George Gittoes and his wife, Helen, were watching a movie in their bedroom bunker in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa, when two Russian missiles struck the city.
"Suddenly, 'Boom', the whole house shook. A huge explosion, like nothing I've ever heard before," Gittoes said.
It was May 9, and the Australian artist and his wife were watching the final scene in the film Lord of the Rings.
But before the credits rolled, the missiles hit.
Instead of staying put, the pair ran outside where they were met by their neighbours.
Gittoes said he had a flashback to being in Gerringong during the bushfires in two years ago.
Gittoes eventually learned the Russian projectiles had struck a large shopping centre and an oil depot — the equivalents of "Miranda Fair" and the Kurnell oil depot in Sydney's south.
"So, when these things get taken out, everyone finds it hard to get fuel anymore. And most people know and love their local shopping centre. So that's what it's like."
Creatives turned fighters
George and Helen arrived in mid-March, intent on making a documentary about Ukrainian artists.
"The creative people who were poets, musicians and filmmakers, who never thought that they'd have to take up a gun or have their lives threatened … their whole world has changed."
He said one famous artist he met once only painted cats. Now she creates the toughest anti-war art he's ever seen.
They met another artist who has become a tattooist. She puts "magic charm" tattoos on the hands of soldiers before they go off to war to protect them against Russian bullets.
"[The war has] transformed their lives," he said.
Cultural similarities
During his time in Ukraine, Gittoes said he had noticed many similarities to Australia.
He compared Odesa and its community to "like being in Newtown or St Kilda or the Adelaide performing space".
The multi-award-winning artist — who has been honoured with an Order of Australia for his contributions to film and arts — said the parallels between Ukraine and Australia have hit a nerve with him.
"What's very different for me that Ukraine [has a] level of cultural similarities to our culture," he said.
He said the cultural similarities were unlike what he saw when he documented conflicts in countries such as Bosnia, Afghanistan and Rwanda.
"They're not people who've been hardened by years of [a] dictator like Saddam Hussein or fighting, you know, like the Afghans against the Russians."
