See the mundane and the menacing in Ukraine

Film-maker Megumi Lim's documentary Night Shift explores the people who keep Kharkiv going when night falls

- John Lui Senior Film Correspondent

At around 3.30am at an isolated petrol station on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Singaporean documentary-maker Megumi Lim heard gunfire.

“The machine guns were popping — it was the sound of the air defence. Shahed drones were approaching the centre of Kharkiv. We checked the Telegram channels that tell you the number of drones and missiles, and where they are. We started filming, but it was scary,” says the 37-year-old.

But as time passed, she and Ukrainian producer Tetiana Burianova realised the June attack was different.

It was one of the biggest attacks on Kharkiv since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Lim tells The Straits Times from her home in Kyiv, where she lives.

The pair donned bulletproof vests and helmets and, for three hours, watched as explosions rocked the city situated just 30km from the Russian border. Drones filled the sky, followed by missiles and glide bombs released from jets.

They discussed driving to an underground metro station two minutes away, but decided that remaining in place made sense once they accounted for all the risks