Ronnie Apteker, the co-founder of Internet Solutions – a pioneering figure in South Africa’s early internet industry – will release a new film in the coming days, focused on life in Kyiv following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Apteker, who moved to Ukraine before the war broke out, had his life upended when Vladimir Putin’s forces launched a full-scale invasion in 2022 of the Eastern European nation of 38 million people.
Update: the film is now available on YouTube
He had bought an apartment in Kyiv in 2015 and started a new life in the city, attracted by the country’s tech scene. He married a local woman, Marta, with whom he has a young son. Both Marta and his son are now refugees from the war, living in Poland.
Apteker had a storied technology career as co-founder of Internet Solutions and is also well known for movies, including the critically acclaimed South African productions Material and Beyond the River.
The release of the new documentary, called Kyiv of Mine, taking place next weekend, comes as Ukrainians are again on a knife-edge ahead of a high-stakes meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump in Alaska, scheduled to take place on Friday.
Kyiv of Mine got its start in a very different time: 2018, before the Covid-19 pandemic upended the world and before Putin’s full-scale invasion disrupted the lives of ordinary Ukrainians.
“It was a more innocent and naïve time. The motivation behind the film then was that Ukraine deserves a better conversation in the world,” Apteker told TechCentral via phone on Thursday. After Putin marched across the border, the focus pivoted – it had to, he said.
‘They don’t stop’
“The Russians have not stopped their terror. They just don’t stop. The only reason this hasn’t ended is Ukraine is a big country – it’s biggest in Europe, with the most sophisticated army in Europe by now: half a million soldiers are standing their ground.
“What you don’t see [on television news] is the alcoholism, the online gambling addiction, the divorce rate, the smoking and drugs, the unemployment. All those numbers are going in the wrong direction.”
Apteker said Kyiv of Mine started as an “innocent exploration of tech entrepreneurs in Ukraine”.
Read: Ukraine deploys AI-powered drones in war with Russia
“We couldn’t continue the story without talking about the war. We found a way to change the narrative. It became about a group of people in Kyiv,” he said. “The film is ultimately a love letter to Kyiv. But if you remove Kyiv or Ukraine, it’s a universal story of resilience.”
He said he hopes the film helps people understand the challenges Ukraine and Ukrainians are facing daily. “It’s in English, for an international audience. Maybe they’ll want to support Ukraine more [after watching it]. People like a good story. It’s an against-the-odds mission.”
Watch the trailer
The film will be self-published on YouTube, and has secured some funding for marketing. “We’ve never done YouTube content, so let’s see what happens – it could blow up.”
The production and editing of the film, which goes live on YouTube on Sunday, 24 August (Ukraine’s independence day), would not have been possible without technology, Apteker said.
“It was edited in one country, shot in another, the trailer was done in another. We even used AI because we couldn’t get certain images to create a generic shot. We have a few AI images to help fill in some gaps. It’s amazing just what the tech has allowed us to do.” — © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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