Transcription
This could be Europe's new front line. I've come to Estonia to show how it's preparing.
We begin with Estonia, which has described an incursion by Russian fighter jets into its airspace as unprecedentedly brazen. Trenches are being dug. A Baltic defense line is under construction. Drone units are being trained. This isn't hypothetical. This isn't a drill. This is real, and it's happening fast.
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We're headed to a forest with the Estonian Defense League. They've just ambushed a Russian convoy and they're taking prisoners.
Meanwhile, an Estonian APC hits a Russian landmine.
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The injured are being taken to the nearest stabilization center.
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We get to the stabilization point. The entire military base comes under an air attack.
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This was a training exercise carried out by the Estonian Defense League. They're a voluntary National Defense Organization and I spoke to one of its leaders.
What motivates you to to volunteer like this?
The situation around us is not good today. The security situation. We all know what's happening on the other side of Estonian border there, what's happening in Ukraine and what could happen in Europe as well. So, we have to be prepared.
How likely is it that Russia would steam across the border?
All depends, you know. Uh as I said we have quite a sad history with our eastern neighbor and we don't have any illusions like maybe some European governments do. You know the free will brings them here. Nobody is forcing them to join our defense league. They come voluntarily. It's the biggest asset they have the free will of citizens to protect their country.
What is Russia doing right now to Estonia?
We could say that the war already started. The informationational warfare and uh propaganda warfare, things like this combined uh combined activities, not Connecticut.
If you turned on the news tomorrow and you saw an announcement that Russians are tearing across the border, they decided to invade Estonia, what's the first thing you would do?
I will grab my weapon and train my units. Okay. Thank you.
Do you think Estonia is prepared enough yet?
My short answer would be yes. We're the land of of the free. Absolutely. Estonians love their freedom and their saunas, too. And we want to keep all of that. But most of the Estonians, they would already die and then surrender to Russia. Like uh I've heard one Estonian had like throw in a good saying that like uh if we are to die like we're going to take at least 10 Russians with us each.
The Estonian Defense League is one of the most extraordinary stories in Europe right now. In a country of just 1.3 million, tens of thousands have volunteered unpaid to train and serve. Membership has skyrocketed since the invasion of Ukraine faster than anywhere else in NATO. Farmers, teachers, students, retirees, they spend their weekends in uniform, drilling in forests, learning guerilla tactics, preparing to fight. They're spread across every region of the country, embedded in their communities, ready to mobilize within hours. And together, they form the backbone of Estonia's defense. What you see here is a country transforming itself. Not just an army, but a society that's decided it will never again be occupied without a fight.
I'm headed to somewhere in the heart of Estonia where NATO is staging exercise Eagle Strike, a live fire operation where different armies train together as one with tanks from across Europe. Things like this aren't just for practice. It's also to show Moscow that Europe can fight, too.
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The British Army's here, so I asked them if they're prepared for the Russian threat.
Uh, it's livei training. Uh that's probably the highest level of training we can conduct um as ground forces. Um and today we've got kind of all aspects uh engineering, artillery, infantry and armor coming together and I think that shows uh our readiness and our resolve to fight.
Whilst we've been out here, we've done a lot of training and then it is just that forward presence for NATO.
And why do you think that's important right now?
There's been a lot of work put in place uh to ensure that we are as prepared as possible for if uh Russia were to enter the Baltic states for us to be able to protect and secure Estonia uh and then further down in Latvia with the other NATO countries.
Would you say that what's happened in Ukraine has kind of strengthened NATO in some
Uh yes definitely. So, we already had a presence in Estonia prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but I think it has exacerbated our need to be working with our fellow allied nations being the US, the French, um the Canadians down in Lapia. Uh so, I think it's definitely strengthened that need for interoperability between the UK and other NATO ally nations. We were fortunate enough in one of the last exercises to have um uh some individuals from uh Ukraine to come and brief us uh and and also to provide some expertise on UAV and counter UAV techniques uh which is highly important um so we can really understand uh what it is to fight in a contemporary environment.
The British major told me that Ukrainians were here teaching NATO about drones and for a good reason. In 2025, drones aren't just changing the battlefield, they are the battlefield. 90% of casualties, all because of UAVs. So, I wanted to know, how is Estonia preparing for a drone war?
On the outskirts of the capital city, a new drone unit has just been set up. It's called Hawkside. It's the country's first dedicated drone unit, and they've learned firsthand tech directly from the front lines of Ukraine. It's brand new, and this is one of their first interviews. So I haven't seen one of these um outside of Ukraine before. Now I'm seeing one in Estonia for the first time. When did this arrive and what how would you describe what it is?
So basically this is a like drone with fiber optic cables that is uh assembled and produced in Estonia. So obviously we have components from uh from uh China and other European and Ukrainian uh producers involved. So, but um it actually works. So, we have a dedicated bologon where we can test them.
How much does drone warfare play into what Estonia is doing right now um as defense?
So, the drone warfare lessons learned from Ukraine is playing a big part in Estonian military. We have close relations directly to Ukrainian units. So, we share information. We also support them.
How quickly could something like this be deployed? So, say the Russians decide at 6:00 a.m. one morning to storm across the border um with tanks. How quickly would you be able to get these in the sky? Would units be there?
I don't know. Maybe in quite fast, let's say, because we are all around in Estonia. So, Defense League drone units are in every region in Estonia. So, the first responders to help infantry in that case is uh most likely already uh somewhere living near the border. Maybe
This is as far as I've been. This is just this area here.
Yeah. But if if we consider then we have like a border with Russia. We start from uh crossing with Latvia. So it goes from here and we have lot of water behind is one of the biggest lakes in the area and then we have like upper part of Narva also.
You have almost like a natural water defense.
Yeah. And the water is actually good also that because fiber optic cable drones don't fly over over the water. So this is one thing that it doesn't do.
Oh really?
Almost 100% of time the experience from Ukrainian units is that uh that the the cable breaks down on in the water when you go over the river for instance totally it's cut like in quite quite fast and inside the still water it happens the same. Basically, the Russians are jumping actually. Uh, so they do GPS spoofing and ves almost like this part of Estonia quite often, like every day.
To understand Estonia's front line, I had to come here to Narva, a city split by a river, overlooked by two ancient fortresses that have faced each other for centuries. Today, it's again the border between two worlds. So this is Russia which is literally meters away. And it's not just Estonia and the Russian border. This is the border between NATO and Russia. This is the border between war and peace. And this river is steeped in history. In the 1700s, the Swedish fought the Russian army here. And during World War II, massive battles took place between the Nazis and the Soviets across this river. It almost destroyed the entire city. And just a few meters up ahead where we're about to cross is something called the Friendship Bridge. And that's the bridge between Narva and Russia. And it's not really very friendly anymore because there's dragon tea on that bridge now because Russia has basically begun to rage war across Europe. But it's wild to imagine if you toss a stone on this side of the river, by the time it gets to the other side, it will have passed from Western democracy into Putin's Russia. Literally, the red line runs along the riverbed right through the center of here. Um, and at one point it actually crossed over very, very slightly, which I guess is the second time I've crossed into Russia without permission after Kursk. So, that's pretty fun. About 5 minutes up from here as well, there was a transformer energy station. And Estonia really symbolically cut that electricity tie to Russia. And you could actually see the video, I'll overlay it here, of the two electrical wires separating and that sort of spark disappearing because Estonia now wants basically nothing to do with the people on this side of the river because Russia has basically said that they want to take the Baltics. They want to take Estonia. And if you turn on Russian television for even a few minutes, clips like this are going viral.
And what are the Baltics? A compact settlement of Poles in one area, Russians in another, and Bellar Russians. What are we talking about? Who suddenly decided that these countries exist? This is merely the result of mistakes made by Russian imperial policy followed by the mistakes of the Soviet Union that allowed these to become states. These are Kremlin propagandists saying that one of the biggest mistakes of the collapse of the Soviet Union was the loss of the Baltics and it was a geographical mistake. This is what the uh propagandists have been saying recently because they want it back.
We pull in to the city of Narva where over 90% of locals speak Russian and Russian propaganda and Russian influence is rife in this town. I spoke to a couple of locals and that became pretty apparent. This bridge is closed for traffic now and um there seems to be more kind of tensions with Russia and Estonia because of Ukraine. What do you think about all of them? Do you like having Russia as your neighbor?
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Um, they're building a new Baltic line right now with diggers and trenches all across this region all the way down to Lafia. Why do you think they're doing that? What do you think about that?
How would you react if Russia took over Estonia again and it became part of, you know, Soviet pressure, I guess.
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In Narva, the story feels different. The people I spoke to here live in the shadow of Russia's influence. Many were frustrated, angry at sanctions, at the way trade had been choked off since the Friendship Bridge closed to traffic. That bridge still carries footfall, but not commerce, and the resentment lingers. Few wanted to say on camera, but it speaks to Narva's complicated history and its proximity to Russia's orbit. But this outlook is not Estonia's. Beyond Narva, most Estonians carry a very different memory of decades of Soviet occupation, of repression, of what Moscow did to their families and their country for almost 80 years. And those scars run deep. They shape how Estonians see the threat today. So I left Narva behind. I traveled as far west as you can in Estonia.
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At the edge of Serma on a farm that's belonged to this family for over three centuries. I sat down with Janica, a woman who carries the memory of survival. In the 1940s, when the Soviet forces occupied Estonia, her great-g grandandmother's children fled out into the wild sea in boats or clung to wooden doors, escaping into the cold water as refugees. There was no safety on land. It was either deportation to Siberia or escape across the waves. In 1944 when the front line in Narva was holding on for I think 1 month or so Estonian guys were holding it then everybody was escaping during that time. everybody who could who had at least some kind of small boat, you know, they even
They even went with anything that floated, even doors or I don't know whatever during the uh winter or the autumn storms
And uh she basically never saw her uh sons again. Her grandmother stayed. She hoped life would change, hoped that the storm would pass. But then came the Soviet trucks, the NKVD patrols, the transports rolling through villages, searching for people to hide. Children ran barefoot through the snow, hiding in winter forests.
My grandma was a child and she was she was an adult then. Every time they heard a truck going in Lumanta, which is 1 kilometer from here,
they all run out. They all ran out during night barefoot into the snow and they would pee on their feet just to keep the uh toes from freezing. So ran deep into the forest just to make sure you would be deported. So everybody was afraid of the trucks.
Generations of trauma. Yeah, I think a few quite a few.
Mhm.
And for those on the coast, even the sea was off limits. The Soviets turned the shoreline itself into a military zone. No swimming, no fishing, no access to their own seaside.
We also we we couldn't swim.
We can't swim.
We can't swim because uh
we were not allowed to go.
Sea was closed.
There's border guards and they we we couldn't get to the sea.
Uh so
they didn't afraid that someone come in. They afraid that we will all leave.
What is it like having Russia as your neighbor?
National catastrophe.
It's the only They say it's the only natural disaster of Estonia. We don't have earthquakes. We don't have tsunamis or nothing like this. But we have just a bad awful neighbor. That's the only catastrophe we have
because they haven't changed in hundreds of years. They have always been like this. So, uh not likely they are going to change in the future either. No way.
You know that it's question of time
when they come again.
When they come again. Yeah.
Do you think that will happen?
I think Yeah.
Who knows? Now it's realistic. Yeah.
Countless Estonian refugees fled this very harbor to escape Soviet occupation.
They left Estonia by this harbor or this place. It was either the Atla Harbor or some other coastline places where you could put the boat to the sea. Under Soviet rule, Estonia lost a fifth of its population. Tens of thousands deported to Siberia in cattle cars, families torn apart overnight, forced to build railways and camps in sub-zero snow, many never returning. Speaking Estonian in schools was forbidden. Churches were closed. Traditional recipes, songs, even national symbols had to be hidden in secret past from parent to child in whispers. For decades, an entire culture was nearly erased. And these scars explain why Estonians look at Ukraine and see themselves. Why they don't doubt Russia's threat and why they're preparing now because they know what occupation means.
On my final morning, I met Arur, one of Estonia's biggest young voices. He told me that for his generation the choice is simple freedom or nothing.
30 years ago we got in reindependent 1991 right? So I'm I was born in 96 so I'm barely the first generation to live in free Estonia. I grew up with the stories. So even I'm not free from it. I it surrounds me everywhere. My grandfather was deported when he was a 4year-old child, a little toddler. So I grew up with that. My mother gave it all to me. We are extremely stubborn and it's a bad thing in peace time because you're stubborn and you argue and yada yada politics but in wartime and during times of occupation you are stubborn in a way that you hide your grandfather's flag in the attic and in 40 50 years when the Soviets when the time is right you bring it out and you perform a singing revolution if you could say that. That's the stubbornness and that's the patriotism. It's it's got to do with our 1,000 last years where majority of it was spent in not full slavery but semi-slavery like surfom under the Germans and in those times hundreds of generations you were kind of beaten if you spoke too much did something that they didn't allow. So the evolution of Estonian culture is you got to be quiet, you got to be inside and then you will survive. We survived the Germans. We survived the Soviets. I think that's our superpower.
Estonia is a small country with a small army, but it's got trenches dug along its borders. It has volunteers training every weekend. It has drone units spread across its front. And it has people united by history determined never to live under Russia's shadow again. And that that's why Estonia per capita gives more to Ukraine than almost any other nation on Earth because they see Ukraine's fight as their own. The front line may be in Dombas today, but it could be here tomorrow. Whether NATO is ready or not, Estonia is. And for Estonians, this fight is about one thing above all. The freedom to live, the freedom to breathe, and the freedom to never again lose their country to Moscow.
Freedom means everything for us because we know how is the life without freedom. even though I'm old already, but I will give everything I can because I want my grandchildren to live in free Estonia. Well, one thing that I've noticed as well is that Estonia has such a strong national identity that it's so deeply proud of. How do you think that has survived for so long under Soviet occupation and Soviet occupation that has tried its best to wipe out Estonian identity and yet it's thriving more than ever? How do you think what do you think it is about the spirit of Estonia that's kept that alive?
when you're such a small nation and you feel the fear of being killed or I don't know wiped off from the earth then uh some other senses become to work I think or start working uh you have maybe the fear of uh extinction you you see either the really bad side of humanity but you also see the best side of humanity and the best one keeps you alive basically so this is what I think also when So when you live under terror or under under occupation, this is what it is. Just uh humanity saves this. We won't be just like Ukrainians. It won't be easy.
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Thank you so much for watching this film. And before you go, I want to tell you about how I got back to Kev just after I finished filming. There's a convoy every single month that travels all the way from the capital of Estonia right into the center of Kev. And that convoy is handed over to frontline units. They're called Help 99. And I watched firsthand as volunteers took these life-saving vehicles straight from the workshop top of the range with jammers on the roofs right to the people that needed them. So I decided as soon as I got to Key that I wanted to team up with Help 999. So I want to raise $41,000 for two trucks. Again, these trucks are incredible quality. I've seen them myself in the warehouse. They come fully equipped with everything units need to get to and from the front. And just to highlight how important these actually are, soldiers need to get to and from the front. They need to get supplies. They need to help with evacuations. And most of all, these trucks are critical at keeping soldiers alive, especially with the jammers on top. And as warfare changes and drones dominate the skies, fully equipped cars that can drive quickly, that are wellmade, are the lifeblood of the front line right now. And you can check out everything they do on the website. I'm going to put the links right under this video in the description. And there you can see exactly how to donate. It's really easy. You can use basically any form of payment. If you scroll through the website, it's super easy to use and it's all very transparent. So again, thank you so much for watching this film. Leave a comment, like, it helps the algorithm. But if you really want to help Ukraine tangibly getting trucks to the front, please support this campaign with Help 999. I'm really excited to see these two trucks make their way to where they need to.