Searching for the Children of Donbass

A war has been raging in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine since 2014. Over 13,000 people have been killed in the conflict, including scores of women and children. But this conflict received very little media attention, either in Europe or worldwide.

The film has no narration. It is simply a series of interviews with those who’ve been affected by the Russian shelling of civilian areas in Donbass, and footage of the destruction. Throughout, we hear the constant sound of gunfire and shelling. At one point, we even see the flash of artillery that seems pointed right at the camera crew – during one of the many ineffectual ceasefires that have marked the conflict. It is a shocking documentary and one well worth watching.

Director Lubomir Dankov set out to make this documentary, The Children of Donbass, in large part because of frustration at both Europe and the wider world’s apparent indifference to a war that has been going on for over six years now. The documentary’s website compares the reaction of the attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine in which 12 people were killed, and which sparked international outrage and solidarity with the reaction to the war in Donbass, in which civilians are targeted and in which thousands have been killed, including over 73 children. But this conflict, the website notes, is mostly ignored and unknown. To quote the website,

“Ukraine is not ” The Hearth of Europe” and maybe we, the Eastern Europeans are not so much Europeans. Europe is not shocked, nor showing solidarity. The barbaric murders and destruction are not of interest to the media nor the world leaders. Most Europeans have no idea what is happening somewhere outside the boundaries of the Union. And they don’t go out on processions and they don’t post flags on their social media pictures.”

Why has the media ignored this conflict? My own sense is that, unlike the attack on Charlie Hebdo, where there were clear ‘good guys’ and clear ‘bad guys,’ the conflict in Donbass is, for most outsiders, too complicated easily grasp.

In a nutshell, after Russia annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine in March 2014, a separatist movement began in the Donbass region of Ukraine. Russia intervened with irregular paramilitary forces and was able to take control of certain parts of the region. But Ukrainian forces fought back and were able to regain control. After this, Russia became more directly involved, sending, according to some sources, like the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), at least 30,000 regular Russian troops into Ukraine from Russia, representing, some say, a conventional invasion by Russia of Ukraine.

This documentary is not at all for the faint of heart. The imagery is brutal and bloody and the stories of the survivors are shocking. Especially the stories and images of children who were killed or severely wounded in the conflict.

One of the major points Dankov makes through the film is that the Russians are intentionally targeting civilians with artillery: 120mm mortar among others. These casualties are not, the film implicitly claims, accidental or the result of armed clashes between Ukranian and Russian forces. They are intentional, targeted attacks against civilians. We see, for example, cemeteries that have been destroyed on religious holidays, killing students on their way to or from school. Large apartment buildings with direct mortar hits. Churches obliterated. There are also eye witness accounts of attackers driving around in car firing grenades from grenade launchers at random targets – including the courtyard of a kindergarten. Hospitals deliberately bombed. One of the shocking aspects of this film are the shots of children playing and people leisurely shopping at an outdoor market while the sounds of loud shelling are heard in the background. Clearly, these are people who’ve been living under terrible circumstances for so long that they have become to some extent inured to them.

In one haunting interview, a man wonders about the possibility of forgiving those responsible for intentionally attacking civilian targets rather than, say, bridges or electrical stations. his answer paints a grim picture for the future of the Donbass region.

The Donbass Children has been showing at festivals around the world, and we hope this will further the filmmakers’ goal of pointing a spotlight on this shocking conflict.