On March 11, during the largest Ukrainian event in Europe, Café Kyiv 2025, a screening of the documentary Witnesses. Captivity Kills from the DOCU/CLUB Networkʼs film library took place. The Colosseum cinema gathered more than 160 viewers to watch and discuss the film by Tetiana Symon and Maryna Kronglevska. Here, we share our impressions of the event.
The film Witnesses. Captivity Kills tells the story of one of Russia’s war crimes—the terrorist attack in Olenivka, in which an explosion destroyed a building where Russians were holding Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The Ukraine War Archive project team began working on the film Witnesses. Captivity Kills after being approached by Mariya Alekseyevych, the wife of a soldier who defended Mariupol. After the battle for the city, he was taken into “honourable captivity” along with the entire Mariupol garrison and wounded in a terrorist attack in Olenivka.
The co-director of the film Witnesses. Captivity Kills and the coordinator of the interview department of the Ukraine War Archive project, Tetiana Symon, stressed during the discussion that relatives of war prisoners bear a heavy burden of uncertainty, fear, and constant worry about their loved ones.
“The lives of these people are full of terrible loneliness and constant struggle for their loved ones. We have to show that they are not alone in this, because support for the families of war prisoners is very important,” says Tetiana Symon.
Kateryna Sinhurova, Serhiy “Jedi” Rotchuk, Tetiana Symon and Yeva Yakubovska at the film screening. Photo provided by the DOCU/CLUB network.
Serhiy “Jedi” Rotchuk, a former prisoner of war from Azovstal and a senior lieutenant in the Azov Medical Service, also took part in the discussion.
“We live in a time when we explore space, use artificial intelligence and have robotic devices at home. But a few hundred kilometres away, Russian missiles are destroying Ukrainian homes and childrenʼs hospitals, killing people. And even further away, in captivity, Ukrainian soldiers live in inhumane conditions every day, not knowing whether this day will be their last,” added Serhiy.
Kateryna Sinhurova, the DOCU/CLUB Networkʼs partnerships coordinator, said that she was pleasantly surprised by the number of people at the event.
“What struck me the most was the long queue of people who wanted to attend the discussions, film screenings and other events at Café Kyiv. The cinema where the event took place can accommodate 1600 people at a time. Our screening was attended by a full house, with many Ukrainians, veterans who are undergoing rehabilitation in Germany. It was nice that so many Germans and guests of the city came to watch and discuss the film, despite the complexity of the topic,” shares her impressions Kateryna Sinhurova. 
The audience at the film screening. Photo provided by the DOCU/CLUB network team.
The DOCU/CLUB network is grateful to the Ukraine: Relief, Resilience, Recovery programme of the German Marshall Fund of the United States of America.
The main photo is provided by the DOCU/CLUB network team.
