  A few houses along, we meet Galina Shkuratova. She lives next door to a bombed-out home which hasn’t been touched since a stray shell killed her neighbour. She and her blind, elderly husband were lucky to survive the blast.

13:55

Galina interview by bombed house

GALINA SHKURATOVA: All the windows were blown out. Can you imagine the sound? I wanted to go and get him, I can’t stand it. Everything was peaceful here, it was delightful, and what now? No kids are laughing in the street, no life. I’m crying for everyone. My heart aches for our soldiers every time I turn on TV. What did we do to deserve this? I was born in 1942, in the war. Now I have to witness it again, ninth year in a row.

14:11

Music

15:02

Albert's house

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Before returning to Mariupol we’ve been invited to dinner in a nearby village.

15:1

Dinner with Albert and boys

DAUGHTER: "Go to your grandfather and kiss him."

DAVID LIPSON:  It’s the home of military chaplain, Albert Homyak. Over the years, Albert has taken in 13 orphan boys. Now, he’s a grandad.

15:15

Albert says Grace

15:44

Discussion at table

On this night, after eight years of conflict, the threat of a much bigger war is under serious discussion.

15:51

BOY: "I heard people say if you see a soldier, he can shoot you dead.

15:58

BOY 2: "Vanya, could you pass me the pepper, please?"

16:04

ALBERT HOMYAK: "I don’t think they will use rocket launchers. They'll use something far more serious. They will bomb from the planes."

16:09

BOY 1 : "If they drop a nuclear bomb, what will happen? I mean, the radiation."

16:24

ALBERT HOMYAK: "Oh my God, why do you ask such things? Why?"

16:28

Albert interview

I am afraid for the safety of my children.  It’s important to me they live in a free independent country, they live in a country where they're not brought to their knees.

16:34

Albert and boys carry water to bunker

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  After dinner – there's work to do – in the basement bunker.

16:50

Albert shows bunker

ALBERT HOMYAK: This basement is ready in case there are any military operations. This cellar is eight metres underground. We use it in case of air strikes, because aerial bombs are worse, and they break through several floors. That’s why we have this cellar. We can hide. It’s 100% secure.

16:58

Albert and family watch TV

If we have to evacuate in case of a full-scale military operation,

17:33

Albert interview  

we made a tough decision to either burn or blow up all the houses that belongs to the church or to our foundation. We will not let the enemy desecrate our homes.

17:38

Map Donetsk and Luhansk

Music

17:57

Donetsk GVs

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  We're not allowed into the separatist enclave, the People’s Republic of Donetsk. But we manage to send a crew from Moscow as the crisis escalates. It’s clear that on this side of the frontline, people see things very differently.

18:10

Alexandra interview

ALEXANDRA LYGINA: I feel myself Russian despite the fact that my mum is Ukrainian.

18:26

Alexandra at home, making tea

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Alexandra Lygina is a 20-year-old student at Donetsk University and a member of a pro-Russia youth group.

ALEXANDRA LYGINA: We can't live in the same country as the Nazis. We can't forgive

18:32

Alexandra interview

all that we had experienced through the years. How can I live in one country with those who killed my loved one? How can we forgive the death of our children. It's impossible.

18:47

Billboards with swastikas

DAVID LIPSON:  The Kremlin has relentlessly pushed the line that Ukraine is infested with Nazis.

19:02

When the Russian army invaded Crimea, it erected giant billboards with swastikas to warn people they needed protection.

19:11

Dmitry interview/Shelled buildings

DMITRY ASTRAKHAN: We are now on the outskirts of Donetsk near Donetsk airport. You can see that almost all the buildings are destroyed by Ukrainian shelling.

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Dmitry Astrakhan is a former spokesman for the separatist people’s militia in Donetsk.  They’ve been making the same claims about Nazis for eight years.

19:29

DMITRY ASTRAKHAN: That’s why they had to make the militia and had to defend themselves, because they were under attack both from Ukrainian army and from Nazi battalions and Nazi paramilitary groups, so that’s the only way we could fight for our human rights.

19:47

Azov Regiment march

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  The Azov Regiment features heavily in the narrative.

20:07

DMITRY ASTRAKHAN: They began as Nazi paramilitary groups, they are formed from skinheads and from white supremacist groups and from Nazis.

20:13

Alexandra carries box of aid supplies

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Alexandra Lygina’s family lives in Russia, but she’s chosen to stay here and deliver humanitarian aid. I’m curious as to why she believes a democratic country with a Jewish president is a Nazi state.

20:22

Lipson remote interview with Alexandra

"Hi Alexandra. Nice to meet you."

ALEXANDRA LYGINA: "Hi, nice to meet you too."

20:40

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Where do you get the idea that Ukraine is a Nazi country?

ALEXANDRA LYGINA: First of all, from my talkings with the Ukrainians. Since I was 12 years old, I spoke with them a lot in social networks, and I understood that they are very evil and cruel people.

20:43

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  You can be evil and cruel without being Nazis though. Where does the Nazi comparison come from?

ALEXANDRA LYGINA: Because they hate Russians just because of their nationality. And they hate us just because we speak Russian, and we support Russia. And for them, that's a reason to kill us.

21:11

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Here in Ukraine, I haven't seen any sign of Nazis roaming the streets. Where does this idea come from?

ALEXANDRA LYGINA: For example, Azov Battalion.

21:36

DAVID LIPSON:   We did speak to a Commander from Azov. He laughed at the suggestion that they were Nazis. He said that they have Jews and Greeks in their ranks. How could they be Nazis?

ALEXANDRA LYGINA: Because they just hate Russians.

21:46

They can love all the nationalities in the world, but they hate Russians very strongly.

22:00

People shopping

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  The conflict has been at a stalemate for years. The ceasefire is breached regularly by both sides, but life in the city goes on; the abundance of Russian flags and numberplates a sign of who is really in charge. While we’re filming, there’s a reported increase in shelling, but it’s not seen as a pretext for a major escalation.

22:09

Dmitry interview

DMITRY ASTRAKHAN: We're talking about such as the big war between Russia and Ukraine, I don’t think it’s really possible in the next days. I don’t think this will happen.

22:39

Lipson remote interview with Alexandra

DAVID LIPSON:  Do you believe a war is coming?

ALEXANDRA LYGINA: No, because the war is keep going for almost eight years, and I don't believe that something will change dramatically.

22:54

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  So you don't think an invasion by Russia is imminent?

ALEXANDRA LYGINA: No, I think it's fake.

23:10

Park GVs

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Just a few hours after we talk, everything changes. The leaders of both separatist enclaves announce simultaneously that they’re under heavy attack.

23:17

Pushilin announcement

DENIS PUSHILIN: "Dear residents of the Donetsk People’s Republic, territories of Donetsk and Luhansk are under a large-scale fire from Ukraine. Only in recent days our army stopped several attempted terrorist acts from Ukrainian special services."

23:29

Russian footage of mobilisation and evacuation

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Men of fighting age are mobilised; women and children ordered to evacuate. It appears highly organised and pre-planned. Buses are immediately on hand to ferry civilians into Russia, camera crews in place to film frightened children, even orphans.

23:46

Russian interview with child

INTERVIEWER: Have you heard of shootings in recent days or any explosions?

CHILD: Yes, we were very afraid.

INTERVIEWER:  Were you afraid?

CHILD: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think it will be awesome in Russia?

CHILD: Yes off course.

24:06

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  In Kyiv, the government calls the claims absurd, suggesting separatists had staged the attack.

21:21

Russian State TV report

But Russian State media bolsters the panic, warning of foreign saboteurs.

24:29

Russian TV CLIP: "The degree of tension is extreme. Saboteurs are operating in the self-proclaimed republics. In the Gorlovka they were planning to break into facilities with dangerous chemicals and blow up chlorine containers there."

24:35

Donetsk celebrations

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Then President Putin announces he will recognise the enclaves’ independence and send in peacekeepers. Donetsk erupts in celebration. For the separatists, it seems the crisis is over. For the rest of Ukraine, it feels like a pretext for an invasion.

24:52

Russian troops

JAKE SULLIVAN, US Security Advisor: "The Russian government is in a position to be able to mount a major military action in the Ukraine any day now."

25:25

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  Russian forces are encircling Ukraine and putting on an almighty show of force. The world is on high alert.

25:36

Lipson to camera

We had planned to stay here in Mariupol a little longer, but for us it’s time to go too.

25:46

Mariupol sunset

Music

25:58

Mariupol sunset. Lipson in car leaving Mariupol.

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  As we leave Mariupol, it’s hard to ignore how eight years of conflict with Russia have transformed Ukraine. It is more united, but also more nationalistic and battle hardened. Any war will be long and bloody.

26:05

Kyiv GVs

26:25

Viktoria at memorial wall

Back in Kyiv, Viktoria shows us the consequences of “territorial disputes”.  More than 14,000 people have been killed trying to hold on to Ukraine’s territories in the east.

26:32

VIKTORIA: The motivation of all those who became volunteers in 2014 was the same. At that moment we understood who the enemy was. We wanted to stop them from going further into our land.

26:46

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  There are millions like Viktoria who've learned the hard way a national sense of unity and purpose.

27:05

Viktoria and son leave home and walk to kindergarten

That’s now being passed to a new generation.

27:12

VIKTORIA: I want him to know the price we paid for him to grow up in a free country. I want those freedoms, principles, values our generation had to fight for, I want them to be a way of life for him.

27:19

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  After we leave, Putin does the unthinkable. He launches an air, land and sea invasion on the whole country.

27:49

Putin

Putin: "We will strive to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine."

28:01

Shelling of Kyiv

DAVID LIPSON, REPORTER:  The lives of 44 million Ukrainians have now been upended. They’re fighting hard for their country.

28:10

Still. Viktoria with Ivan. END CARD:
Viktoria stayed in Kyiv to defend the city. Ivan is with family in western Ukraine.

28:21

Still. Albert and boys at table. END CARD:
Albert sent the boys to western Ukraine. He's stayed to help defend Mariupol.

28:27

Still. Alexandra. END CARD: Alexandra has fled Donetsk to Russia. She’s helping other evacuees.

28:32

Credits [see below]

28:37

Outpoint

28:54