Two years ago, Ukrainian photojournalist and filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov shocked the world with his firsthand documentary 20 Days in Mariupol, documenting Russia’s brutal attack on the southern Ukrainian port city. His new film is even more raw, with hauntingly clear 4K footage that feels like a waking nightmare. It chronicles his time embedded with Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade in 2023—one member appears to be British—during Zelenskyy’s much-anticipated counteroffensive. The film follows their grueling advance along a two-kilometer stretch of so-called “forest,” which is actually barren scrubland offering little cover—though at least it’s free of Russian mines, unlike the surrounding farmland.
Every meter of their push toward the ruined village of Andriivka in northeastern Ukraine is fiercely contested. Their mission: to plant a Ukrainian flag on whatever broken wall remains, a defiant symbol that their spirit endures. One soldier describes the surreal horror: “It’s like landing on a planet where everyone is trying to kill you. But it’s the middle of Europe.”
Armed only with a camera—to the disbelief of the soldiers he meets—Chernov pieces together his footage with helmet-cam and drone recordings. Drones are everywhere in this war, delivering both surveillance and destruction, a stark contrast to the eerie echoes of World War I’s eastern front. In one quiet voiceover, Chernov notes, “The smell of death, explosives, and freshly cut trees.”
The devastated landscape could be mistaken for 1916, and Chernov doesn’t shy away from showing the dead—though he spares us the worst details. The grim progress updates—“1,000 meters to go,” “300 meters to go”—feel like a bleak scoreboard from Oh! What a Lovely War, where gains are measured in futility.
The most heartbreaking moments come when Chernov interviews young soldiers, their faces full of life, only to reveal in voiceover that they were killed months later. It’s a risky storytelling choice, but Chernov handles it with unflinching honesty. Since filming, Russia has retaken Andriivka, though recent political shifts may change the tide. As one soldier surveys the ruins, he says, “Everything will grow back.”
2000 Meters to Andriivka arrives in UK and Irish cinemas on 1 August.
