Ukrainians in Exile: A Documentary Short Film
Watch The Nation’s newest documentary film, about Ukrainian refugees in the wake of Russia’s invasion.
Ukrainians in Exile.
(Janek Ambros)It’s been two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, sending shockwaves through the region and throughout the world.
In this documentary film, we follow Anya, a woman residing in Ukraine during the early stages of the war. She sheds light on how the the crisis has completely upended her life, and contemplates how countries will treat her fellow Ukrainians who were forced to flee.
Ukrainians In Exile is presented by The Nation.
Director: Janek Ambros
Writer/Narrator: Anya
Executive Producer: Janusz Kaminski
Executive Producer: Robbie Leacock.
From the director:
When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started in February of 2022, I felt compelled to help, due in some part to my Eastern European background. Helping refugees fleeing into Poland was a practical way to do so. I brought a camera and tried my best to document what I saw, eventually using the footage to encourage people to help refugees. I later collaborated with Anya, the film’s narrator, to give the perspective of a Ukrainian citizen still in her home country, asking the audience to help her fellow Ukrainians who had to leave. I hope Anya’s and my work reminds people that we must always help the most vulnerable. Those who wish to help can donate to Liev Schreiber’s BlueCheck Ukraine, which properly ensures that aid goes to the people most in need in Ukraine as the war continues.
Disobey authoritarians, support The Nation
Over the past year you’ve read Nation writers like Elie Mystal, Kaveh Akbar, John Nichols, Joan Walsh, Bryce Covert, Dave Zirin, Jeet Heer, Michael T. Klare, Katha Pollitt, Amy Littlefield, Gregg Gonsalves, and Sasha Abramsky take on the Trump family’s corruption, set the record straight about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s catastrophic Make America Healthy Again movement, survey the fallout and human cost of the DOGE wrecking ball, anticipate the Supreme Court’s dangerous antidemocratic rulings, and amplify successful tactics of resistance on the streets and in Congress.
We publish these stories because when members of our communities are being abducted, household debt is climbing, and AI data centers are causing water and electricity shortages, we have a duty as journalists to do all we can to inform the public.
In 2026, our aim is to do more than ever before—but we need your support to make that happen.
Through December 31, a generous donor will match all donations up to $75,000. That means that your contribution will be doubled, dollar for dollar. If we hit the full match, we’ll be starting 2026 with $150,000 to invest in the stories that impact real people’s lives—the kinds of stories that billionaire-owned, corporate-backed outlets aren’t covering.
With your support, our team will publish major stories that the president and his allies won’t want you to read. We’ll cover the emerging military-tech industrial complex and matters of war, peace, and surveillance, as well as the affordability crisis, hunger, housing, healthcare, the environment, attacks on reproductive rights, and much more. At the same time, we’ll imagine alternatives to Trumpian rule and uplift efforts to create a better world, here and now.
While your gift has twice the impact, I’m asking you to support The Nation with a donation today. You’ll empower the journalists, editors, and fact-checkers best equipped to hold this authoritarian administration to account.
I hope you won’t miss this moment—donate to The Nation today.
Onward,
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and publisher, The Nation
