BN: It’s an honor to have you talk to us at Kyiv Post here in a typical Ukrainian setting – an air raid shelter in Kyiv. You’ve come specifically for an important international film festival dealing with documentaries and the war. Your general impressions as the head of the jury?
BHL: And it’s an honor for me to head this jury. It’s a great festival. There are great films, and you have in Ukraine an incredible school of documentary makers. Really great quality – and I know little about documentaries – and what I discovered watching all these well, 13, 14, I don’t remember how many, documentary movies, is that you have not only the best army in Europe, you also have maybe, among the best documentary makers in Europe, too. And it’s a great idea of President Zelensky and of Andriy Yermak to have wanted such a festival. It’s a brilliant idea. I’m very happy to be part of it.
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BN: What keeps you coming back to Ukraine? Why are you so committed to supporting Ukraine?
BHL: I will give you a very simple and maybe naive answer. I like this country. I like Ukraine, really. When I stay a few months without coming back to Ukraine, I miss Ukraine, especially in these very dark times.
BN: I was so impressed by your own documentary film that you, a famous personality, a classy figure, were there in the trenches filming with explosions all around you, in different parts of the country, in all the hot spots. What makes you do that? To risk your life?
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BHL: And I continue to do that. I just got back a few minutes ago from the Donbas, from the Pokrovsk area. What drives me is the incredible drive of the Ukrainian fighters, their incredible bravery, the fact that defending themselves they defend me. They defend my kids. They defend my family. When I am in the Donbas as I was earlier today, and yesterday, I have this physical feeling that these gentlemen, these so respectable gentlemen, are fighting for values – values which sometimes others no longer believe in, so my duty is to be at their side. This is my place.
BN: I wanted to ask you as a Frenchman, is Ukraine still of interest to the average Frenchman or has Ukraine fatigue taken over?
BHL: You have both. For example, after this terrible press conference [in the Oval Office], the obscene acting out of Trump and Vance, there was a huge movement of solidarity in France and in Europe. An incredible wave of love and solidarity towards President Zelensky and the Ukrainian government. So, you have that. At the same time, you have, of course, some extreme right, extreme left, left-wing, right-wing parties, in my country, which are manipulated by the Russian propaganda or by Russia itself. Don’t expect them to have any sympathy for Ukraine. For the, like Trump and Vance. Ukraine is a lost cause, a waste of our money. I’m really disgusted by all of that.
BN: Why has your own president, Emmanuel Macron, become one of the staunchest defenders of Ukraine on the international scene?
BHL: Because he believes in Europe and because he has understood what is happening here. And he admires sincerely the courage and the knack and the spirit of the Ukrainian people. He has a sincere admiration – statesmen are not always cold monsters, as Nietzsche would have said – they also have a heart and a soul. They are human beings, and I’m sure – I know President Macron a little – that as a human being, in his heart he admires President Zelensky. He respects him and knows what President Zelensky embodies.
BN: It showed during his meeting with Trump a few days ago.
BHL: I saw the meeting. I was with the Ukrainian resistance when it happened, with Ukrainian fighters. It was so striking to see how disgusted they were by Trump and how proud they were of their president. I was moved to tears to see the sorrow of my Ukrainian brothers and their pride in their president, in him holding so firm, having such an allure, such a greatness. There was a dwarf, who was Trump, and there was a giant called Zelensky. Charismatic, wise, brave.
BN: Macron himself has come a long way. We remember when a few years ago he was accused of naivety for calling Putin over and over again. Is there any hope that Trump may also get through the naivety that he’s showing, or do you think he will not change?
BHL: We’ll see, we’ll see. You know, when you have, as Zelensky has, truth in your heart, when you stand with your values and your words, your strength, and strength of conviction, are without limits. Zelensky has won over so many people during the last three years. He is an eternal pilgrim of his cause. He faced so many audiences who were sometimes wary at the beginning but left the meeting enthusiastic. Yes. Who knows what can happen. A U-turn? I’m not very optimistic about Trump changing, to be honest.
BN: Do you think that Europe can get its act together with Macron, with the new German chancellor, the British prime minister, and with the Poles and Baltic countries as well, and provide the leadership and drive that Europe needs
BHL: And the Nordic country, Finland, Sweden. Et voilà! I don’t know if we can, but together we must. If we don’t, we die. And President Zelensky is 100 % right about that. If we don’t do it, we will die. Unite or die! This is the challenge which Zelensky and the Ukrainian people face. If we don’t help you, today the border of Europe is in Pokrovsk. The defense of France, the national security of France, is at stake in the Donbas. If we lose the battle of Donbas, we collectively, that is, not only Ukrainians, but the French, Europeans - we are lost.
BN: Finally, your message to the broader world, the three, four, five million people that follow us every month, mainly in North America, Europe and Australia. You’re here, you’re a witness to what’s going on. What is the key message you would like to share?
BHL: That Ukrainian fighters are not losers, they are winners. Sometimes very sad, sometimes close to despair, sometimes having suffered so many losses and so on, they are still... tough and still sure of themselves, and of their values. The strange thing is that I met so many more true European hearts and souls in the most remote villages in the Donbas than in Paris, Barcelona or London. The real believers in Europe are today in the east of Ukraine, its Donbas and in what remains of Chasiv Yar, or of Pokrovsk.
BN: Well, thank you very much for your very generous appraisal and words.
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