Helena Maksyom is a Ukrainian documentary filmmaker and reserve Captain of the National Guard of Ukraine.
She trained as an ecologist, graduating with honours from the National Aviation University in Kyiv, but her path led to film. Her debut feature, Everything Will Not Be Fine (2020), grew out of the long shadow of the Chornobyl disaster and the lives it shaped, including her own. It premiered in competition at IDFA and won Best Ukrainian Feature Film and Best Director at the Odesa International Film Festival, the FIPRESCI Prize at Transilvania, and further awards and nominations across Europe.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Helena first joined volunteers evacuating civilians from areas under threat. Soon after, she enlisted in the National Guard of Ukraine. She had no prior military experience. She trained as a rifleman and combat medic and was sent to one of the hardest sectors of the front.
Filming on the front line.
Over three and a half years of active service she fought across the Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, rose from private to Captain, and moved into reconnaissance. She filmed throughout — not the spectacle of battle, but the people beside her: their exhaustion, their humour, their losses. That footage became her second feature, Don't Ask Me If I Killed (2026), which won Best Film and Best Editing at DocuDays UA and a Special Mention at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
She is now in reserve, but remains close to the men she served with, bringing them aid and support as they continue to fight.