Ukraine’s International Broadcaster Presents the Film “Time to Gather Stones. Ukrainians on the Battlefields of World War II”

11.09.2026, 13:50 uatv.ua

A special screening of the documentary film “Time to Gather Stones,” (“Час збирати каміння. Українці на полях битв Другої світової війни”), produced in-house by SE “International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine,” was held at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II. Representatives of diplomatic missions and the creative community, politicians, historians, cultural figures, and civic activists watched the story of the return of the Ukrainian voice and Ukrainian identity to the memory of those who liberated the world from Nazism.

The film presents the stories of Ukrainians who fought against Nazism in the French and Italian Resistance movements, in the ranks of the French Foreign Legion, and who were also among those sent to forced labor in these countries — people whose memory Russia is now appropriating. Among them are Heorhii Lipnytskyi, Mykola Buianov, Vasyl Poryk, Oleksandr Nakorchemnyi, and Petro Bilobran.

“For me, our film is about justice. On one hand, there are millions of Ukrainian heroes and Ukrainian victims of this war. On the other, these are the fates of specific people whose stories are in our film. Today, in this hall, there are direct descendants of those who fought for a free Europe, and who are fighting today at the front for a free Ukraine. Yet in the Western historical record, in the lines of books, in the inscriptions on memorials and plaques, their relatives are still labeled as Russians. And Russia isn’t ashamed — it uses, and will keep using, their feats for its own interests. And they will keep doing this until they are met with resistance. So our task is to bring back the truth by every available means, to give our heroes a voice, and to restore truth and justice,” said Yuliia Bin, General Director of SE IBMPU and creative producer of the film.

The film is shot in the form of a history lesson for students at a school in Khmelnytskyi region, taught by educator and PhD Yurii Klimchuk. He has spent over ten years researching the participation of Ukrainians in the fight against Nazism, including in the European Resistance movement.

“The fight for memory isn’t just about the past — it’s about the future too. Because Russia is continuing its war against Ukraine, and at the same time waging a war against memory. It’s trying to erase or rewrite the Ukrainian contribution to shared world history. In the film, we named only a few names. In reality there are many more. This is the history of millions of Ukrainians. And we need to manage to record this history in time, to give these names back to Ukraine. The film has a very fitting title, ‘Time to Gather Stones.’ For me, these are the stones from which we can build a solid historical wall — one that the ‘Russian world’ will ultimately stumble against,” says Yurii Klimchuk.

The film crew traveled thousands of kilometers, worked in archives and museum collections, visited memorial sites in Italy, France, and Ukraine, the places where our compatriots performed their feats, and walked the squares and streets named in their honor. Through family memories, archival photos and documents, museum collections, memorial sites, and research in Italy, France, and Ukraine, the filmmakers restore their subjects’ Ukrainian identity, show Ukraine’s contribution to the victory over Nazism and the scale of Russian manipulation, and affirm Ukrainians’ right to their own history.

“Today, at a time when Russia seeks to destroy Ukrainian statehood, we’re also facing the fact that we’re being killed not only by Russian missiles, but by Russian propaganda, which is actively moving into the field of memory, into the historical field, and trying to erase Ukrainians there too, including on the question of World War II. The idea for the film clearly arose as a form of resistance, of pushing back against Russian narratives. And it’s very important to me that in making it we met so many enthusiasts, both from the Ukrainian diaspora and from local communities, who are already doing this work and who helped and supported us a great deal. While working on the film, we came across an enormous amount of material, but most importantly, we met extraordinary people along the way,” said the film’s director, Andrii Stupak.

Representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora, Ukrainian and foreign scholars, museum staff, researchers, and descendants of the heroes helped SE IBMPU’s creative team in making the film. In particular, the stories of Ukrainians whose memory Russia appropriated for decades are being restored in the film with the help of Annick Bilobran-Karmazin, head of the ADVULE association (Association of Descendants of Ukrainian Volunteers of the Foreign Legion during World War II — ed.), French historical researcher Gabriel Collin; president of the Ukrainian diaspora of Mantua Ivanna Diachyshyn; Ukrainian historian Tetiana Pastushenko; vice president of the Ukraine-Italy Association “Lilea” (Florence) Nadiia Semehen; chief curator of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Museum of Local History Maryna Horanska; mayor of the town of Cavriglia Leonardo Dell’Innocenti; mayor of the town of Gonzaga (2009-2019) Claudio Terzi, and others. Memories of her father, Heorhii Lipnytskyi, were shared by his daughter, Tamara Horetska. Oleksandr Nakorchemnyi’s story was told by his nephew, Oleksandr Shetilov.

The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II provided significant support to the broadcaster’s team during filming. During the film’s presentation, Dmytro Hainetdinov, the museum’s deputy director general for research and collections work, noted that for a long time Ukrainian history was held captive by Soviet and Russian myths, but the world is now beginning to see and recognize their falseness.

“Today, one way or another, we look at the events of World War II through the lens of the current war, and sometimes we look for answers to today’s questions in the events of the past. But by a certain paradox, through these two lenses we see history much more clearly, because we understand that Ukrainians today are also facing an absolute evil that must be defeated,” said Dmytro Hainetdinov.

The film closes with a poignant story about a soldier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ International Legion, a Frenchman named Andreas Gallozzi. He was killed in February 2023 in Donbas. He was 22 years old. One of the film’s central figures is the hero’s mother, Edith Gallozzi, who shared memories of her son and read lines from his last letter.

“War is a curse on humanity. I didn’t go there to die. As I always used to say, this time I couldn’t just sit in an armchair and be angry at the TV. This time I was finally able to have an impact, even a minimal one, on this injustice, while the powerful of this world prefer to watch from a distance while making catastrophic decisions. I always wanted to fight for what seemed right to me. I finally did it, and for the first time in my life I am finally proud of myself and my work…” Andreas wrote ten days before he was killed.

The film drew an extraordinarily warm and emotional response from the guests at the screening. After watching the film, many viewers expressed sincere gratitude that the film crew had recorded the truth for the descendants of our heroes, for all Ukrainians, and for the world. Responding to viewers’ questions about why the broadcaster took on this subject, SE IBMPU’s general director noted that this project isn’t about the past. It’s about how history continues to shape the present, Ukraine’s perception in the world, and our ability to speak with our own voice.

“Memory of World War II is one of the foundations of European identity. And the film’s subject matters not only to Ukrainians but to our partners and foreign audiences as well. The mission of international broadcasting is to tell the world about Ukraine. The truth about Ukrainians’ participation in World War II and their contribution to the fight against Nazism remained distorted for decades in world historiography, in the international information space, and in the mass perception of various international audiences. Abroad, the term ‘Soviet’ automatically meant ‘Russian,’ while the participation of Ukrainians, like that of other peoples, was silenced or distorted,” said Yuliia Bin.

The film “Time to Gather Stones” marks the start of a large-scale documentary project that became one of the winners of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “Thousand Springs” initiative. Upcoming episodes will be devoted to the fates of Ukrainians in Norway, Poland, Czechia, and Germany.

Read also: “Toothless Ukraine Won’t Protect Its People Abroad”: A Major Interview with Yulia Bin