MD Communications’ CEO and founder Melissa Davis spoke at a private screening of Ukraine war documentary, Ash and Crayons, hosted at the Law Society.
The Law Society, 20 October 2026 – On Tuesday, CEO Melissa Davis and members of the MD Communications team were at the Law Society in support of a private screening of Ash and Crayons, a documentary by Ukrainian director Evgeny Afineevsky about children whose lives have been shaped by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The film follows the lives of several Ukrainian children severely impacted, both physically and psychologically, since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Two of the children featured were taken under Russia’s policy of child abduction for forced indoctrination and adoption, before managing to return to Ukraine and their families.
Describing the evening and the film itself, Melissa said:
No child should ever have stories like this to tell. It was an evening that will have an impact on all of us there for a long time. Hearing afterwards from Bohdan, a child in the film but now in the Ukrainian army, made it more powerful still. The children’s resilience is extraordinary, and their courage asks something of us too: to keep listening, keep paying attention and keep their futures in view. We were proud that MD Communications could play a small part in giving these children a voice.
The screening was organised by Eduardo Reyes, features editor at the Law Society Gazette, who first saw the film last year at a screening in a Commons committee room hosted by MP Johanna Baxter – herself sanctioned by Russia for her work raising awareness of Ukraine’s abducted children.
The event was funded by law firm Wolf Theiss, whose Ukraine office’s managing partner, Taras Dumych, travelled to London for the evening, and members of the IBA’s European Regional Forum Committee.
Thank you to Eduardo and the Law Society for organising and hosting the event, to the evening’s guests, sponsors and generous contributors, and to Evgeny Afineevsky and Bohdan Yermokhin for sharing these experiences with us.
Speaking on the evening, Melissa said:
We have a responsibility to listen to and share stories like this. These children deserve to be heard, and their futures must remain part of every conversation about justice and accountability.
Ash and Crayons will have its first public screenings on World Children’s Day, Thursday 20 November, including at Picturehouse Finsbury Park.
Read Melissa’s LinkedIn post of the evening here.
Read Eduardo Reyes’s piece in the Law Society Gazette here.
