(THEME MUSIC PLAYS)
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
SEAN LANGAN: I'm now on the front lines.
The sounds here are so much more terrifying
The sounds here than the sounds I heard in Donetsk.
(EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
I was warned not to go in with the Russians.
And some people asked,
"Should we even be telling their side of the story?"
But, when I found myself riding into battle with the Russian army,
I began to think I might have gone too far over to the other side.
But, at that point, it was too late to turn back.
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
I arrived in Russia a few weeks after Putin ordered a mobilisation.
The war had been going badly since the invasion...
..and, according to the headlines, Ukraine seemed to be winning
..and, according to the headlines, and could even win this war.
I'd read all the reports on war crimes.
But as I drove down from Moscow
I didn't really know what to expect.
The Russian-occupied territory
in the east of Ukraine,
known as the Donbas Region,
an effective media blackout,
had been under an effective media blackout,
and it felt like I was crossing over an effective media blackout,
and it felt like I was crossing over
into the dark side of the moon.
My name is Sean Langan.
As a young foreign correspondent
I'd covered the break-up of the Soviet Union.
I'd covered That was more than 30 years ago,
and this was my first time back in Russia.
I'd finally been granted a press visa
by the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Moscow.
And I'd hired a local fixer from Donetsk
And I'd hired in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
Sasha was my translator and my eyes and ears.
I've noticed you've put the Z on the window. Now, why is that?
These are local...
Oh, my God. These are Chechnyans.
Do I have to be careful?
Ah, no, they're friends of mine. Do I have to be careful?
Ah, no, they're friends of mine. Really?
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
The closer we come to Donetsk
the more this feels like a war zone.
(EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
On my first night in Donetsk
the constant barrage of outgoing artillery fire and rockets
sounded like rolling thunder on the horizon.
(EXPLOSIONS IN DISTANCE) on the horizon.
(EXPLOSIONS IN DISTANCE)
That night Russia unleashed cruise missiles across Ukraine,
cutting off the power supply to over 1.5 million people.
It was the beginning of Putin's campaign
to rain down rockets on Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine. of Putin's campaign
to rain down rockets on Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine.
Sasha had arranged an embed with local forces.
Formerly part of the breakaway Donetsk Peoples' Republic,
they've been fighting since 2014
but are now a part of the Russian army.
(EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
Thousands of soldiers (EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
Thousands of soldiers are billeted in the little dachas
Thousands of soldiers on the outskirts of Donetsk.
(CHATTER IN RUSSIAN)
As we arrived at the dacha
the men were getting ready to go out on a mission.
So, he was in the independent Ukrainian navy?
He is now fighting what's called the Ukrainian army?
He is now fighting what's called Can he help me understand that?
But there is a darker side to the pro-Russian fighters in Ukraine.
The Wagner Group was originally set up to pursue Putin's proxy war
in support of the separatists in 2014.
Some of these men joined the Wagner Group
and were still with them at the time of invasion.
Yeah, but what where they doing in Kyiv if they're...
Yeah, but what where they doing I didn't know the DNR were there.
Ah.
Da.
And he was with... not the Donetsk People's Army,
And he was with... with the Wagner Group?
We heard a lot about Bucha, that...
..it was on the news every day,
about how when the Russians left
there were all these bodies, and they were accused...
..they were accused of war crimes there.
The UN documented at least 73 cases
of unlawful killings and executions of civilians in Bucha.
But I realised it wasn't the right time or a safe place
to ask about war crimes.
The men were now heading out to the tranches,
which were less than two kilometres away,
which were less and they agreed to take me.
(MUD SPLOSHES)
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
Throwing grenades.
No! In this trench?
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
Rossia? Outgoing? (EXPLOSION NEARBY)
Rossia? Outgoing?
Ah.
(LAUGHTER, CHATTER)
(EXPLOSIONS IN DISTANCE)
(SHELLS WHIZZ IN DISTANCE)
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
(QUIETLY) Fuck!
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
(QUIETLY) No.
(DRONE BUZZES)
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
(SHELLS WHIZZ IN DISTANCE)
(SHELL WHIZZES NEARBY)
(EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
I'd met the local fighters in Donetsk,
I'd met the local fighters but I now wanted to leave the city
and meet the Russian army fighting on the eastern front.
In the weeks before I arrived in Donetsk,
the Ukrainian army had launched a lightning counter-offensive
in the east and around the city of Kharkiv.
(RUSSIAN POP SONG PLAYS ON RADIO)
The Russian army had been routed
in Izyum and Lyman,
and was apparently in disarray
and they had fallen back
to the garrison town of Svatove.
NEWSREADER: Lyman's capture is one of Russia's worst military defeats
NEWSREADER: Lyman's capture is one since the start of its invasion...
NEWSREADER: Military vehicles -
these are signs that the Russians had to flee.
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
See the mines there. Oh, yeah.
Are those their mine? These are their mines?
This was my first encounter with a Russian unit
and my first encounter with a Russian tank.
Neither seemed to be in good working order.
But they had been fighting for six months
and taken a battering in their retreat from Izyum.
And, as they stood around smoking cigarettes,
And, as they stood around the Ukrainians started shelling.
(EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
We should run now, we should go
because they're aiming us, they're aiming us.
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
When we got to Svatove
it was full of cold and exhausted-looking soldiers
it was full of cold milling around in muddy streets
strewn with broken-down vehicles.
Can I ask what is it like here?
For you?
I don't like here...be here
because...
..this is danger can come.
Yeah. How old are you?
19.
Oh, you're my son's age. (CHUCKLES)
What's your name? Ilhom.
Ilhom. My name is Sean.
Nice to m... Are you mobilised?
No, no, no. I am contract.
Contract.
I be in Balakliia and Izyum.
And I now be here in Svatove.
Can I ask what was it like for you And I now be here in Svatove.
Can I ask what was it like for you in Izyum?
Can I ask what was it like for you Because it was tough fighting.
We lost so many good...
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN) We lost so many good...
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
Good men. (SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
Good men. Yeah.
You lost friends?
Yeah.
I'm sorry.
I'd been warned that I would never be allowed to show the truth
if I went to Russian-occupied Ukraine.
Both Sasha and the commander were trying to manage my visit.
But the cracks were beginning to show.
The reporter from Russian TV thanked him for sharing.
But the soldier's outspoken comments were later cut from her report.
(RUSSIAN RAP SONG PLAYS ON RADIO)
Afterwards we stopped off
to pick up a couple of what they said were NATO-made missiles.
The driver was keen to take us back to their place
to show off their stock of captured weapons.
So, we're gonna go in first or talk here?
So, we're gonna go in first I'll turn my camera off.
So, these are all weapons...NATO weapons
that they took from the Ukrainians?
And what's he going to do with them?
As we were talking
some men stormed in.
They were Spetsnaz, the Russian elite special forces.
I can feel he's looking at me
like, "Who the F are you?"
And he's right - never trust journalists,
but I want... (LAUGHS) And he's right - never trust journalists,
but I want... (LAUGHS)
(LAUGHTER)
The Ukrainians are saying they're winning,
The Ukrainians are saying and they took Izyum, Lyman.
Thank you very much.
(YELLS IN RUSSIAN)
(RUSSIAN POP SONG PLAYS ON RADIO)
On our way back to Donetsk
we stopped off at a forward-operating base in Kreminna.
Sasha had arranged for us to meet a unit of Russian soldiers
camped out in the woods
Is the fighting here quite intense?
Is there a little bit of hurt
that the West Is there a little bit of hurt
that the West doesn't understand their side?
(CHATTER IN RUSSIAN)
Ah. Made in England? (CHUCKLES) Yeah.
What's it like? Because Russian and Ukraine are...they're neighbours,
they're family, its history. Does that make it harder?
Does he have children?
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
When I first arrived in Donetsk
it felt like a city on the front line.
Now it felt like a city under siege.
(PHONE RINGS)
(EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
(RINGING CONTINUES)
His phone's ringing. Someone's trying to call him.
(PUFFS)
(RINGING CONTINUES)
A well-known pro-Kremlin Russian military blogger
agreed to take us to the very edge of the city
so we could see the Ukrainian front lines.
so we could see (RUSSIAN POP SONG PLAYS ON RADIO)
(EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
(EXPLOSIONS NEARBY)
Don't afraid. It's ours. Yeah.
Don't afraid. It's ours. (EXPLOSION NEARBY)
What would you accept as compromise?
You said something there which I find disturbing.
IF Kyiv is friendly to you, then you will give them freedom.
And... And... And, sorry, does that include Kyiv?
And when we kill the last Nazi...
Yeah.
..war will end.
It's like a ghost town around here, this bit.
This is a protected place. this bit.
This is a protected place.
OK.
Also I've got a feeling we should be wearing a flak jacket now.
Yeah. You put it on.
Yeah.
We're putting our flak jackets on,
there's a woman across the road walking her dog.
there's a woman across the road (EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
Is she OK walking her dog, Sasha?
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
(SHELL WHIZZES OVERHEAD)
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
No, no, it's rockets, it's firing, it's...
No, no, it's rockets, it's firing, It's mortar.
I saw the flames.
(EXPLOSIONS NEARBY)
Sasha, I think we should come over.
I could see the flame coming from here.
(CHATTER IN RUSSIAN)
Does she want to borrow our helmet?
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
I wasn't joking. Oh, my God.
What's your name? My name is Sean.
Does she feel safe here?
Does she want... Does she feel safe here?
Does she want...
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN) OK.
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN) Is she going? Bye-bye.
Do svidaniya.
(PUFFS) Sasha.
It was closest you have, I guess, here, yeah?
It was closest you have, I guess, Yeah.
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
You know what? I just want to say this, I don't wanna get...
We don't need to go looking for the fucking war.
We don't need to go looking (SHELL WHIZZES OVERHEAD)
Yeah, yeah, you don't wanna go (SHELL WHIZZES OVERHEAD)
Yeah, yeah, you don't wanna go there. You agree with me now, yeah?
Yeah. (EXPLOSION NEARBY)
This is a window shaking where it stands.
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
Do you mind if I smoke?
(EXCLAIMS)
Yeah, I'm English, British.
(ALL LAUGH)
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
Where are you from? London.
(CHORTLES)
You mean...
(CHATTERS IN RUSSIAN)
I'm gonna miss this place.
I know you'll come back.
There is no more interesting place in the world.
I've got 12 days left
and I'd rather not go to the front lines
but at the same time I feel I have to.
You spent a lot of time and spent a lot of energy, you risked a lot
to do this film,
so, I want it to be better so more people can watch it.
so, I want it to be better OK.
That's why I want to risk more and show you some of front-line stuff.
That's why I want to risk more and It will be interesting.
We were now finally heading to an area
that President Zelenskyy described as 'hell on earth' -
that President Zelenskyy a fitting place for my journey's end.
We arrived in the front-line village
just as casualties were coming in.
(EXPLOSIONS NEARBY)
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
Are you the medic?
Oh.
Ah! Yes.
This is where you live and work?
Yes.
This is your operating theatre and this is your kitchen.
This is now operation of surrounding Avdiivka.
So, the Russians have finally made somewhat of an advance?
So, the Russians have finally made Yes, here they took Sherwood.
This the famous position Yes, here they took Sherwood.
This the famous position Ukrainians hold for a long time
This the famous position called Sherwood Forest.
Really? Yeah, yeah, it's for a joke,
but it's the real name of this position.
So, they took it and they took the village after it.
What does the medic want to do?
So, he want to go to evacuation spot.
He want to show us, yeah, "This is the hard front line."
He want to show us, yeah, OK.
Battles are raging now
and the best place to... Battles are raging now
and the best place to... is really possible to get
is this evacuation spot for the medics.
The operation was timed for 4:30 in the morning
and they were expecting a lot of casualties.
Later that night
I watched the Russian drone footage
from their previous assault on Sherwood Forest.
We were heading up to the same location.
And, as I watched the armoured vehicles advance across the fields,
I began to feel a sense of looming dread.
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
(GUNFIRE)
The sounds here are so much more terrifying
The sounds here than the sounds I heard...
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
..in Donetsk, which is only 15 kilometres away.
..in Donetsk, I'm now right on the front lines.
(EXPLOSIONS NEARBY)
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
They told me it would be safe,
but we hadn't even reached They told me it would be safe,
but we hadn't even reached Sherwood Forest...
(EXPLOSIONS NEARBY) Go, go, go, go, go.
..and we immediately came under attack.
..and we immediately (SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
Let's go.
(SHELL WHIZZES OVERHEAD)
Watch these guys.
Three by three. Da, da, da.
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
(EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
No. Yeah.
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
There are mines all over this forest.
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
OK.
(EXPLOSIONS IN DISTANCE)
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
It was a fox hole.
Fox hole? See rockets?
Fox hole? Rockets there.
Following in the wake of carnage.
All these burnt-out, exploded APCs.
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
A lot of unexploded shit here. Be very carful.
Nice forest.
(PUFFS)
History was repeating itself
both as tragedy and farce
in the same fields
where millions of soldiers in the same fields
where millions of soldiers had been killed in World War II.
Putin has cast this war as a rerun of the Great Patriotic War,
but now Russia is the aggressor and the invader.
Yeah, yeah.
No-one leaves their kit, do they?
What's he looking for? It's Ukrainian body.
I thought I'd find some answers in the forest.
But all I found was more death and destruction.
But all I found (EXPLOSION NEARBY)
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
Distance. OK.
Distance. Another new disturbing...
(EXHALES HEAVILY)
..here, for me, is walking through these woods
with these tree stumps,
twisted wood, metal,
dead bodies.
Oh, my God.
(QUIETLY) It's like when Zelenskyy said this is "hell on earth."
This is what the Russian bombardment looks like to a Ukrainian.
Lots of booby traps here, Sasha, mines, yeah?
(EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
The ground is littered with shells, spent shells.
Unexploded. Sorry...
Unexploded. (EXPLOSION NEARBY)
Oi. Let's go.
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
We'd reached the edge of the forest.
It had taken the Russians six months
and thousands of men
to get this far.
This log was their most forward position
This log and the end of my journey.
There was nothing more to see,
just more fields stretching out There was nothing more to see,
just more fields stretching out across the vast plains of Ukraine.
just more fields stretching out (EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
A lot of men have given their lives to take these woods, haven't they?
(EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
Do they feel the world doesn't...
..or the West doesn't understand them?
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
(EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN) (BREATHES HEAVILY)
(SHELLS WHIZZ OVERHEAD)
(EXPLOSION NEARBY)
Last year the headlines were all about Ukraine winning,
and the West ramped up its military support.
Now they're about stalemate,
and some in the West are talking about cutting support.
Russia may still feel it can win.
But what would victory look like?
The eastern front has been reduced to rubble
and many towns now resemble Stalingrad.
Putin has failed to bring Kyiv to heel
and the invasion has only strengthened
and the invasion Ukraine's sense of national identity.
I met a lot of good men on the front lines.
I met a lot of good men But in years to come
I couldn't help wondering how many would still believe in the cause.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYS)
Captions by Red Bee Media
Copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation