At the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, Mstyslav Chernov’s unflinching documentary “2000 Meters from Andriivka” brought the audience to tears and their feet. The harrowing firsthand account of Ukraine’s troubled counteroffensive against Russian invaders reveals the brutal reality and devastating human cost of Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
Inside Ukraine’s Failed Counteroffensive
In 2023, as Ukraine attempted to push back against occupying Russian forces, Chernov embedded with the 3rd Assault Brigade on the eastern front. His film follows their arduous advance through a narrow 2km strip of forest outside the strategic village of Andriivka.
Trudging through splintered trees and military debris between minefields, under constant threat of artillery and sniper fire, Chernov captures the incredible peril and bravery of the Ukrainian troops. “Landing here is like landing on a planet where everything is trying to kill you,” he narrates. “But it’s not another planet. It’s the middle of Europe.”
A Pyrrhic Victory
By the time the 3rd Brigade reaches Andriivka after weeks of grueling combat, little remains but rubble. The village is abandoned, scarcely a place to even raise the Ukrainian flag. It’s a somber metaphor for the overall counteroffensive, which largely failed to reclaim significant territory from Russian control.
“The longer the war goes on, the less people will care about it.”
– Mstyslav Chernov
Staggering Losses on Both Sides
The film lays bare the tragic scale of casualties in this war of attrition. By October 2024, an estimated 115,000 Russians had been killed and 500,000 wounded. Ukrainian losses ranged between 62,000-100,000. Soldiers are dying at a rate unseen in Europe in nearly a century.
- Russian casualties (Oct 2024 est.): 115,000 killed, 500,000 wounded
- Ukrainian losses (Oct 2024 est.): 62,000-100,000
Documenting Resistance and Resolve
Yet amid the devastation, Chernov finds powerful stories of Ukrainian resilience. Much like his prior film “20 Days in Mariupol,” which won an Oscar for capturing the siege’s first weeks, “2000 Meters from Andriivka” aims to put names and faces to statistics. To show these are real people fighting for their homeland.
“I really want those numbers – those casualties, the kilometers, miles that are just statistics – I want those names that are just names on a map to have meaning to them. And that’s why this film exists.”
– Mstyslav Chernov
A War With No End in Sight
As of January 2025, Russia controls nearly 20% of Ukraine. Despite global support, sanctions, and valiant resistance, there are no signs of the Kremlin relenting or Kyiv surrendering as the conflict nears the three year mark. Chernov’s film is a sobering firsthand testament of a war grinding on, at a terrible human cost, with no clear end in sight.
