On February 19, the documentary The Other Side by journalist Sean Langan was aired on the British TV channel ITV1. The author visited the trenches of the Russians fighting against Ukraine three times, and even spent some time with them near Avdiivka. In the film, he gives the floor to the invaders.

The Ukrainian publication NV drew attention to the reviews of this film, which appeared in The Times and The Guardian and which do not contain condemnation of the author for his attempt to justify Russian propaganda, Detector Media writes.

Meanwhile, Ukrainians on social networks reacted emotionally both to the airing of this film and to articles in reputable British media. The main message of their statements boils down to the fact that in the third year of Russia's unprovoked, brutal and aggressive war against Ukraine, the standards of mass media, when both sides are given the floor, are wrong and contribute to the distortion of reality.

"Just hands down. In this film, the author decided to give the floor to representatives of the "other side", i.e. Russian soldiers. The Guardian writes that the director's goal was to "explain the position of the Russians in this war", however "the film left more questions about the war itself". "We are not invaders," said one Russian soldier, justifying Moscow's bloody and unprovoked invasion of its neighbor. "We're just protecting what's ours." Another character in the film, the fixer Sasha, said to the director in the film: “I am a supporter of Ukraine, but the Ukrainian government is now against the Ukrainian people,” Ukrainian director and screenwriter Iryna Tsylyk , who has spent two years making considerable efforts to convey to the world community the truth about the war in Ukraine, wrote.

Cilyk was outraged by the fact that, guided by the principle of the need to listen to both sides, the author of the film, which is broadcast on a British TV channel, actually justifies aggression. And in The Guardian they write about it with understanding and sympathy.

ICTV journalist Serhiy Kostezh commented on Facebook: "And there are people in Ukraine, they still exist, yes, who talk about how great foreign media are, in contrast to Ukrainian ones, and what excellent standards they have. Aha. And in the meantime, they will go to Mariupol, tell how everything is wonderful there and everyone is happy, then they will go to convey to the Western audience the nonsense of Russian soldiers about how cool it is to kill Ukrainians. There are no questions for foreign journalists. Everything has been clear there since 2014. But maybe the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Dmytro Kuleba would somehow react to it, although, what am I talking about..." .

ITV channel faced criticism related to the showing of The Other Side and within the UK, but ignored the warnings, NV journalists note.

British X netizens note that journalist Sean Langan is spreading Kremlin lies and propaganda carefully disguised as the other side's view of the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has brought death and destruction to millions of Ukrainians.

"I don't think this documentary should be shown. At a time when the whole world is trying to help Ukraine in this difficult time, we need the support of the British public. But such a documentary can reduce the support of the British public, and this is a cause for concern, so these journalists should be careful in what they do," said Lee Anderson, Tory MP for Ashfield in a comment to the Daily Mail.

Anthony Gleese, an expert on terrorism at the University of Buckingham, told the Daily Mail: “I think it is an absolute mistake to show this documentary. The people of Ukraine are not Nazis, and if anyone is a Nazi, it is Vladimir Putin. So if this is repeated by the people in this documentary, it can give oxygen to Putin's propagandists. "

In addition, a spokesman for ITV called Sean Langan's film "an example of independent journalism that tells a human story about the impact of war".

NV journalists draw attention to the fact that the Russian-Ukrainian war is not the first example of Langan giving the floor to representatives of the "other side". For example, in previous documentaries, he interviewed the now dead leader of Hamas, Sheikh Yassin, in Gaza, whom Israel eliminated in 2004. In 2007, the British journalist shot another documentary in which he interviewed Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. The following year, the Taliban kidnapped him, but he was released three months later.

"Friends, I just wrote another post in English. Help spread the word. I know that some things fly well on Twitter. Otherwise, we will continue to talk to ourselves," Iryna Tsylyk later added to her post on Facebook.