The Russian-Ukrainian War in Donbass in Ukrainian Cinematography

Russian authorities do not recognize their participation in the Donbass war. Participation concealment in military conflicts is a long-standing Russian political tradition. The Soviet Union, which was modernized by Russia, did not recognize that it had fought in Korea, Vietnam, Angola, and Ogaden. Modern Russia, which has deployed its forces to Donbass, is officially convincing the world community and Russians that this war is an internal civil conflict in Ukraine. Although all information is available on the Internet about which Russian units are fighting in Donbass, who controls them and where the flows of Russian equipment, weapons, ammunition, soldiers, officers and even where the killed Russian soldiers are buried come from.

That is why films about the Donbass war help the mass audience to understand who is actually fighting in Eastern Ukraine. An article is devoted to this topic, which analyzes feature films about the Russian-Ukrainian war that lasts in Donbass. In particular, Oleksiy Shapariev’s series "The Guard", films of Akhtem Seitablaiev "Cyborgs. Heroes never die", Serhiy Loznytsia "Donbass", Zaza Buadze "Call sign ‘Banderas’", Ivan Tymchenko "Ilovaisk 2014. Battalion ‘Donbass’", Valentyn Vasyanovych "Atlantis", Volodymyr Tykhyi "Our cats".

In the context of world cinematography and peculiarities of the national character, it is presented how modern Ukrainian cinema develops the comedic traditions of war films. The reaction to films about the war by Ukrainian spectators, critics, Russian politicians and public officials, film awards at film festivals are shown.