By invading the whole of Ukraine in February 2022, Vladimir Putin put an end to eight years of negotiations on the conflict in Donbass, a "war" before the war, long forgotten. Through archives and the words of the senior politicians who took part in these diplomatic exchanges, this film shows what was already at stake: Europe's weaknesses towards Putin and the return of the Cold War dynamic. Anne Poiret filmed those who were suffering from the international community's procrastination and the stalemate of the conflict: the civilians of Donbass living along the front line, most of whom went into exile in February 2022. The geopolitical and intimate narratives meet to shed new light on the roots of this war at Europe's doorstep.