Ukraine - Living with war | DW Documentary

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the war has brought Darkness to Ukraine

Russia's attack on the whole country has

continued for more than a year now

I've been covering it as a correspondent

I wanted to know what this war is doing

to people and how they're coping

I found the answers that I received

during this ice cold winter deeply

moving and surprising

thank you

it's early morning in Kiev the zinchenko

family are letting me into their lives

for a day

while Vita goes to wake up her daughter

olexander starts getting breakfast ready

we have normal electricity right now

yes we have electricity because industry

isn't up and running yet

they start at eight now it's only seven

so we should still have power

his job as an electrician has turned him

into a hero for many more on that later

right now he's still in his pajamas and

a hero for his youngest daughter because

he's made her Coco

Alexander enjoys these moments of

normality when the war started a year

ago he didn't know whether life would

ever be normal again

my wife said I'm not leaving Kiev

without you and I told her I can't leave

I have to work either I go to work or I

go to the military and tell them to let

me help where I can

but first I called my colleagues and we

decided right in the first day of the

war to go to work and then decide who

could do what I could have signed up for

military service they'd have probably

taken me

but I thought it's better to do the job

that I do best

to be as useful as possible

Alexander's work is vital for hundreds

of thousands of ukrainians he and his

wife Vita went to school together now

they're responsible for two small

children in the middle of a war zone

thank you

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children were afraid

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but they've got used to it right now

we're no longer hearing such loud noises

or as close by as a few weeks ago

is off to work

employed by a medical laboratory

olexander is taking his daughters to

kindergarten on days like these without

explosions or power outages family life

seems almost normal

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on the inside you know that everything

could change in a minute

it might all seem normal but inwardly

it's a very different story

inwardly it's not normal

we're constantly aware that we're at War

and that feeling isn't going to go away

soon we hope that everything will be

over by the end of the year the latest

but that feeling based on all that's

happened will stay with us for the rest

of our lives

Russia has launched Air Raids on cities

across Ukraine more than one hundred

thousand buildings have been destroyed

and tens of thousands have been killed

including soldiers on both sides

and there's no end in sight

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in the center of Kiev Russian tanks

destroyed in the fighting have been put

on display like Trophies the war is ever

present in the capital

but so too is the desire for normality

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and give there are coffee kiosks on

every corner in Kiev

this one has no power right now but

still they find a way to manage with a

diesel generator it's loud and it stinks

but at least there's coffee all the time

ukrainians are looking for ways to

continue their normal lives despite the

war

foreign

Bridge was closed for a number of weeks

after a missile strike in October

now people are once again Gathering here

Ruslan signed up for the Army

voluntarily when the war broke out last

year

his wife ulyana fled with the children

to Italy they've come back to Kiev for a

brief reunion the families together

again for the first time in 10 months

we're fighting so that families can be

together and to protect our cities our

dream is just to be able to lead a

normal life again we don't just want to

see each other once a year but every day

the way it used to be

we woke up this morning with tears in

our eyes

because we knew that we only have this

one day left together

we have mixed feelings

of course we're so happy to see each

other again but soon we'll be a part

we'll try to support each other from

afar

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don't know when they'll next see each

other so much in their lives remains

uncertain and it's not clear when that

will change

theirs is a fate shared by millions of

Ukrainian families

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next I visit Vlada together with friends

she set up the Kiev cultural front

they're a group of musicians who sing

for soldiers and collect donations

they're young and know how to have fun

but no one here has been left unscathed

by the war even if at times they appear

Carefree the war is reflected in their

music

the Russian invasion has been

before I no longer play the stuff I

wrote before the war because it's not

about me anymore

and it's the same with vlada's new album

there's been a change

their work is voluntary it gives them

the strength to process their own

traumas and they hope to pass on that

strength to others

we perform for soldiers but I've just

come out of hospital for example

we want to give the give the energy to

tell them hey we can do this we're in

this together

the front line is here in our heart it's

not just a physical battle that's our

message we mustn't lose heart

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thank you

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for their performance they're going to a

place outside Kiev that we can't name

for security reasons many soldiers are

supposed to be coming

but then suddenly it's no longer clear

whether cultural front will be able to

perform

for a number of days it's been calm in

Kiev but now the air raid sirens go off

lay down their worries with humor

the sirens no longer were you

as missiles hit the capitol we continue

our journey

another day another dark early morning

I'm at keeves Central Station

we are heading to the city where I was

born it's a five-hour train journey east

of here the city has been badly damaged

and hit by power outages too because the

Russians have targeted the power

stations

this was another

my parents

in 1995 taking me with them part of my

family lives in Ukraine another part in

Russia

I'm intrigued to know what awaits me in

car key

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s

since the Russian invasion these trains

have brought millions of people to

safety allowing them to flee the

fighting despite continuing attacks the

trains are still running and they're on

time

for many they've been literally a

lifesaver

on the train I meet Elena a year ago she

fled izum in eastern Ukraine for the

west of the country her city was

occupied for months now she's returning

home for the first time

how do you feel about returning

there's no City left

Freud

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I have no house to return to

so I'm going to my son in balaclia

I desperately wanted to go back home

it's all I want I'm just tired of it all

so I'm going home

like so many others she's tired of being

afraid

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kharkif is Ukraine's second biggest city

it's located in the northeast of the

country close to the Russian border

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foreign

the District of saltifka was previously

home to almost 1 million people now it's

a ghost town

Lydia's eighth floor apartment was one

of many that was destroyed

must stay they're going to rebuild it

but

her family are looking for a Bible

she tells me it's an old family heirloom

this place was her home for three

decades

what

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there is nothing

the outer wall of Lydia's apartment lies

just 30 kilometers from the Russian

border

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these were all apartments Lydia lived

down there with her husband it's really

difficult to find the right words but

this place this Devastation

shows the full extent of just how brutal

this war is

yet suddenly there's a brief moment of

joy

Bible dating back to 1904 that's been in

our family for generations and my son

has just found it

I'm Keen to catch a glimpse of this

precious item that has stirred such

emotion her son brings the Bible over

for us to have a look thankfully it's

all intact

they gather up a few other precious

belongings all they have left of their

homes

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thank you

in view of all the devastation I can't

stop thinking about Lydia's question

how can all this be rebuilt

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around 70 000 people have reported to

the city authorities that their homes

have either been destroyed or damaged

also in Ruins are schools kindergartens

and hospitals

Norman Foster came here recently the

famous British architect but there are

also a number of women architects from

Clarke who are working on the future of

the city even with the war ongoing and

we're about to meet one of them

olhak Leitman had just gone to Colombia

when her home City came Under Fire a

year ago she returned immediately

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to rebuild the city even though it keeps

coming under renewed attack

I just thought was just don't lose your

mind because it's a heavy burden to bear

it's very tough when you make an

appointment with a customer and then a

bomb hits

and that's that the customer doesn't

call back he's changed his mind about

building something

so you're planning something and then

bang one attack and that's it when the

power and heating went off in the city

it was all over the next customer never

got back to me

at first olha could only pay her team

the minimum wage because they had no

work now things have picked up again

the project closest to ola's heart is

the enlargement of a nursing home which

she's been working on for free since the

start of the war

we realized that many social services

had ceased to operate elderly people or

cancer patients for example who needed

medication or painkillers were suddenly

left on their own

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they all needed help

we brought them food and medication

and then we realized that there were

people who couldn't leave their homes

and needed care

many of the elderly people who now live

in olha's nursing home were brought here

from places on the front line or in

previously occupied areas if it weren't

for her efforts they would have no one

to care for their needs and cook them

meals

there was nothing

the cooker is especially good

this little Hub is what the girls were

initially cooking on everything came

about thanks to the many donations

some of the home's 41 residents lived

through the second world war now War has

once again returned to their lives

nelia is 85 and comes from the embattled

city of kupiansk she in here since

September

do you know what's so difficult

we all live together we were friends

everything was good and then suddenly

no one saw it coming

no one expected this

but suddenly we have this it's

terrifying it's very difficult it's hard

for the soul and for the heart very hard

but we'll get through it

we will experience peaceful Skies again

a smile on everyone's faces we'll get

there all of us together

Johnson

is

she's determined to hold on to that

belief

after our conversation she called me

back and told me her son had been killed

on the battlefield just before his 50th

birthday

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back in Kiev electrician Alexander is

about to start his 12-hour shift

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everyone has their own Frontline

somewhere directly on the front line

facing the enemy with a machine gun we

have our own front line here with its

own challenges

right now I'm in the right place I don't

know about the future maybe I'll take

over arms too at some stage to defend my

country no one can rule that out right

now

olexander's front line is the battle to

keep the capital supplied with

electricity

since October power stations have been

under attack

it's his job to prevent lengthy power

outages in Kiev

right now we have 50 to 60 percent of

the power that would normally be

available

35 of that is set aside for critical

infrastructure from 9am each day

industry is operating at full capacity

so then more households have to go

without electricity because industry has

to keep going so that there's bread

pasta and tanks if they're even produced

in our country who knows

Alexander works together with

Constantine

for the past six years they've been a

team traveling from one electricity

substation to another and keeping the

local power grid running smoothly

but their job has taken on a whole new

significance since the start of the war

they control the flow of electricity to

ensure no one is without power

completely although everyone has to do

without for a few hours each day it's a

nerve-wracking job

they're constantly repairing what the

Russian attacks have destroyed so

electricians are now often seen as

heroes in Ukraine

do you sense that in your daily work

mostly people have started treating us

with more respect because they

understand how important we are before

the war we were basically invisible

was just always there and if there was a

power cut everyone got upset wondering

what we were playing

now I think they're more understanding

and respect us at least I hope they do I

mean

the neighbors have even started greeting

me they used to think we were just some

random guys

Alexander and Constantine know how

important they are if they make a

mistake or are too slow tens of

thousands of people will be without

heating water or light

meanwhile the cultural front is getting

ready to go on stage despite the sirens

the missile attacks and Sub-Zero

temperatures in the hall Vlada and the

other musicians have decided to perform

for the soldiers including Anton

with a battalion in eastern Ukraine a

year ago he was an I.T specialist now

he's a soldier

is called

joining the Army is emotionally much

easier than remaining a civilian

if you're a civilian you're constantly

thinking about what you can do do you

donate money help practically run away

there are numerous options joining the

Army is very easy you turn up and all

your questions are gone you know exactly

what you have to do

you have a wife and children how old are

your children I have a five-year-old

daughter

when you're at home

how long are you staying

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leaving is probably the hardest part

Anton tells me he actually left his

family before he needed to because he

was afraid if he stayed longer it would

be even harder to say goodbye

what happens when life breaks down

when there are systemic contradiction

name symbolized all that was corrupt to

society

his name symbolized all that was pure

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was being held in the Embrace of a man

who was pure almost everyone here in

this Hall has been on the front lines

and after a few days off at home they'll

be going back there

his men will be returning to the

fiercely contested city of bakmut I lost

it is much worse the very place where

the love of vlada's life was killed just

a few months ago

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can you put into words what you felt

when you heard that news

almost like you can express it in music

I was in the theater when it happened

he's come right right to me he just

wrote hello

and I knew immediately that my boyfriend

was either wounded or dead

he wrote that my boyfriend had fallen

I ran out of the theater and sat down on

the balcony

I can't remember that moment there was a

break and everyone went outside and I

just sat there and cried

I don't remember the first week after

his death

but I composed a lot of music for him is

this your mind that's all I have I don't

have anything more precious I've written

10 songs for him

it's like he lives on in these songs

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Robert

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all right

yeah

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we noticed some of the soldiers had

tears in their eyes

yes it's certainly true for me but also

for the others we become more

sentimental I can hear a song and

immediately start crying that wouldn't

have happened before but I don't think

that's a bad thing

foreign

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next we travel to another location that

I can't reveal

because soldiers come here to receive

psychological support

the aim is to treat symptoms of

Battlefield trauma to stop them getting

worse

since last summer Alexander has offered

a one-week therapy program for soldiers

he offers various treatments but the

main focus is on conversational therapy

how did you manage to convince the

soldiers to take part

they all Talk Sooner or Later first and

foremost they just need to talk they

need to talk about their problems the

more they talk about their problems the

easier it will be for them later on the

more they try to hide their problems the

worse the repercussions are it can even

end in suicide

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project is not financed by the states

but relies on donations most of which

come from other European countries there

are 80 places on the program

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Andrei is part of the latest group to

arrive

a few hours ago he was on the front line

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it's like you switch off your mind

during battle then you return to your

unit you rest and relax

and it's only one or two weeks later

that you start to analyze everything

that you've experienced

and then you realize that a bullet flew

right past your head a mine exploded

right near you it was a miracle that you

didn't get flattened by a tank and you

realize there were dozens of times when

you could have been killed

and only then do you think wow I

survived

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many of these men are suffering from

trauma

they've been fighting in trenches

hearing gunfire day and night they've

watched their comrades die

what military therapist Mariana is

trying to do in this short time is a

form of psychological first aid

s they're afraid of falling asleep and

having nightmares

this therapy helps them to sleep better

we restore certain processes so they can

fall asleep

some people have bigger problems they

get flashbacks

they think about the Terrible Things

they've experienced

then there's the fatigue

they're all very tired

this is Andre one week later

I've come to find out how he's doing now

did a week here do you good I see you're

freshly shaving

yes you slowly start to change back from

a wild guy to a civilized person

when you have the chance to relax and to

sleep to shave to eat proper food and

wash your clothes and to get back those

basic Comforts of normal life that you

just don't have on the front line

it's a short time of rest before they

return to the battle

in the few days here they try to find

ways of coping with their trauma

trauma that will change them forever

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the psychologists explain the process

that we are going through so that we

understand what is happening in our

minds

for example she explained that her

mental perception is like a corridor The

more stress we have the narrower this

Corridor becomes and then the smallest

irritation is enough to make us explode

she explained what tools we can use to

keep that Corridor as wide as possible

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I am now heading to a small town just 15

kilometers from the Russian border it

was once home to 6 000 people

I'm wearing a bulletproof vest as the

area could come under fire anytime

for months the village of zlatanim

sustained heavy shelling it's now almost

completely destroyed but a few hundred

people have returned including a medical

doctor called lucnila

this is the only area where we can be

the rest has all been destroyed the

people but how do you manage to work

here everything's in Ruins

we just work here like this this is how

it's been in the war we just live and

work those who are mentally strong work

our children are fighting our husbands

are fighting and we're working here on

our own front line

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is now the only doctor for her entire

community

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he shows me the part of the clinic where

she works before there was a separate

treatment area just for children

but now it's too badly damaged and the

power and heating no longer work apart

from Ludmila and two nurses there is no

one else working at the clinic

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War destroys your entire body it

destroys both your outward body and your

emotions your cardiovascular system and

central nervous systems suffer most

Estrada

the house belonging to Victoria one of

the nurses working with Ludmila is Right

nearby

but there's not much of it left

Victoria has relatives living across the

border in Russia they support the war

against Ukraine

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um

when I was young we used to drive over

to Russia to visit them

now all Family Ties have been severed

the question

they even say it's our own fault and

that we're firing it ourselves

that's how my relatives

now Victoria is living in a rented

apartment in kharkiv

he takes the bus to work and every day

she passes the ruins of her old life

I don't know

the house belonging to Dr Patlu nenko is

still standing but it's cut off from the

power supply

so this is a car battery and it provides

light

he charges our cell phones too

much of life here is improvised right

now

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these sacks are full of clothing in case

the Russians come and they have to leave

quickly

and uh they have everything prepared

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when the war broke out here last year

they sought refuge in their Cellar they

spent more than a month down here in

Highlands

what if you needed to do that again

that's why we haven't cleared the better

way otherwise we would have got rid of

it long ago

you don't want to think about that God

forbid I can't bear to think that we

might have to hide here in the cellar

again maybe one or two days but not 43

days like last time

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it's been a while since the Russian army

were driven out of this area hostomo is

25 kilometers Northwest of Kiev

during the occupation Russian soldiers

use this school as their Base by the

time they left the place had been

completely smashed up

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when we were here last summer most of

the windows were gone now there are new

windows the whole school has been

repainted it's incredible how much it's

changed since the occupation ended

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it's largely down to the efforts of

school principal volodemir Zak Lupine

and his wife Natalia a maths teacher

you told me last summer that the number

of students able to return to regular

classes was limited by the amount of

space in the bunker how are things now

yes the first to Fourth Graders as well

as the fifth and 11th graders are now

back here in full-time schooling

the sixth to 10th graders are being

taught online and now they'll also be

coming to school for a few hours of

classes in the afternoons

back last summer I wouldn't have

believed that children would be back

here receiving lessons within just a few

months

since the start of Russia's Invasion

more than 2 800 schools across Ukraine

have been damaged or destroyed

Valor Zach Lupine shows me the newly

renovated rooms the work was funded by

Ukrainian companies as well as donations

raised by students who fled abroad

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are still closed many parents are also

bringing their younger children to the

school

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Natalia tells me that after the Russian

occupation her own classroom felt

foreign to her now she says the school

once again feels like a safe place it's

your classroom again yes it's my

classroom

when all the windows were broken and the

doors kicked in I just wanted to leave

and go home

but now it's nice to come in and see all

of this

even the plants have grown back

the school has 1700 students 300 of them

are now living abroad 700 are being

taught on site thanks to the newly

converted basement rooms

this also means that classes don't have

to be interrupted when the air raid

sirens go off

no one knows how long the war will last

so the principal has said about

converting more basement areas into

classrooms

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you

cheers

the two teachers have successfully

removed the traces of war from their

school and in their home all appear as

well too

but the war has brought death into their

lives

during the occupation Russian soldiers

shot their son Sergey in the head

he was out walking his dog

sir he was not a soldier he was an

artist a civilian

he was 39 years old

the parents are working with a lawyer to

try to bring to Justice those

responsible for this war crime

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it's still very difficult to accept it's

still a big wound in our hearts

I don't know if it will ever get easier

right now it's still hard

he called me Mommy

he phoned us every morning and in the

evening he would write or call again we

were very close

where do you draw your strength from

perhaps

rebuilding the school is helpful

enabling us to look beyond our personal

losses

being there gives us strength because

we're busy

you saw what it was like with the

children their pure joy so Carefree when

you're with them you forget everything

it helps yes it helps

foreign

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it's just before 9 00 PM when

electrician Alexander ends his shift

normally the streets would be brightly

lit during his drive home but for more

than a year now nothing has been normal

I'm wondering how this young family

feels when they think about the future

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we don't know whether the next Air Raid

Sirens will mean a missile hits our

house or another building or whether

we'll be hit when we're driving

somewhere in the car

and it's not just missiles there are

combat drones too we worry about our

children and what future they will have

we want them to have a future in this

country we don't want to have to send

them to school abroad because it's safer

there

that's what we think about

yes

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life in Ukraine is a daily battle the

constant threat of danger and the

fighting on many different fronts is

grueling but ukrainians have come

together to help one another and they're

drawing strength from that

they all share this one hope of a future

without attacks when the darkness lifts

a life without War

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