PRESS RELEASE

KILLHOUSE: The Action Thriller Redefining War Cinema Through Drone Warfare

World’s First Drone Rescue Operation: Recreated by Active-Duty Special Forces Operators Who Lived Through It 100% of the Military Personnel Featured in the Film Are Active-Duty Special Forces Operators with Vast Front Line Combat Experience.

[LOS ANGELES / KYIV - 2026]  KILLHOUSE is a high-intensity action thriller inspired by an extraordinary real-life rescue operation during the full-scale invasion stage of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Directed by Ukrainian filmmaker Liubomyr Levytskyi, the film combines adrenaline, scale, and emotional stakes of commercial action thriller narrated in a new visual language shaped by drone warfare.

Positioned as the world’s first narrative feature film centered on a drone rescue operation, KILLHOUSE combines the scale and entertainment value of commercial action with an unprecedented level of authentic military involvement.

What makes KILLHOUSE extraordinary is that the military personnel on screen are not actors playing soldiers. They are real Ukrainian Special Forces operators – individuals with firsthand combat experience who continue to serve and fight on the front lines today.

The film recreates a real-life rescue operation billed as the world’s first drone rescue mission, bringing the actual experience of modern Ukrainian Special Forces directly to the screen.

The story follows a young civilian couple whose 12-year-old daughter was abducted by Russian soldiers and taken into occupied territory. Desperate to bring her home, they agree to pay $20,000 to retrieve her from the “gray zone.” But after crossing minefields, navigating a destroyed bridge, and dodging enemy checkpoints, one wrong turn sends them straight into Russian positions – and their vehicle comes under devastating fire.

Their only hope is an an unprecedented drone-led rescue operation — turning the technology of modern warfare into their only chance of survival.

As the mission escalates, multiple elite Ukrainian units are drawn into the fight, including the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU)

The rescue mission soon spirals into something far larger – a race against time involving soldiers, intelligence operatives civilians, and an American journalist caught in the crossfire.

This is not the kind of war movie audiences have seen before. It is a survival thriller built around the technology redefining modern warfare.

A New Breed of War Movie

Unlike conventional war films, KILLHOUSE captures the reality of a battlefield transformed by technology.

The production deployed 26 drones across multiple categories, including FPV strike drones, Ukrainian Shark reconnaissance UAVs, DJI systems, and Black Hornet micro-drones.

Active-duty Ukrainian military personnel took part in the production both as consultants and on-screen performers. Over 200 service members contributed their first-hand experience in combat tactics, weapons handling, drone warfare, battlefield communications, and the reality of modern combat.

Among those appearing in the film are Ukrainian soldiers and prominent military figures known by their real call signs, including personnel from DIU (HUR) and the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade.

The film also features Oleksandr “Skhid” Ivantsov, a defender of Mariupol and Azovstal steel plant, who brings his firsthand from of one of the most war’s most pivotal battles of the war directly to the screen.

From Raw Documentary Reality to Feature Film Spectacle

Although Liubomyr Levytskyi is primarily known as a commercial and feature filmmaker, Russia’s full-scale invasion led him to temporarily shift his focus toward documenting the war from the inside.

He directed the documentaries Follow Me and We Were Recruits, gaining unprecedented access to Ukrainian combat units and witnessing firsthand the transformation of modern warfare.

That experience became a unique creative advantage upon his return to feature filmmaking.

“KILLHOUSE is not a documentary about war,” says Levytskyi. “It is a commercial action movie built on the reality I witnessed during the war. We wanted to create something audiences can experience as a major action film – but with a level of authenticity that cannot simply be invented.”

BUILT ON A REAL STORY

At the heart of KILLHOUSE is an extraordinary real-life rescue mission previously chronicled in Levytskyi’s documentary Follow Me.

The documentary captured a Ukrainian operation in which drones were used to help evacuate civilians trapped in an active combat zone.

The story went on to draw international attention, demonstrating how rapidly drone technology has transformed the modern battlefield.

KILLHOUSE takes that real-world event as its foundation and expands it into a full-scale narrative feature.

A Large-Scale Ukrainian Action Production

The film was shot over 62 production days across more than 40 locations, bringing together a crew of over 80, a cast of 70, and more than 200 active-duty military personnel.

The production expended approximately 23,000 blank rounds for its action sequences.

One of the film’s centerpiece set pieces is a major car chase through Kyiv, which became the most expensive sequence of the shoot, conceived and executed and executed on the scale of modern international action features.

International stunt coordinators and performers were brought in to design the film’s combat sequences, seamlessly blending weapons handling, tactical maneuvers, close-quarters combat, pyrotechnics, vehicle stunts, and large-scale action choreography.

Ukrainian Technology Meets Global Cinema

The film’s visual production also partnered with Filmotechnic, the two-time Technical Academy Award-winning Ukrainian engineering pioneer whose camera systems have been utilized on major Hollywood blockbusters, including Avatar, Fast & Furious, and The Avengers.

The result is a film that seamlessly bridges Ukrainian filmmaking expertise, real military experience, cutting-edge drone technology, and the visual language of contemporary global action cinema.

ABOUT KILLHOUSE

Title: KILLHOUSE
Format: Feature Film
Genre: Tactical Action Thriller
Language: English Subtitles / English Dub
Based on: True Events
Director: Liubomyr Levytskyi
Production: Films Division Company (FDC)

International Distribution: UPHub, [ STX ]

ABOUT DIRECTOR & PRODUCER LIUBOMYR LEVYTSKYI

A Ukrainian film director, screenwriter, and producer with over 20 years of experience in feature and commercial filmmaking.

Lubomyr Levytskyi is a prominent  director of Ukrainian genre cinema, widely known for his ambitious feature films, high-octane storytelling, striking visual style of filmmaking, and wide-audience appeal.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Levytskyi temporarily shifted his creative focus to document the war from the inside and directed two critically acclaimed documentaries, Follow Me and We Were Recruits. Conceived as an immediate response to wartime Ukraine realities, these films captured the lived experiences of Ukrainian defenders and technological transformation of modern warfare. They granted Levytskyi unprecedented access to frontline units, emerging tactical doctrines, and rapidly evolving technologies – most notably, the dawn of drone warfare.

That experience became a unique new dimension of his return to large-scale feature filmmaking.

His new feature action thriller KILLHOUSE, inspired by real events, combines ambitious genre filmmaking with authentic combat experience. Active-duty personnel from Ukrainian military and security units took part in the production, while modern drones, battlefield tactics, and emerging military technologies became an integral part of the film’s visual language and storytelling.

For Levytskyi, KILLHOUSE is not a departure from documentary filmmaking into narrative cinema. It marks a return to his core foundation – large-scale commercial genre filmmaking – now enriched by unique firsthand experience forged in the realities of war.

Alongside his feature directing, Levytskyi is developing Ukraine’s first military cinematic universe: an  interconnected slate of narrative and documentary projects inspired by true events, modern warfare, and the stories of Ukrainian military service members.

His ambition is to create large-scale, commercially driven action films with global appeal, offering international audiences access to stories and perspectives seldom seen in world cinema.

For Levytskyi, filmmaking transcends mere entertainment or art. It is a strategic cultural tool capable of shaping how Ukraine is perceived worldwide, preserving the stories of its defenders, and portraying the new reality of warfare – one where human resilience is inextricably intertwined with emerging technology, innovation, and a modernized military culture.

Today, Levytskyi is dedicated to establishing Ukrainian action cinema on the world stage – commercially ambitious features capable of competing in the global marketplace while bringing uniquely Ukrainian stories, characters, experiences, and perspectives to international audiences.