A film about evangelicals under duress in Ukraine has sparked a plethora of intrigue as the Eastern European nation continues its battle against Russia.

Colby Barrett, executive producer of “A Faith Under Siege,” told CBN News he became involved in the project after a friend called and asked if he wanted to visit Ukraine.

At first, Barrett was reluctant and offered up a litany of reasons why he couldn’t go.

“I’ve got four kids,” he said. “There’s a war there. … Life is busy.”

However, despite these roadblocks, something sparked Barrett to disregard his reasons for not visiting — and seize the opportunity.

“God sometimes doesn’t follow our logic, and I really felt called to go over there to do a humanitarian aid mission and then also to document what was happening to Christians in the Russian-occupied territories,” Barrett said. “So we traveled the entire length to the front lines … interviewed over 30 people who had directly suffered in this conflict.”

While the filmmakers spoke to Christians of many denominations, they primarily interacted with evangelical Christians, whom Barrett said have been the most targeted throughout the dispute.

Overall, at least 47 religious leaders have died, with claims of Russian soldiers killing and torturing Christian leaders. Christian heritage sites have also been caught up in the chaos and destroyed.

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It might come as a surprise that Christians have faced such horror, especially considering that the majority of Russians call themselves believers. But Barrett said there are some elements that must be understood to properly frame the crisis.

“The Russian Orthodox Church has actually declared this a Holy War against Ukraine and the West, including America,” he said. “They’ve made claims like, ‘If a Russian soldier dies on the battlefield and Ukraine, all his sins will be forgiven.'”

One of the other factors making evangelicals targets is the fact that there’s no overarching church structure that makes it simple or easy to control large groups of people all at once.

“Not being able to control faith groups is not something that the invading Russian forces are very excited about,” Barrett said. “Faith is a super disruptive concept for control, and…the more that faith can be erased, the more that territory can be controlled.”

He said this dynamic was witnessed firsthand as they filmed in Ukraine. He said “A Faith Under Siege” helps bring to light stories of how these Christians have suffered amid the ongoing war.

Barrett said his goal with the film is to provide Christians with real information about what’s happening in Ukraine and Russia — something he said is essential.

“There’s so much political stuff and propaganda on all these different sides,” he said. “We wanted to make it very clear, these are firsthand stories from Christians that have lived this. Armed with that, I think Christians can make the right decisions in terms of praying, and supporting, and helping in whatever way they feel called to.”

Continue to pray for an end to the carnage between Ukraine and Russia, and stream “A Faith Under Siege” below: