RTDocumentary

‘We kissed our lives goodbye every day; it was so scary!’ Tatyana from Mariupol recounts what civilians experienced while fighting took place around them. Together with her daughter and her invalid mother, she got to relatives in Makeyevka, a big city in the DPR. They had their first shower in three months and a good night’s sleep in a warm bed. This footage is from our premiere Mariupol: A Homecoming. #Ukraine#Donbass Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘In one of their shelters, we found literature in Ukrainian that explains in detail, with illustrations, how to make IEDs [improvised explosive devices] from pens and pencil cases. And bigger devices that can be installed on roads and in cars.’ The Russian military showed RT Documentary where Azov fighters and the Ukrainian army took refuge in the Azovstal steelworks and what kind of improvised explosive devices they made there. They were planned to be used against Russian soldiers and military hardware. ‘Such surprises can still be found in the plant. Engineer reconnaissance is carried out here. [We] look for devices and disarm everything they find,’ says one of the Russian servicemen. In our new documentary, you can learn more about how Ukrainian nationalists took refuge at the Azovstal plant. The premiere is coming soon. #Ukraine Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘Luckily, the cat was lying on her chest. An artillery shell landed where the bus is. Glass shards flew through the room, killing the cat, but she lived.’ Liliya Chernova described how her young daughter Sasha survived Ukrainian army shelling. Their house in the Lugansk region is close to the frontline. But it is hard to call it home now. ‘The fence is in shambles, and the roof is full of holes and leaking,’ says Lilia. According to her, Ukrainian soldiers have been bombing them for eight years, and Sasha is no longer reacting to it: ‘It’s been like this eight years, what do you think? We’ve been under constant fire.’ The story of mother and daughter is included in the film Battle for Freedom: On the Frontline. #Ukraine#humanstories Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘They [the Ukrainian military] use standard ammunition: engineer ammunition and small arms artillery and aviation. But that is not true. You can see the IED [improvised explosive device]. You see, they make IEDs very skillfully to use them against our armed forces’. The Russian military exclusively showed RT Documentary an ammunition depot at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, where Azov fighters and the Ukrainian army took refuge. Among the weapons, they found a lot of improvised explosive devices. These are the shots of the Russian servicemen that destroyed one of the explosive devices using a pressure charge. This excerpt is a part of our future documentary. The premiere is coming soon. #Ukraine Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘Here they [Ukrainian military] had a temporary firing position on the approaches to the exit. This might have been where the machine gunner was positioned to meet everyone who would come in here.’ Russian sappers told RT Documentary how the Azov fighters and the Ukrainian military took refuge in the Azovstal steel plant. See where the command post, armoury and firing positions were located. ‘It’s a mess here. They turned everything upside down. The Ukrainian flag was left. They did not take it away. Here’s the flag. We don’t act like them, don’t burn or trample on their national heritage. That’s the difference between us.’, says one of the sappers. This exclusive video will be included in ournew documentary, premiering soon. #Ukraine Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘They told us who really tortured them, who used them as human shields. These Nazis, these fascists. How they’d get shot in the back, how children were shot.’ Daniil Martynov takes part in Russia’s special operation in Ukraine as one of the commanders of a Chechen unit. Daniil says his fighters encounter frightened civilians when liberating territory from Ukrainian forces. They’re afraid of any military because they have suffered a lot from Ukrainian fighters. But after talking to Russian soldiers and receiving humanitarian aid, people change their minds. Daniil said his soldiers never started fights in populated areas and stayed away from civilians, unlike the Ukrainian nationalists. Listen to the stories of residents of the liberated territory. Daniil Martynov is the subject ofWe’re Fighting the World’s Evil about the Russian special operation in Ukraine. #Ukraine Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘Put it like this so you can't be seen, but you can see everything. I tell you this for the future. You are a sniper; you will be the first to be shot.’ This footage shows a militia fighter training a new soldier, a yesterday's civilian, to defend himself against Ukrainian nationalists. During the fierce fighting for Mariupol, people from various professions were forced to take up arms. ‘Some are miners, security guards. A journalist is here. Electricians, drivers’, told us Mariupol residents. Those who went to fight say the desire to protect their people from the atrocities of the Ukrainian military was stronger than fear. This excerpt will be included in our future film about the battle for Mariupol and those who took part in it. It will premiere soon. #Ukraine#Mariupol Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘They just shelled them. They said it was the Russian Army. Provocations were made. They were driving civilians into basements, shelling was over, and they occupied these positions - their houses, flats.’ A fighter of the Vostok battalion, codenamed ‘Yegor’, described the Ukrainian armed forces’ actions during the fighting in Mariupol. According to him, Ukrainian soldiers drove people out into the street and set up firing points in their flats: ‘They [Ukrainian military] were taking nine-storey buildings, five-storey buildings - it doesn’t matter. In the private sector, they were occupying these dwellings.’ ‘Yegor’ also explained to our camera crew the tactics of the operation at Azovstal - how he and other fighters drove the Ukrainian nationalists and military out of the plant. This episode includes an interview with fighters from the Vostok battalion. It will be included in our new film, which will premiere soon. #Ukraine#Mariupol Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘There was a photo made after that attack [by the Ukrainian military] of Inna Kukurudza, a woman with red hair. Both her legs were blown off’. After seeing that terrible footage, former US corporal Russell Bentley decided to go to protect the residents of Donbass from the Ukrainian army. ‘I’m going to avenge the murder of these innocent civilians’, Russell told our crew in 2021. On June 2, 2014, Ukraine launched an airstrike on the administration of Lugansk. As a result, eight civilians were killed, and 28 more were injured. For the chronology of those events, watch the film Donbass: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. #Ukraine#Lugansk Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘Some Ukrainian soldiers located in the industrial zone wanted to leave. They got already tired of this war. They were ready to go to prison but not to fight’, says the LPR militiaman with the callsign Yugoslav. He says the Ukrainians who decided to lay down their arms were shot by their own side. ‘We assigned them a rallying point, and before adjusting the equipment for evacuation, they worked out Grads at this rally point. ‘Ukrops' fired the Grads on their soldiers’. Yugoslav joined the LPR militia in 2014. Then he got his callsign because he fought in Yugoslavia in the 90s. The man is one of the characters in the new RT Documentary film about the Lugansk People’s Republic. Wait for the premiere. #LPR#Ukraine Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘I don’t know what the Azov fighters were taking because they were going under their AGS, their SPG. Heavy shelling. An average person would hardly run towards their bursts because the chance of being hit is high,’ a Vostok battalion fighter, codenamed ‘Forest’, described the actions of Ukrainian nationalists at the Azovstal plant exclusively to RT Documentary. The plant is enormous, covering 11 square kilometres. It has underground spaces and long tunnels where the Ukrainian military hid from the shelling. This footage shows a fighter from the Vostok battalion explaining the DNR army's tactics in overpowering Azovstal and describing how and from where the fighting was launched. He also points out the remains of ammunition, the destroyed workshop and other premises after the surrender of the Ukrainian military. This episode will be included in our new film, premiering soon. #Ukraine#Azovstal Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary

‘They [Ukrainian military] hit their own people. Snipers shot from the factory from different... civilian passageways at people riding bicycles. It is not clear what for or why they suppressed civilians.’ In an exclusive interview with RT Documentary, a fighter of the Vostok battalion, codename ‘Iron’, described the behaviour of the Ukrainian military hiding at the Azovstal plant. The soldier took part in the liberation of the plant from Ukrainian forces after more than three months. Russian troops repeatedly offered the occupiers to surrender, but they refused. It was not until 20 May they laid down their arms and walked out with a white flag. The Vostok battalion soldier thinks the captured Ukrainian soldiers should be taken to a tribunal: ‘They’re military, aren’t they? Yes. They [Ukrainian military] make a sack of meat and bones out of them.’ More fighters’ stories in our new film premiering soon. #Ukraine Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary