A NEW short documentary exploring the bond between Scotland and Ukraine, will receive its Scottish premiere this month as part of Refugee Festival Scotland.
The film, Dear Glasgow: Letters from Mykolaiv directed by Glasgow-based filmmaker Robbie Fraser, offers an intimate portrait of life in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, and "captures the resilience, humour and humanity of a community living under the shadow of war".
Created in collaboration with award-winning photojournalist David Pratt and Ukrainian producer Olya Danyukova, the project was funded by Glasgow City Council and produced through Glasgow Life. It is a joint production between Dulcimer Films in Glasgow and Mars Production in Kyiv.
Filmed in Mykolaiv in December 2025, the documentary also draws on footage gathered during Fraser and Pratt’s earlier visits to the city since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
The documentary arrives against the backdrop of the formal twinning of Glasgow and Mykolaiv in February 2024, a partnership rooted in shared industrial heritage and civic identity. Both cities are historic shipbuilding centres — Glasgow on the Clyde and Mykolaiv on the Black Sea — and both have long traditions of working-class culture and international outlook.
Mykolaiv, founded in 1789, has played a crucial role in Ukraine’s resistance to Russian aggression and was awarded the title “Hero City of Ukraine” after successfully halting an advance towards the key port of Odesa in the early months of the invasion.
The Russian cruiser Moskva — originally built in Mykolaiv during the Soviet era — was later deployed in attacks on Ukraine before being sunk by Ukrainian forces in 2022.
Producer Danyukova reflected: "Since first meeting Robbie and David in the spring of 2022, I have watched my Scottish friends return to Ukraine time and again, despite the dangers, always drawn back with genuine curiosity, compassion, and respect. Through their film, they have built a beautiful bridge between our two shipbuilding cities and between Scotland and Ukraine. I am so proud to be part of this project, and I hope one day we can welcome the people of Glasgow to Mykolaiv with all our Ukrainian hospitality and open hearts."
Fraser said: "I wanted to show Mykolaiv not only as a city under siege, but as a place where warmth, humour and defiance remain very much alive despite the daily realities of war. Glasgow and Mykolaiv have shipbuilding in common, but also very much a shared sense of humour. There is a sad irony to the city too; it was a shipbuilding powerhouse of the USSR, yet some of the very ships built in Mykolaiv have been used to attack Ukraine since 2022."
Pratt added: "Bittersweet as the film is in some ways, above all it aims to show our common humanity. I hope too it serves as a poignant reminder of how unquenchable that humanity is even in these hard times both in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world. Mykolaiv, like much of Ukraine, has been through hell these past years, but its people remain unbowed and undaunted. Like Glaswegians, Mykolaivians have a gallus streak, and I for one have found it a privilege to get to know some of them."
Dear Glasgow: Letters from Mykolaiv will premiere on June 12 at The Social Hub in Glasgow. The event is free to attend, with seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
