Secret Russian War Doc: Russian Soldiers Turn Against Putin’s War

In the provocative 2024 documentary Russians at War, directed by Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova, she undertakes an extraordinary and unauthorized embedding with a Russian Army battalion actively fighting in Ukraine.

Without official clearance from the Ministry of Defence or press credentials, Trofimova—leveraging personal connections and the chaos of wartime logistics—spends over seven months on and off with the unit, capturing raw, fly-on-the-wall cinéma vérité footage from rear areas to deadly frontlines like Krasny Liman and Bakhmut.

SHOCKING Secret Footage: Russian Soldiers Turn Against Putin’s War

Her intimate lens reveals the human toll of the conflict: shattered families bidding tearful goodbyes, soldiers grappling with injuries and loss, and growing disillusionment as many question the purpose of their deployment, the government’s narratives, and their own motivations amid the grinding reality of war.

Premiering to a standing ovation at the 81st Venice International Film Festival in September 2024 and facing intense controversy—including protests and a paused screening—at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the film has sparked fierce global debate as one of the most polarizing and widely discussed documentaries of the Russo-Ukrainian War, praised by some for its unflinching humanity and anti-war undertones while criticized by others as potentially echoing Russian perspectives or propaganda.