Film “Shadow Warriors”: Whoever wants to save Russia must help Ukraine win

For more than four and a half years, Ukraine has resisted the Russian campaign of extermination. What Vladimir Putin, the war criminal in the Kremlin, imagined as a “special military operation” of a few days has turned into a war with millions of victims. At this point, we could be at a turning point: as bravely as Ukrainians are fighting for their democracy and freedom, without the support of Europe and the US they would be in a lost position. Donald Trump and Starlink administrator Elon Musk are taking the side of the aggressor and leaving the people of Ukraine in the hail of bombing. In Germany, defeatism and the will to arrange with the Russian terror regime are spreading, for which other nations in Eastern Europe paid the price. On the list of those who represent this line are AfD, BSW and the Left Party up to the SPD-Altkanzler and Putin-buddy Gerhard Schröder. The “shadow warriors” are resisting Do they ever wonder if even in Russia there could be people who refuse the yoke of dictatorship? The “Shadow Warriors”, which is the film of the same name by the Polish journalist Marcin Mamon, do not bow, they offer armed resistance. They are fighting for Ukraine on the front lines or helping the secret service in Kiev prepare for drone strikes, far in the Russian hinterland. Two of them introduce us to Marcin Mamon: Foma organizes operations throughout Russia from Warsaw, Ivan carries them out himself. Mamon, he says, met him more than ten years ago, when Ivan was still involved in the civil opposition movement. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Ivan’s confidence in peaceful resistance ends. Now it says for him: Whoever wants to save Russia must help Ukraine to victory. And Ivan, who sees himself as a patriot just like Foma, obviously takes every risk. To his motivation, says Mamons Warsaw contact Foma, who tracks down Russian officers, that he wanted all Russian soldiers to think ten times about shooting prisoners of war or raping civilians – and then simply let it remain. Anyone who does this must be held accountable. What Ivan's actions look like shows wobble videos, which he sends again and again to the journalist. We also see how they affect themselves, allegedly, especially in the spectacular drone attack on several Russian military airfields on June 1, 2025, which was called Operation Spider Web. At least thirteen Russian long-range bombers are said to have been damaged or destroyed. Since then, according to the film produced by the BBC and Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the Russian intelligence agency FSB has been searching even more feverishly for “traitors” all over the country. These are not only threatened by their own death, their families would be wiped out, says a Ukrainian intelligence officer in conversation with Marcin Mamon. In the face of ubiquitous surveillance, how does Ivan succeed in driving through half of Russia and entering and leaving again and again? How does he make it to Kazakhstan, Georgia, Turkey and even Thailand? The Polish journalist Mamon asks himself more and more during his more than two years of research. Can he trust Ivan? Is he perhaps a double agent and only plays the “Shadow Warrior”? You can’t trust anyone but yourself, they all say that you can’t trust anyone but yourself, everyone who lets Marcin Mamon speak, even Ivan. And so Mamon gets the idea to have his one guarantor checked by the other. Does the result surprise him? Ivan must also remain a mystery for the spectators. His voice is echoed, in the representation of his person – for once for good reason – artificial intelligence is used. The persuasiveness of this film does not diminish this. Marcin Mamon himself says that in the shadow world of resistance fighters, saboteurs, agents and double agents in which he is researching, you can approach the truth at best and ask the right questions. With a few certainties, the film “Shadow Warriors – Russians help Ukraine” equips one: Who wants to make a “peace” with Putin that does not mean disenfranchisement, submission and enslavement, must know who he is dealing with – with a big criminal who knows no borders. The Russians who Marcin Mamon’s film is about know this, they know the system and see only one way to end it. That is what they are doing. They chose their side. The film Shadow Warriors – Russians help Ukraine will run on Monday at 10.50 pm in the First and in the ARD media library.