DONESTK, UKRAINE - 06 AUGUST 2014
A group of figthers from the Kiev territorial batallion, a pro-Ukrainian paramilitary volunteer battallion, stand guard at a checkpoint on August 06, 2014 in the village of Debalsebe, near the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk. Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence from Kiev and proclaimed their own people’s republics after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March. More than 2,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since mid-April, when Ukraine’s government sent troops to put down the rebel uprising. Ukraine accuses Russia of arming the rebels and sending Russian soldiers into eastern Ukraine - a claim denied by the Kremlin.
SHAKHTARSK, UKRAINE - OCTOBER 2014
A group of soldiers from the DPR smoke during a change of guard in the village of Shakhtarsk. Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence from Kiev and proclaimed their own people’s republics after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March. More than 2,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since mid-April, when Ukraine’s government sent troops to put down the rebel uprising. Ukraine accuses Russia of arming the rebels and sending Russian soldiers into eastern Ukraine - a claim denied by the Kremlin.
DONESTK, UKRAINE - OCTOBER 2014
A group of soldiers from the DPR within the command post in the district of Petrovsky. Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence from Kiev and proclaimed their own people’s republics after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March. More than 2,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since mid-April, when Ukraine’s government sent troops to put down the rebel uprising. Ukraine accuses Russia of arming the rebels and sending Russian soldiers into eastern Ukraine - a claim denied by the Kremlin.
DONESTK, UKRAINE - OCTOBER 2014
A group of soldiers from the DPR lunch in the canteen of the military base in the district of Petrovsky. Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence from Kiev and proclaimed their own people’s republics after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March. More than 2,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since mid-April, when Ukraine’s government sent troops to put down the rebel uprising. Ukraine accuses Russia of arming the rebels and sending Russian soldiers into eastern Ukraine - a claim denied by the Kremlin.
SHAKHTARSK, UKRAINE - OCTOBER 2014
A soldier from the DPR gets ready in his room inside the village of Shakhtarsk. Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence from Kiev and proclaimed their own people’s republics after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March. More than 2,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since mid-April, when Ukraine’s government sent troops to put down the rebel uprising. Ukraine accuses Russia of arming the rebels and sending Russian soldiers into eastern Ukraine - a claim denied by the Kremlin.
DONESTK, UKRAINE - OCTOBER 2014
A group of figthers from the Motorola Batallon that fight inside the Donestk airport during a rest. Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence from Kiev and proclaimed their own people’s republics after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March. More than 2,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since mid-April, when Ukraine’s government sent troops to put down the rebel uprising. Ukraine accuses Russia of arming the rebels and sending Russian soldiers into eastern Ukraine - a claim denied by the Kremlin.
DONESTK, UKRAINE - FEBRUARY 2015
The destroyed remains of the Ukrainian army lie scattered across the front of combat from the strategic town of Debaltsebe. The Ukrainian troops suffered their heaviest defeat in this strategic place after signing the agreement the fire of Minsk. The numbers of dead in the Ukrainian side are a mystery.
DONESTK, UKRAINE - FEBRUARY 2015
One of the few civilians who remained in Nikishino during the fighting inside their refuge. The few civilians who remained in Nikishino during the fighting lived in shelters underground. Nikisino has been one of the major front lines in the war in the East of Ukraine. After the fall of the strategic town of Debaltseve in separatist hands, Ukrainian troops also left this strategic line of the front leaving the community fully mined and converted into ashes. The remains of the Nikishino community attest to the drastic consequences of the war on the civilian population in the East of Ukraine. ( Photo by Alvaro Ybarra Zavala / Getty Images Reportage )
DONESTK, UKRAINE - FEBRUARY 2015
One of the few civilians who remaiined in Nikishino during the fighting inside their refuge. The few civilians who remained in Nikishino during the fighting lived in shelters underground. Nikisino has been one of the major front lines in the war in the East of Ukraine. After the fall of the strategic town of Debaltseve in separatist hands, Ukrainian troops also left this strategic line of the front leaving the community fully mined and converted into ashes. The remains of the Nikishino community attest to the drastic consequences of the war on the civilian population in the East of Ukraine. ( Photo by Alvaro Ybarra Zavala / Getty Images Reportage )
DONESTK, UKRAINE - FEBRUARY 2015
The remains of a motorcycle rest on the main street of what once was the community of Nikishino.
Nikisino has been one of the major front lines in the war in the East of Ukraine. After the fall of the strategic town of Debaltseve in separatist hands, Ukrainian troops also left this strategic line of the front leaving the community fully mined and converted into ashes. The remains of the Nikishino community attest to the drastic consequences of the war on the civilian population in the East of Ukraine.
DONETSK, UKRAINE - 14 JULY 2014
Civilians victims of the bombing of the Ukraine Army in the comunities of Maryanka and Krasnogorovka, south western regions of Donestk and suburbs, during the last 48 hours. Pictures made inside the Donestk morgue.
DONESTK, UKRAINE - FEBRUARY 2015
Alexander goes every morning to the hospital for treatment. He lost his left arm because of Ukrainian artillery. The city of Donetsk is daily target of Ukrainian artillery. Since the beginning of the war, the airport peripheral neighborhoods have been victims of the bombing. Today the area is totally destroyed.
DONESTK, UKRAINE - FEBRUARY 2015
Two women inside a public hospital in Donetsk. Hospitals in Donetsk survive on the basics. Because of the war all hospitals in the territory controlled by the rebels are without supplies. The city of Donetsk is daily target of Ukrainian artillery. Since the beginning of the war, the airport peripheral neighborhoods have been victims of the bombing. Today the area is totally destroyed.
DONESTK, UKRAINE - OCTOBER 2014
The remains of a piano inside the primary school in a small village near the the Savur Mohyla memorial. Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence from Kiev and proclaimed their own people’s republics after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March. More than 2,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since mid-April, when Ukraine’s government sent troops to put down the rebel uprising. Ukraine accuses Russia of arming the rebels and sending Russian soldiers into eastern Ukraine - a claim denied by the Kremlin.
SLAVYANSK, UKRAINE - 11 JULY 2014
A group of locals drives past a destroyed house on July 11, 2014 in the village of Semyonovka, near the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk. Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence from Kiev and proclaimed their own people’s republics after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March. More than 2,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since mid-April, when Ukraine’s government sent troops to put down the rebel uprising. Ukraine accuses Russia of arming the rebels and sending Russian soldiers into eastern Ukraine - a claim denied by the Kremlin.
DONESTK, UKRAINE - OCTOBER 2014
A group of civilians wait their turn in a line to get food from a DPR humaniatian program. The DPR government helps with various humanitarian programs to support civilians. Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence from Kiev and proclaimed their own people’s republics after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March. More than 2,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since mid-April, when Ukraine’s government sent troops to put down the rebel uprising. Ukraine accuses Russia of arming the rebels and sending Russian soldiers into eastern Ukraine - a claim denied by the Kremlin. (Photo by Alvaro Ybarra Zavala/Reportage by Getty Images)
DONESTK, UKRAINE - OCTOBER 2014
A group of civilians inside a shelter from the Soviet era at the Petrovsky district. Civilians shelter from the Ukrainian artillery in places like this all over Donestk. Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence from Kiev and proclaimed their own people’s republics after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March. More than 2,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since mid-April, when Ukraine’s government sent troops to put down the rebel uprising. Ukraine accuses Russia of arming the rebels and sending Russian soldiers into eastern Ukraine - a claim denied by the Kremlin. (Photo by Alvaro Ybarra Zavala/Reportage by Getty Images)
DONESTK, UKRAINE - FEBRUARY 2015
A field of sunflowers without harvest abandoned because of mines. Both the Ukrainian army as the separatist rebels have been undermining the surroundings of their military positions to avoid a raid enemy. This field is located in the vicinity of the line of the front of the Nikishino community. Nikisino has been one of the major front lines in the war in the East of Ukraine. After the fall of the strategic town of Debaltseve in separatist hands, Ukrainian troops also left this strategic line of the front leaving the community fully mined and converted into ashes. The ghostly image of the fields in the East of Ukraine are a faithful reflection of the uncertainties posed by the future of the region because of the war.
Alisa’s Diary: A personal insight into a war in Eastern Ukraine – Ongoing Project –
My name is Alisa, and I am from Donetsk.
This is one of the first phrases in English I learned when I was in primary school. All my life there was nothing special in introducing myself and my native city. It was yet another place in Eastern Europe, and many people in the West didn’t even know about its existence.
When I introduce myself now, it’s always a little sensation in the US where I currently live. People get surprised, people ask questions, usually the same ones (What is the situation like now? Well, pretty bad, even though it’s not on the news anymore. Is your family still there? Yep, all my family, ahha). Then it becomes a bit awkward, and we switch to the other topic. It’s unsettling to realize that one of the guests at the party is from a war zone. War is somewhere there, in the news, in the parallel universe, and we are here.
That’s ok, it was the same for me too until I was 26, and the war suddenly happened to me. At the moment I was just a normal middle-class young specialist. I worked in the paper, I used to go to a bar with my friends on Fridays, I had my favorite yoga studio. Then… You won’t believe how quickly your life turns upside down. First you drive back from a weekend trip and run into a convoy of tanks. Then a first bombing happens, and you panic, try to get out of your neighborhood and end up in the middle of the combat with rifles pointed at you. Then you find yourself lying on the ground under shelling and thinking about what’s your body going to look like if you are hit, because you’ve already seen pictures of those corpses blown inside-out by artillery shrapnel.
And then you get used. Now, two years into the conflict, we all know which neighborhoods are unsafe and simply don’t go there. When the shelling is too close and loud, we watch movies in the headphones and make volume a bit higher. We still go to yoga studios and bars – the only thing is that you have to be home before the curfew. Despite all its brutality, physical violence is something human psychic can digest.
Some other things are harder to deal with. When you cannot access you own house because a man with a gun doesn’t let you through, you don’t feel scared: you feel angry. As well as when you finally get home and find the place looted and turned upside down. When on the both sides of the frontline they constantly demand you to claim if you are “with us or with them”, you find it hard to explain that it’s all about propaganda, and people on the both sides are ultimately the same. As well as when Americans complain about sexual harassment and safe spaces, it’s hard to explain that you live in a reality where these categories are irrelevant because yesterday a car bomb has exploded under your parents’ windows, and this is what you worry about.
In a nutshell, these are the experiences and moral dilemmas I would like to share. Luckily, since the very beginning of the conflict I’ve been working with Alvaro who provided me with an insight into global war journalism while I shared with him knowledge of my region. I believe for him this conflict also became personal. Now we want to come back and take a trip along the frontline to share an experience of this weird frozen conflict through the prism of my vision as a local inhabitant with global experience. It won’t be a story about me. These will be the stories of people who live in the frontline towns, who fight, who experience loss and resilience, told by someone who knows both their reality and perspective of the Western readers. We believe this project is important because, while being currently underreported, the conflict in Eastern Ukraine can provide many important insights into both political tension between Russia and the West and, even more importantly, human experiences of war.
