Russian soldiers given their chance to speak at Venice @la_Biennale. "In Russia, they are these heroes who never die. In the West, they are mostly war criminals, war criminals, war criminals," the Russian-Canadian director told reporters ahead of the premiere of her film "Russians at War". Trofimova said she saw no signs of war crimes during her time near the front. "I think in Western media, that's what Russian soldiers are associated with at this point, because there were no other stories. This is another story," she said. She obviously had overlooked events such as the bombing of Kyiv's children's hospital, widely condemned as a war crime. Trofimova also did not address the realities faced by Ukrainians living under Russian occupation in the regions she visited, raising concerns about the legality of her presence there under Ukrainian law. "Since the beginning of the war on February 24, 2022, there have been a lot of bridges destroyed between Russia and the West," she said. "I would like this film to be maybe not a bridge, but at least a rope I can throw across and to help us see each other." Her remarks underscore a glaring omission: the voices of Ukrainians. Her comments frame the war solely through the lens of Russian-Western relations, with little regard for the lived experiences of those in Ukraine, suggesting a narrative that ignores their suffering entirely.

Ukrainians used to live their normal lives here, then Russia arrived.