Intercepted is a 2024 documentary written and directed by Oksana Karpovych. The film documents the early stages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine through intercepted phone calls. Played over visuals of the destruction within the country, it’s a chilling insight into the mindset of soldiers both at the front and waiting back home.
Propaganda
I’ve always found the word ‘propaganda’ to be strange. Or rather, I find people’s reaction to it strange. They assume that propaganda is full of lies, and is used to push unhealthy political agendas. That isn’t to say that it can’t be these things, just that propaganda doesn’t have to be.
During the Ukrainian war there have been several propaganda campaigns by the Ukrainian war effort to get enemy soldiers to surrender. Leaflets are dropped on the invaders positions, telling them how to surrender and explaining they will get bed and board until the war ends. It’s known as the I Want to Live project.
Of course, they aren’t just doing it out of the kindness of their hearts. The campaign is banking on the idea that many Russian (and now North Korean) troops don’t want to fight, especially against people who truly are defending their country and their people. If those people surrender then it is less people marching into Ukraine, and less munitions to defend against.
None of this is a lie. Soldiers that surrender will be looked after under the terms of the Geneva Convention. They will live out the war. This campaign will save not only Ukrainian lives, but Russian and North Korean lives as well.
This is a good propaganda campaign. It is a campaign that uses the truth to save lives. The point I’m trying to make, and the reason I’m opening with this, is to get you to understand that propaganda can be a good thing.
Because I’m about to tell you that this film is, in part, propaganda. And I want to make sure that you understand when I say that this film is propaganda, that this is a good thing.
This brings me to Intercepted. It is, at its core, a propaganda film—but one that relies not on deception, but on letting real voices speak for themselves.
Voices of Russia, Images of Ukraine
The film opens telling us that we will be hearing intercepted calls from the front lines of Ukraine back into Russia. This is followed by a montage of destroyed and damaged buildings. The aftermath of Russian bombardment on cities in the Ukraine. The soundtrack gives us time to take in the images before easing us in to the first phone call.
It is a soldier talking to, presumably, his mother back in Russia. He says he is not supposed to be making this call. Then they talk about how they want to kill the khokhols1 and hunt down the Nazis. It’s a brief call that sets the tone. Russian soldiers are in Ukraine, they’re ready to kill, and they have the support of their families back home.
We then get to listen to more of these calls as the film continues to show us the destruction in many of the cities in Ukraine. There are glimpses of life: survivors walking through the destruction continuing to live their interrupted lives. The film gives us no commentary, letting the calls speak for themselves.
Calls have been selected from those publicly available, including the infamous 21 Roses phone call where a soldier relishes in the tortures that he inflicts on Ukrainians begging for their lives. There is no graphic violence shown in this documentary, but this call is disturbing to listen to.
The Soldier’s Perspective
The film does a good job of showing a spectrum of the experiences the invaders have. From gleeful joy at the torture and killing of old men, to the focus on the mission of “hunting Nazis”, but also to the shock that they weren’t welcomed with open arms, or the realisation that these horrors will be the last thing they will ever experience.
Many of the calls earlier in the film talk about how good life seemed to be in Ukraine. They had better food, better houses, just generally better. You can hear the surprise and amazement in their voices. It feels like many of the soldiers were expecting Ukrainians to be living in poverty, supporting the narrative that they were there to save them.
The Homefront
One call almost felt like a soldier wanted to confess to war crimes he had committed. His voice seemed to expect sympathy for the things he was being forced to do. Instead the woman on the other side simply says, “Good. They are the enemy as well.” The soldier falls silent for a moment, as if unsure how to react.
What stood out to me was how the women in Russia, and they were generally wives or mothers, would be vehement in their support of the war. They would say all Ukrainians deserved to die, even declaring the civilians and children deserved to be shot.
Some of the people at home seemed to be slowly realising they had been lied to. While they still supported the war effort, a couple were confused why they were still in Ukraine. They had been told it would be a three month operation, but now they had been without their loved ones for much longer.
The Costs of War
In a call near the end of the film they start talking about bodies being sent back to Russia. Families of soldiers that die in combat are supposed to be paid for the loss of their loved one. But the government often says they died of a heart attack, so the payment doesn’t need to be made. “Many women who lost their men here, all from heart attacks.”
In another call one soldier talks about how he is stationed behind other Russian troops. He has orders to kill any soldiers that run from the battlefield. He says there is also a line of troops behind him as well, so that none of them can run away.
We then see Russian soldiers in a POW camp, either captured or surrendered. Many of them are injured as they go into a canteen to collect their meals. They sit down in silence and eat while armed soldiers watch them. They don’t have a great life, but at least they have a life. They will live out the war.
As the film moves forward we start to see images of life returning to the bombed out cities. People watch TV, trade fruits and vegetables. Eventually, cars return to the streets and infrastructure slowly comes back. The film closes with several passers by inspecting a bomb-hole slowly being filled in and repaired. They approach more with curiosity than fear.
Slava Ukraini
Like all propaganda, this documentary is selective in what it presents. But its strength lies in its reliance on unaltered, firsthand conversations rather than external narration. This is a powerful piece that shows both the brutality and the suffering of Russian troops in Ukraine. It leaves the audience with a glimpse of the reality of war: that all will suffer no matter which side you fight on.
The choice to have no commentary on the meaning of the calls is masterful; both allowing the viewer to interpret the calls for themselves, and letting the soldiers condemn themselves with their own words. They have been carefully selected, not altered, which reinforces the truth behind the words.
The film juxtaposes the calls with the destruction wrought upon Ukraine by Russian invaders, and the ultimate resilience of the Ukrainian people. Despite the devastation, they endure. And at the end of the day, they will live out the war.
Slava Ukraini
- A racial slur for Ukrainians. ↩︎
