Snapshots from an embattled Ukraine

This photo was taken on February 6, 2022, near Kyiv, less than two weeks before the Russians invaded. Even though Western countries didn't expect Russia to attack the Ukrainian capital, civilians were nevertheless already training with wooden makeshift weapons in case of emergency. Photographer Oksana Parafeniuk captured her countrymen's will to resist on celluloid.

On February 24, photographer Mykhaylo Palinchak was roused from sleep by the wailing of sirens in Kyiv, and shortly thereafter he heard an explosion nearby. "Since then we have been living in a new world," he says. His photos show hand grenades, destroyed houses, and how his countrymen stand by their homeland more than ever. This woman has the outline of Ukraine tattooed on her arm.

"War is the worst offshoot of humanity. No film, no book, no photo can convey this horror," says photographer Lisa Bukreieva. "When the Russians invaded, my sense of time changed. It's just a long-drawn-out horror." In this photo, she captured the time when the war began for her.

After the Russian army invaded Ukraine, Kyiv transformed into another city, says Alexander Chekmenev. Many people fled, and the 52-year-old also sent his family to safety abroad. He himself stayed in his home country, using his Pentax camera to document the lives of Kyiv citizens in wartime — including this Ukrainian woman fighting the invaders.

Air-raid shelters, first-aid centers and field kitchens sprang up all over the Ukrainian capital. There, Chekmenev photographed ordinary people who had never been in the spotlight: "I wanted to show their dignity. This country belongs to the people, and I want to show my respect to each of them," says the internationally renowned photographer.

In his series of photographs, Pavlo Dorohoi has captured life in wartime in his hometown of Kharkiv. Many people have holed themselves up in the metro station to escape the hail of bombs. People are trying to turn this place into a temporary home. "They have brought rugs, blankets and other things and staked out their personal spae," Dorohoi says.

Kyiv architect and photographer Nazar Furyk has photographed places devastated by Russian troops — including the town of Bucha, which became synonymous with many atrocities. How can one go on living in such a place, Furyk wonders. How do people deal with this experience, which is deeply etched in the collective memory of the Ukrainian population?

Photographer and video artist Mila Teshaieva has kept a diary since the start of the war. She has recorded everything: From the panicked flight in the initial days before the missiles to the crimes against humanity that have since been unearthed. Her online diaries also include photos, like this one.

Mila Teshaieva has reported a lot about the despair that the war has brought upon the people. But she also describes the Ukrainians' unity and their unbroken will to resist. In her hometown of Kyiv, people are trying to protect not only themselves, but also their monuments: a symbol of their national identity.

Vladyslav Krasnoshchok is actually a dentist, but has devoted himself to art for years. Now he drives through his devastated homeland and shoots pictures of burning cars, broken bridges and tanks. "I take pictures, I hear gunshots, I run back to the car. Adrenaline," he writes. He always develops his films immediately — who knows if there will be an opportunity to take more photos.

"Living with the fear of being hurt by people": That's what designer Sasha Kurmaz has called his series of pictures. Violence has been part of human history from the very beginning, he says. And he is not optimistic that this will soon change. However, he does not want to give up the individual fight for a better world.

Elena Subach titled this photo "Chairs." A chair and a few drinks in the city of Uzhgorod in western Ukraine symbolize safety for people fleeing from here across the border to foreign countries. "Almost every man took a photo of his wife and children before saying goodbye to them," Subach says. "I have never seen so much love and so much pain at the same time."