Fighting
Back
ABC
Australia
Postproduction
script
Precis
|
A young
couple celebrates their wedding in front of a bombed-out building. An old
man sweeps up the debris caused by missile strikes, bewildered by Russia's
aggression. Investigators
dig up bodies from a mass burial site in a forest. People
gather in a bunker for a writers' festival. These are
the stories Europe correspondent Steve Cannane uncovers as he travels through
north-eastern Ukraine in the wake of an extraordinary military victory
against Russia. Liberated
from occupation, people are sharing stories of trauma and hardship, hope and
survival. 70-year-old
Anatolii Garagatyi, an amateur cameraman with a YouTube channel, recounts how
he spent 100 days locked up in a police cell. When he refused his Russian
captors' request to make a propaganda video, he was tortured. "It
doesn't matter how much longer I live but I don't want my soul to meet my
parents in heaven and for them to think I'm a traitor." In a
quiet forest outside the town of Izium, investigators dig up hundreds of
bodies from a mass burial site. "For
me, it's not debatable. It's war crimes," says the Defence
Minister, Oleksii Reznikov. "It's the next package for a future
tribunal. We call it Nuremberg 2." Tetiana
Pylypchuk, the director of Kharkiv's Museum of Ukrainian Literature, has
organised a literary festival in a bunker. It's a show of defiance against an
adversary which wants to obliterate their culture. "Holding
such events in a city which is under threat… is a very strong message to the
enemy." Humiliated
by its recent losses, Russia is retaliating with missile strikes at power
plants and vital infrastructure. As winter approaches, many are living
without gas, power and water. But
Ukrainians' resolve to defeat their invader has only hardened. "We
have to survive. We have to fight for our land, for
our family, for our houses," says Reznikov. "What
are you talking about? We've already won!" say Garagatyi
."They've got no idea what they're doing here. Cowards. They're
cowards." |
|
Episode
teaser |
Music
|
00:10 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Across eastern Ukraine, President Putin's military
campaign is in deep trouble. |
00:13 |
|
MARIA:
Either we continue fighting and we are alive or
Russians will come and we will be dead. |
00:21 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Russian forces have been pushed back by a resurgent
Ukrainian army. In their wake, utter devastation and
inconceivable loss. |
00:28 |
|
OLEKSII
REZNIKOV: It’s a war crime. We are talking about murderers, looters, and
rapists, not the normal civilised army. |
00:44 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: As winter approaches, Russian attacks on civilians targets had escalated; missiles landing day and
night in an attempt to terrorise the population. Ukraine remains defiant. |
00:54 |
|
OLEKSII
REZNIKOV: We will continue to beat them and we will
kick them out of our country.] STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: I'm in Kharkiv, |
01:12 |
Cannane
to camera in Kharkiv. Super: |
a
city that’s been under constant bombardment from Russian forces since
February and it's from this part of Ukraine that one of the greatest counter
offensives in modern warfare began. Tonight on Foreign Correspondent, we visit the
towns and cities that were liberated by Ukrainian forces to find out how it
all unfolded, and to talk to those who survived the Russian invasion and
occupation. |
01:21 |
Title:
FIGHTING BACK |
Music
|
01:46 |
Man
playing music box on street |
|
01:53 |
Super:
KHARKIV, UKRAINE |
|
02:00 |
Cannane
in tram |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: We’re 40 kilometres from the Russian border, in Ukraine's
second largest city. Before the war, Kharkiv was a centre of Ukrainian arts
and culture. Today, it’s a shadow of its former self. |
02:04 |
Shelled
apartment block, men clear debris |
For
the residents here, sweeping up the mess made by Russian missile attacks has
become almost a daily ritual. |
02:19 |
|
STEPAN:
The biggest shelling was on the 5th of March. They bombed from the air. |
02:33 |
Stepan
cleaning debris |
People
say the bombs weighed 500kg. STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Stepan has lived in Kharkivʻs densely populated
suburb Saltivka for 30 years. |
02:43 |
Stepan
interview by shelled building |
STEPAN:
My wife was here. She was taken from here in a shocking condition. She can’t
be here now. |
02:56 |
Stepan
up stairs to apartment |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: His wife was left traumatised when a Russian bomb hit
their building. |
03:15 |
|
STEPAN:
There's no access to psychological care, no doctors. They bombed the hospital. There is no gas, no water, no heating,
everything is destroyed. It will be impossible to live here in winter. |
03:20 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Stepan has nowhere else to go. |
03:54 |
Stepan
interview by shelled building |
STEPAN:
What kind of military target is found in schools, kindergartens, homes? What
kind of military can be here? The frontline was over there where the forest
is. But the attacks didn’t target the military. They were mostly just
terrifying civilians. |
04:00 |
Shelled
school |
MARIA:
So it’s just a residential area, nothing military,
no industrial infrastructure, nothing. This is a school. STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: We can hear an air raid siren |
04:42 |
Maria
interview in shelled school |
going
off right now. How much a part of daily life is that in Kharkiv? |
04:55 |
|
MARIA:
A lot. It's every day and it’s constant . It doesn't
allow you to live normally because of this constant threat of missile attack. STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Maria Avdeeva has remained in the city since the war began. |
05:00 |
|
MARIA:
The first day was, of course, the most terrifying day. People started fleeing
immediately. And there were hundreds, thousands of people in the city centre
going to the railway stations. I had my friends calling me and asking if
Kharkiv is already in the hands of Russians, that's what the Russian
propaganda was claiming |
05:15 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Before the invasion Maria worked as an international
security expert, specialising in Russian disinformation. |
05:37 |
|
MARIA:
It was difficult to get any information because all the media, all the local
media were gone. It was difficult to understand what has happened, where,
what is the situation. So I decided that I can try
to do a video and describe what does the situation was like. |
05:46 |
Maria
reportage videos |
"This
is Maria Avdeeva from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Fifty people were buried here under
the rubble. The shelling continues. It
doesn't stop day and night. You can hear it happening at this exact moment.
Glory to Ukraine!" |
06:03 |
Shelled
buildings |
Music
|
06:26 |
Maria
interview |
MARIA:
Kharkiv is still a Russian speaking city.
And of course if Putin would be successful in
putting Kharkiv on its knees, then it would be a major victory. But it didn't
happen. And now he is furious and trying to destroy everything that is
important in this city. |
06:33 |
Drone
shot Kharkiv. Cannane driving |
Music
|
06:53 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Much of the region to the east of the city of Kharkiv was
until recently under Russian control. Then, Ukraine’s top brass hatched a
secret plan to take it back. |
07:04 |
GFX
Map Ukraine |
While
Russian eyes were on troop movements in the south of the country, Ukrainian
forces, with newly acquired western weapons, prepared for battle in the north east. |
07:18 |
Rocket
launchers, Kharkiv counteroffensive |
And
on the 6th of September, Ukraine's generals unleashed their counteroffensive. |
07:29 |
|
Music
|
07:36 |
Cannane
in trench, abandoned Russian camp |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: For over six months these trenches were occupied by
Russian forces here on the frontline in Kharkiv. That was until Ukrainian
special forces caught them by surprise in this counteroffensive here in
Kharkiv. They had to leave so quickly they left all this stuff behind. You
can see pots, pans, even ammunition. |
07:57 |
Taras
with village men |
Before
the war, Taras Berezovets was a political consultant and journalist. TARAS:
They were barking during the night, the Russians were afraid, so they killed
every dog in the next village. STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Like so many civilians he joined the military soon after
Russia invaded. |
08:24 |
|
TARAS:
Russians expected our offensive in the south; it took place here in the north
in Kharkiv. It was a miracle, I would say it was
Kharkiv miracle. Russians were fleeing from their position like rats. Elite
forces of Russian marines were jumping into the river and just swimming… |
08:43 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Taras says the Ukrainian army caught Russian forces with
their pants down. |
08:59 |
|
TARAS:
Some of them were, just literally, in their underwear, because they didn’t
manage to put on their clothes – and that is true, because we found a lot of
their clothes. |
09:06 |
GFX
Map Kharkiv region |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: In just five days Ukrainian forces reclaimed over 3,000
square kilometres of the Kharkiv region, including the important strategic
city of Izyum, finally pushing the occupying Russian forces back over the
Oskil River. |
09:17 |
Soldiers
on tanks |
OLEKSII
REZNIKOV: Crowds of all soldiers, all commanders, because they did their job.
|
09:40 |
Oleksii
interview |
And
it's also showed to the world that we can beat them, and we will do it. Give
us tools, we'll finish the job. You know whose quote? It's Winston Churchill. |
09:47 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Ukraine's Minister of Defence, Oleksii Reznikov, says a first rate strategy combined with western weapons has
given Ukraine a fighting chance. |
10:00 |
|
OLEKSII
REZNIKOV: It means that you can believe in Ukraine, in Ukrainian armed forces
and Ukrainian as a country, as a people. You can continue your support. We
will continue to beat them and we will kick them out
of our country. |
10:09 |
Artem
interview |
ARTEM:
My brothers who were walking next to me, who are not with me anymore, it's
thanks to them our counteroffensive continues, and we will continue to win,
and liberate the territory of Ukraine. |
10:31 |
Battalion
members |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Artem and his battalion were in the thick of it from the
beginning of the counter-offensive; the frontline is less than two kilometres
from here. |
10:46 |
Artem
interview |
ARTEM:
I want to win this war so that my children can study and grow up in peace
like in other European countries. I’ve
been to Europe, I know how people live there, the sort of education they
have. I don't like what the Russians do to everything they leave behind. The
destruction, the mess, hurting civilians. They hurt almost everyone. |
10:57 |
Village
GVs |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: As this region has been liberated stories have begun to
emerge of what life was like, under the occupation. |
11:26 |
Anatolii
riding bike |
Music
|
11:49 |
|
ANATOLII:
For the past 35 years I've been going to Oskil for summer holidays. With my
wife. |
11:52 |
Anatolii
home movies |
We'd
enjoy nature. We had no phones, no reception, nothing. It was a different
world. This year, instead of Oskil, I spent my summer in the Balaklilya
Police Department. |
12:08 |
Cannane
with Anatolii in home |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: 70 year old Anatolii Garagatyi is
an amateur film-maker. For decades he has documented the people and places of
the Kharkiv region, on his beloved camcorder. In May, he was arrested by
occupying forces after uploading a video of Russian tanks to his YouTube
channel. |
12:36 |
|
ANATOLII:
I woke up early. I went out and was standing there, when
I heard the gate slam. |
12:59 |
Anatolii
interview |
Then
they saw me, and they beat me. They beat me and took me to Balakliya. They
connected electric currents to my feet, and started
torturing me with it. When they did it for the third time, I fainted. I
realised I couldn't bear it anymore. |
13:08 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Anatolii was told he would be executed if he didn’t record
a pro-Russia video. |
13:33 |
|
ANATOLII:
They wanted me, work for them to praise Putin and their war. As if they were liberators, liberating
Ukrainians from something. |
13:43 |
|
I
refused. I’m 70 now, and it doesn’t matter how much longer I live, but I
don’t want my soul to encounter my parents, and for them to think me a
traitor. |
14:02 |
|
The
soldiers said, "Get ready for your execution, you'll be shot in an
hour." I asked other prisoners to tell my beloved wife and my children
that I love them. And I will never
forget them. |
14:24 |
Anatolii
and wife at home |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Anatolii would be tortured and threatened with execution
again, before finally being freed as Ukrainian troops advanced. |
14:42 |
|
ANATOLII: My wife was waiting for me. I am deeply
grateful to her, that she got me out of there, with her prayers. I felt them. |
14:56 |
Shelled
buildings in Izyum |
Music
|
15:17 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: This is the city of Izyum. It was under occupation for
nearly 6 months. It was a key operational base for Moscow to supply and
reinforce Russian troops across the east of Ukraine. 80% of the city’s
infrastructure has been destroyed. |
15:23 |
|
NATASHA:
Of course, everyone is worried about winter. Most don't have
windows. I'm sure the local authorities won't let us down. Everything
will be fine. |
15:46 |
Natasha
interview |
I'm
just sure of it. STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: When the city was recently liberated, Natasha rushed to
thank the soldiers. |
15-59 |
|
NATASHA:
I love them very much. STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: And were the soldiers good-looking? NATASHA:
They are very handsome. Super! |
16:09 |
Residents
queue for aid |
|
16:22 |
Izyum
shelled buildings |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Residents here are only just beginning to tally the human
cost of the occupation. NATASHA: They say it was aerial bombs. My cousin Sveta lived there with her
mother-in-law. I knew Zhyhar Oleksandr
there too. His wife Olena, his daughter, his son-in-law, and a grandchild. |
16:30 |
|
The
whole family died. |
16:57 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Local authorities say that at least 54 civilians died here
after this building was bombed. |
17:00 |
Natasha
interview |
NATASHA:
I have an acquaintance, Oleksandr Hlushko. He lives on Rizdviana Street. I
heard from neighbours Russian troops came, put a bag
over his head, and took him away. They took him to our police department, to
the basements there and they tortured him. |
17:10 |
Russian
bunker, interrogation room |
SERHII:
In the places like this, Russian fascists detained civilians and military, interrogating and torturing them. |
17:54 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Serhii Bolvinov is the chief investigator of the Kharkiv
regional police. |
18:02 |
|
SERHII:
They did it to get any information they were interested in, but also probably
to break their will. On the wall we can see date, 29 June '22 and 'God save
us.' |
18:08 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: It's dark, it's cold, it's damp. It stinks. There’s a
bucket of piss and crap in the corner; men were
crammed in this room for days on end.
Serhii Bolvinov’s team of investigators has been busy gathering
evidence of what went on inside torture chambers like this one. |
18:30 |
|
SERHII:
We collect all material evidence, all traces of DNA and fingerprints, to
establish the identities of all people detained on these premises and check
whether they are still alive or not. |
18:50 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: His team has discovered at least 23 locations across the
Kharkiv region where civilians were tortured. |
19:03 |
Serhii |
SERHII:
I'm from Kharkiv, this is my land. And when we see such premises, we're
filled with hatred. |
19:15 |
Aerials
over forest to burial site |
Music
|
19:23 |
Yevgen
at burial site |
YEVGEN: We're at a mass burial that occurred in the
city of Izyum, Kharkiv region during its occupation by Russian troops. STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Prosecutor Yevgen Sokolov is investigating how hundreds of
Izyum residents came to be buried here. |
20:33 |
Yevgen
interview |
YEVGEN:
So far we've exhumed 387 bodies from 445 graves. In
one grave there were 17 bodies, soldiers from the Ukrainian Army. |
21:00 |
Bodies
being exhumed |
|
21:09 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: We’ve just seen one body exhumed here; |
21:22 |
Cannane
to camera at burial site |
100
metres away we’ve got relatives who ae waiting, trying to find the bodies of
their loved ones. The majority of people coming out of these graves are civilians. The investigators here are doing
extraordinary work – they’re working all day. They’re trying to find the
truth here, they are trying to find out who these
people are and what happened to them. |
21:24 |
Drone
shot over burial site |
Yevgen
says evidence of war crimes is mounting. YEVGEN:
If there are more than 100 people with shrapnel injuries – if the civilian
population was shelled |
21:45 |
Yevgen
interview |
–
then this is already a war crime. STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: We've also heard there was evidence of somebody castrated. YEVGEN:
One man had his scrotum removed and his limbs fractured. Another had been
stabbed in the scrotum. |
22:06 |
Exhumed
bodies into truck |
Music
|
22:35 |
|
OLEKSII:
It's a war crime. It's for Nuremberg 2, |
23:03 |
Oleksii
interview |
but
we have to do it in Kharkiv or in Mariupol or in
Izyum, for example. Doesn't matter, but we have to
do it, not only in The Hague. |
23:09 |
Kharkiv
river. Cannane walks through market |
|
23:28 |
|
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: As winter approaches in Kharkiv, the city is under renewed
threat. Russia has escalated its attacks on civilian infrastructure. |
23:26 |
|
For
Ukrainians, Putin's war is not just an attack on its people and its
territory, it's a full blown assault on its culture
and identity. |
23:49 |
Train |
TETIANA:
The difference between our and Russian culture is their culture is dead. |
24:03 |
Tetiana
interview |
They're
always looking to the past and pushing their Pushkin, Tolstoy
and Dostoevsky on us. |
24:10 |
Tetiana
in museum office |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Tetiana Pylypchuk
is the director of the museum of Ukrainian literature. The museum’s
collection preserves the work of Ukrainian writers, including those who were
killed under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. |
24:15 |
|
TETIANA:
Our collection is about the 1920s, the years of the Ukrainian cultural
revolution. It was very serious resistance to the expansion of Russian
culture, and a resistance to Russification. |
24:32 |
Tetiana
greets Viktoria |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Novelist Viktoria Amelina has come to the museum to add
another writer's work to the collection. |
24:47 |
|
VIKTORIA:
He realised he would be arrested so he took his war occupation diary and hid
it under a cherry tree in his garden. |
25:03 |
Viktoria
and Tetiana with Vakulenko's diary |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Children’s author and patriot Volodymyr Vakulenko was last
heard from in March. Friends believe
he was taken by the Russians. |
25:14 |
|
VIKTORIA:
His father showed me the place and we were digging and digging and digging
and I kept digging and managed to find the diary. His diary will be in the
museum. |
25:25 |
Tetiana
reads from diary |
TETIANA:
'A small flock of cranes? In their call?' History is repeating with Volodya. |
25:38 |
|
That
is, the enemies came and took away the Ukrainian writer, only because he was
a Ukrainian writer. 'In their call it seems I could hear Everything will be Ukraine.
I believe in victory. Everything will be Ukraine. I believe in victory. |
25:47 |
Literary
festival |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: With missiles continuing to strike the city, Tetiana and
her team are holding the Kharkiv literary festival. |
26:16 |
|
TETIANA:
Holding events in a city which is under the threat, holding such art events
during the war is a very strong message to the enemy, and everyone
understands this. |
26:25 |
Tetiana
addresses festival |
"I
think threat the country has moved to a different level. As a community, we
feel ready to defend ourselves." |
26:42 |
|
FESTIVAL
GUEST: "You can see it when you walk outside, the city is empty. But at
the same time, most people really want to come back." |
26:49 |
Tetiana
interview |
TETIANA: Our literary festival is not just about
literature. It's important for us just do something – and then something good
will come out of it. |
26:59 |
Man
at festival |
MAN AT
FESTIVAL: The Russian troops are not
far from here and danger is very big, but we are here and this is life, and
it's very important to show that the life here, the culture here, is still
here. |
27:13 |
Festival
guests sing |
SINGING:
"Mother, in the fight for freedom I went far away. For truth and the
fate of the next generations. For those who are far away at sea. Those alive
will come back on the wings of the stork. Mother, in the first for freedom I
went far away. For truth and the fate of the next generations. For those who
are far away at sea. Those alive will come back on the wings of the
stork." |
27:30 |
Cannane
to camera at festival |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: To see all these people come together, to sing, to dance,
to talk, to listen, to let their hair down, to just enjoy themselves in a war
zone, and to do it at a festival inside a bunker, has been an incredible
experience. |
28:15 |
Woman
at festival |
WOMAN
AT FESTIVAL: I dressed up. I come here
with my mum… I enjoyed it. I met people who I love and enjoyed this event, so
it was wonderful. |
28:34 |
Tetiana
applies lipstick |
TETIANA:
The joy that we are together, we are alive, we can hug each other, we talk
about the future, this is probably the best result. |
28:43 |
Oleksii
interview |
OLEKSII:
We have to survive, we have to fight for our land,
our family, for our houses. And it's our future. |
28:52 |
Anatolii
riding bike |
STEVE
CANNANE, Reporter: Do you believe Ukraine will win this war? ANATOLII:
We've already won! What are you talking about? Cowards. They’re cowards. How
are those cowards capable of defeating people like us? |
29:01 |
CARD:
The body of writer Volodymyr Vakulenko has reportedly been found in the
mass burial site at Izyum. Investigations are ongoing. |
|
29:21 |
Anatolii's
home movies. Credits [see below] |
|
29:37 |
Outpoint |
|
30:13 |
REPORTER
Steve Cannane
PRODUCER
Matt Davis
CAMERA
Tom Hancock
Matt
Davis
FIELD
PRODUCERS
Tetiana Prytulenko
Dmytro Prytulenko
SECURITY
Michael Holdsworth
DRIVER
Yevhen Yuzvynskyi
MUSIC
DZ'OB – Sarabanda
ASSISTANT
EDITOR
Tom Carr
RESEARCH
Victoria
Allen
ARCHIVAL
RESEARCH
Michelle Boukheris
GRAPHICS
Andrés Gómez Isaza
ONLINE
EDITORS
John Fischer
Justine Braddon
Steve Griffiths
COLOUR
GRADE
Simon Brazzalotto
Luciano
Marigo-Spitaleri
SOUND
MIXERS
Michol Marsh
Jikou Sugano
POST PRODUCTION
Lubomir Kulich
Debbie Rieck
Chistopher Paag
PUBLICITY/PROMOTIONS
Paul
Akkermans
Linda-Jane Grace
Steve Noble
Andy McNeil
MARKETING
Natasha Holland
Jillian
Reeves
SENIOR
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Michelle Roberts
PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR
Victoria Allen
DIGITAL
PRODUCER
Matt Henry
SUPERVISING
PRODUCER
Lisa McGregor
EXECUTIVE
PRODUCER
Morag Ramsay
foreign correspondent
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2022 Australian Broadcasting Corporation