BBC Our World - Return to Platform 5 Families at War (2024)
When a family gets caught up in Europe's greatest refugee crisis since World War Two, the strains are unimaginable. Where should they run to? Who will give safety and shelter? What happens when the father is not allowed to leave?
These are the questions that confronted Ukrainians as Russian forces invaded two years ago. Ten million people were uprooted. Many of them fled across international borders.
In a special documentary to mark the second anniversary of the war, the Oscar-, Bafta- and Emmy- winning team of Alice Doyard and Fergal Keane have gone back to find and tell the stories of people they first encountered on Platform 5 of Lviv railway station in the opening days of the war.
Platform 5 became infamous as a scene of human desperation as people struggled to board trains heading west. Families were separated as men of fighting age were refused permission to leave. There were anguished scenes as fathers said goodbye to wives and children, not knowing when or where they would see them again.
This powerful and intimate film is a story of families and how they have struggled to cope in lives that were utterly changed by Russia's invasion. Through the interwoven stories of three different families, we are offered a rich portrait of love and courage in a time of fear.
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