The Collection of War Photos
Defenders of freedom
Fellow soldiers help a wounded Ukrainian defender at a first-aid post in the city of Bakhmut, the Donetsk region. November 22, 2022.
Paramedics provide medical care to a wounded Ukrainian soldier at a first-aid post in Bakhmut, the Donetsk region. November 22, 2022.
Serhii Nuzhnenko tells the story of this photo: “After this photo, dozens of people wrote to me, some of them recognized their father, brother, husband, all looking for hope that their loved one is alive. The wounded man in the photo was stabilized and transferred to a hospital.”
A Ukrainian defender rests after repelling an attack by Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones, used by Russia to target the center of Kyiv. October 17, 2022.
The Ukrainian forces use 155 mm M777 howitzers, provided by Western partner states, in the course of hostilities. They are essential for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to successfully repel Russian attacks. November 23, 2022, the Donetsk region.
A Ukrainian soldier wipes his feet on the Russian flag near Izium, which was liberated the day before during a counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces in the Kharkiv region. September 14, 2022.
A Ukrainian soldier walks past a captured Russian tank as a result of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region. September 14, 2022.
Denys, a Ukrainian defender from the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade “Edelveis”, hides from the Russian shelling in a trench at the Ukrainian positions near the village of Yakovlivka, the Donetsk region. August 29, 2022.
Serhii Nuzhnenko tells the story of this photo: “In civilian life, Denys is an archaeologist and teacher from Mykolaiv. While we had time, sitting in a pit-grave on the front line, we talked about things that seemed unimportant during the war: history, and ancient times. Denys told us how he was conducting excavations in the south and teaching young people to preserve cultural heritage. We laughed together at the fact that he is now an “archaeologist” in Donbas. You can’t do it without dark humor, and sometimes journalists are the only civilians that soldiers can talk to.”
A Ukrainian tank fires at the positions of Russian troops near Soledar, the Donetsk region. August 12, 2022.
A Ukrainian tank fires at the positions of Russian troops near Soledar, the Donetsk region. August 12, 2022.
Military chaplains Maksym and Oleksandr consecrate paskas (Easter bread) at the positions of the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade “Kholodnyi Yar”. Velyka Komyshuvakha, the Kharkiv region. April 24, 2022.
A Ukrainian tank driver, Yurii, looks out of the hatch of his tank in the settlement of Novoluhanske, the Donetsk region. June 11, 2022.
A Ukrainian soldier Bohdan, wounded in the battles for Sievierodonetsk, is evacuated from the area of combat operations. June 2, 2022, the Luhansk region.
Serhii Nuzhnenko tells the story of this photo: “Heavy fighting for Sievierodonetsk, we enter the city with the Foreign Legion in early June. There is a battle going on nearby, a shell lands and there are wounded, and we leave the city together with them. Later, doctors would say that some of the wounded died, pointing to the man in this photo.
I did not publish the photo with his face. However, I wrote on social media about the price of our independence on Ukraine’s Independence Day, and posted part of the photo, telling his story. A few days later, a man named Bohdan wrote to me and said that it was him in the photo and he was alive”.
A Ukrainian soldier Bohdan, wounded in the battles for Sievierodonetsk, is evacuated from the area of combat operations. June 2, 2022, the Luhansk region.
Serhii Nuzhnenko tells a story of this photo: “Heavy fighting for Sievierodonetsk, we enter the city with the Foreign Legion in early June. There is a battle going on nearby, a shell lands and there are wounded, and we leave the city together with them. Later, doctors would say that some of the wounded died, pointing to the man in this photo.
I did not publish the photo with his face. However, I wrote on social media about the price of our independence on Ukraine’s Independence Day, and posted part of the photo, telling his story. A few days later, a man named Bohdan wrote to me and said that it was him in the photo and he was alive”.
A Ukrainian defender rests after a fierce battle with Russian forces near Izium in the Kharkiv region. May 2, 2022.
Soldiers of the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine enter a newly liberated settlement in the Chernihiv region. April 2, 2022.
Soldiers of the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the liberation of the Chernihiv region from Russian occupation. April 2, 2022.
A Ukrainian soldier burying the remains of a Russian serviceman to prevent them from being dragged by dogs. The village of Lukianivka, the Kyiv region, was liberated by Ukrainian forces the day before. March 28, 2022.
A serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stands on the Hostomel bridge in the Kyiv region. Behind him is a column of Russian military equipment destroyed in the first days of the invasion. March 1, 2022.
A military serviceman stands next to a Mi-8 combat helicopter before taking off on a mission in the Dnipropetrovsk region. June 2023.
Servicemen of the 35th Marine Brigade train in a forest near the front line in the Donetsk region. August 2022.