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:
Steve Cannane
Reporter

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

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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

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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