On February 24, Russia started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, resulting in the declaration of a state of war. Tadeusz Koczanowicz outlines in his commentary on Putin’s appearances, how his speak is consisted of rumblings about Russian history and current diplomacy and that there is no sense in his claims, but only underlying violence.

Among Western journalists and political analysts there is noticeable trend to analyze the war in Ukraine in terms of “spheres of influence”. This imperial thinking frames the land conquest ordered by Vladimir Putin as a reaction to “Western expansion”. In a desperate bid to say something original, talking heads and Twitter intellectuals from both the left and the right talk about “NATO’s overexpansion in the East” and thereby reinforce Putin’s claims that Russia is threatened.

For the proof of war crimes and the medial mediation of the events, but also for finding a language of violence, destruction, solidarity, compassion and resistance, the documentation of the events is essential. But what does it mean to document war? And what is the role of the arts, especially film? Film programmer Olexii Kuchanskyi and filmmaker Oleksiy Radynski have organized an exhibition named “To Watch the War,” which shows 18 films at the Coalmine – Raum für Fotografie. In conversation with Sandra Biberstein they talked about the developments in experimental film and video work since the invasion that began 2014 in an attempt to suppress the popular Maidan uprising in Ukraine.