Russian War in Ukraine

In Eastern Europe, in search of stories, stories lost.

Russo-Ukrainian War

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I am a documentary photographer, writer, and occasional circus nomad currently working in Ukraine. Please, feel free to scroll down and look at some of my selected work.

‎2019 - 2023

    Sappers work in a crater in the aftermath of the Russian attack in Kharkiv on January 2nd

Ukraine 2024

Over Five Hundred Missiles in Five Days

Surviving Under Siege: Summer in Avdiyivka

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Firefighters extinguishing a fire from the remains of a missile, reportedly one of the first used by Russia but produced in North Korea

Ukraine 2024

Ivan waits to be treated after sustaining an injury from one of the explosions

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A blood-covered slipper, left behind by one of the residents injured in the attack, lies in the rubble of an apartment building

Ukraine 2024

Air raid alert and rattling sound of air defense echoes over the cemetery in Kharkiv as Albina quietly finishes a prayer beside the grave of her son, Andriy

Ukraine 2024

Two Years Later: Still Waiting for Spring 

Surviving Under Siege: Summer in Avdiyivka

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A devastated church looms over the ravaged village of Bohorodychne liberated during the Kharkiv counteroffensive.

Ukraine 2023

Mass graves unearthed shortly after the liberation of Izyum

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One of the few remaining residents of a liberated village in Eastern Ukraine fishing on the remnants of a war-damaged bridge

Ukraine 2023

A "cowboy" figurine placed by soldiers on their checkpoint guards the road to the frontline in the Kupiansk direction 

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An ice-covered rose stands amidst hundreds of flags in Maidan Square that pays tribute to the fallen soldiers

Ukraine 2024

Volunteer Sasha looks over his former neighborhood in his hometown through the window of a bombed-out school.

Ukraine 2023

Surviving Under Siege: Summer in Avdiyivka

Surviving Under Siege: Summer in Avdiyivka

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Lila and Ljona look up as a shell whistles by the entrance to their destroyed apartment.

Ukraine 2023

As a shell lands nearby, the shed's small windows rattle, causing ripples in the milk Tetyana Ishinko collects in a pail from one of the last remaining cows in her besieged hometown.

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Leonid Tarasov tends to his apiary in an orchard behind his house, just 2 kilometers from Russian positions.

Ukraine 2023

Volunteers sort through supplies before they are delivered to their besieged hometown.

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Locals in Avdiyivka form a human chain to help with the distribution of pre-packed food boxes from the World Food Programme.

Ukraine 2023

In towns along the frontline, there are many playgrounds but all children left.

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Russia's destruction of the Khakhovka dam

Russia's destruction of the Khakhovka dam

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The streets of Kherson flooded after Russia destroyed the Khakovka HPP dam.

Ukraine 2023

Local volunteers risk their lives to deliver food to residents in flood-hit Kherson.

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Volunteer Pavel works on rescue and distribution of humanitarian aid in his flood-hit hometown, Kherson.

Ukraine 2023

Volunteer Yura returns to the shore on a shrapnel-pierced boat. The boat was attacked by Russian artillery, injuring two volunteers.

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Winter on the Frontline: Living in Cellars 

Winter on the Frontline: Living in Cellars 

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Vitalii, braving incoming Russian artillery, ventures into the center of his hometown to examine a crater left in the wake of recent shelling. 

Ukraine 2023

For the past year, Svitlana has lived in the cellar beneath the ruined building that was once her house. 

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Valeriy's hometown, having undergone some of the fiercest battles along the front line in the Donbas region, has been long stripped of basic necessities like electricity, heat, and running water.

Ukraine 2023

Iryna and her son cook in their shrapnel-perforated hallway, where smoke ventilation is easier than in their cellarf. A few months ago, a shell landed in their backyard, costing Iryna her right leg.

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Military Training

Nearby Kyiv

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U.S. Army veteran John Roberts from Newport Beach, California, who has been teaching through the International Legion of Defense of Ukraine since May 2022 leads a military training at a remote site outside Kyiv.

Ukraine 2023

Ukrainian soldiers train outside Kyiv.

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A close-up of a bulletproof vest as the 114th Territorial Defense Brigade trains outside Kyiv.

Ukraine 2023

Ukrainian soldiers train outside Kyiv.

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Russians Retreats from Kyiv

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The remnants of a bridge that civilians used to flee Russian shelling in Irpin, which Ukraine’s Army had blown up in order to slow Russia’s advance on the capital.

Ukraine 2022

     Destroyed vehicles across a bridge in Irpin.

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Two members of territorial defense forces examine a destroyed Russian tank in Irpin.

Ukraine 2022

Larisa and Andriy stand outside of their damaged home in Bucha.

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Streets in the suburbs of Kyiv are littered with destroyed Russian armory and human bodies.

Ukraine 2022

  A residential building destroyed by Russian shelling in Borodyanka.

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Dmytro approaches a rocket lodged in the road near Hostomel airport.

Ukraine 2022

Burned bodies of horses lying by the road leading to Hostomel.

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Ukrainain soldiers walks past by destroyed tanks from the battle for Hostomel airport.

Ukraine 2022

The corpse of an unidentified man in civilian clothes lies prone on a street leading to Bucha.

Ukraine 2022

Bucha

Massacre

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Zhena with his dog in Bucha. 

Ukraine 2022

Sergey's corpse lies by the train tracks in Bucha. There are too many bodies in the streets and not enough hands to clear them away.

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Covered in dirt, Sergey's uncovered hands show the first signs of decay. His water-soaked fingers are turning blue. His fingernails are already purple.

Ukraine 2022

A pile of corpses lying near a pile of debris in Bucha were reported to have been brought by Russians on a tank, dumped, and set on fire.

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One of six charred civilian bodies - three women, one teenager girl and two men who were found at a residential area in Bucha.

Ukraine 2022

The collected bodies were brought for burial at a local cemetery in Bucha.

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Evacuation

Trains

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Aurika stays quiet on the evacuation transport from Avdiyvka to Pokrovsk and blankly stares at the ground. More than five million people have fled across Ukraine’s borders, and more than seven million remain displaced within the country.

Ukraine 2022

On the 29th of March, Lenca's home on the frontline got hit by a phosphor shell. After two weeks without a place to stay, she and her family decided to leave their hometown in search of a new life.

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Valerina knows that even after fleeing immediate danger on the frontline, a bright new life is far from guaranteed. 

Ukraine 2022

The road leading to the Ukrainian military outpost nearby a destroyed coal mine called Butovka. 

Ukraine 2021

Life on the Frontline Before the Full-Scale Invasion

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"Machmud" takes cover in a trench on the frontline facing Donetsk.

Ukraine 2021

A Ukrainian soldier looks out towards the enemy positions on the frontline in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.

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A school library on the frontline in the village Opytne.

Ukraine 2020

Soldiers have been training on the paintings of the children, as their faces are marked with bullet holes.

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“Do you remember something from the time before the war?” asks Sveta her granddaughter. “I don’t even remember when the war started it just always been here,” her granddaughter answers.

Ukraine 2020

“Pipi pi pi pip that’s you, a little chick,” Anja imitates the sound and then continues: “ta ta ta ta, machine gun and fiiiiii BUFFFF, that's a mortar shell. When you hear ‘fiiiii’ we run and hide.”

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Ukrainian soldier examines his gun on the frontline nearby Donetsk.

Ukraine 2019

A Ukrainian soldier stands at a block post on the frontline in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.

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A mural depicting a local teacher of Ukrainian languages on a building ruined by the war, in Avdiyivka.

Ukraine 2021

Oleksiy and Svetlana are sitting in their kitchen. They don't know what awaits them. The possibility of a new full-blown invasion seems real and with that also the fear that they might need to flee their home on the frontline once again. 

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Nearly every building along the frontline in the Donbas region of Ukraine bares scars of war.

Ukraine 2020

A Ukrainian soldier stands in a trench on the frontline nearby Donetsk.

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Ukrainian soldier walks with dog Patric toward an outpost on Donetsk's highway H-20.

Ukraine 2021

Over Five Hundred Russian Missiles in Five Days

Ukraine 2024

Two Years Later: Still Waiting for Spring

Ukraine 2024

Surviving Under Siege: Summer in Avdiyivka

Ukraine 2023

Russia's destruction of the Khakhovka dam

Ukraine 2023

Military Training Nearby Kyiv

Ukraine 2023

Winter on the Frontline: Living in Cellars 

Ukraine 2023

Russians Retreats from Kyiv

Ukraine 2022

Bucha Massacre

Ukraine 2022

Evacuation Trains

Ukraine 2022

Life on the Frontline Before the Full-Scale Invasion

Ukraine 2019 - 2021