The Collection of War Photos
Elena Tita got interested in photography in 2019, leaning more toward portraits, artistic black-and-white photography, and street photography.
Since February 24, 2022, Tita started working in documentary photography, capturing the everyday life of the Ukrainian frontline city of Zaporizhzhia, her hometown. She volunteered at the refugee hub as a social worker and worked as a photographer on many topics: internally displaced persons, humanitarian aid, volunteer movement, training of military and tactical training of civilians, destruction caused by Russian troops, etc.
“Just like in pre-war times, the focus of my attention and camera is still on people: how they react to the war, what they do, how they cope with new living conditions,” Elena Tita shares.
Vladyslav, 22, is undergoing rehabilitation in a hospital in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, after Russian captivity. July 7, 2022
Since the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion, Vladyslav had been in the city of Mariupol. While moving between Ukrainian positions, he was injured by mines. He underwent surgery in a bunker in one of the city’s hospitals. Later, in Russian captivity, Vladyslav was transferred to hospitals several times but did not receive proper postoperative care.
Before the full-scale war, Vladyslav weighed 70 kg. On June 29, 2022, he was released from captivity, and the man weighed 50 kg due to his injuries and poor or no nutrition.
Two Ukrainian soldiers, Viacheslav Levytskyi and Serhii Potremai, in the rehabilitation hospital. May 23, 2023.
Viacheslav and Serhii met in Russian captivity in March 2023. Viacheslav was barely alive at the time of his capture: he was shot in the legs and abdomen, and, in seven days and nights of moving from trench to trench in the hope of being rescued by his fellow soldiers, he froze his hands off. Viacheslav underwent amputation of all his limbs in Chechen captivity: his arms and legs were already affected by gangrene and could not be saved. It was here that he met Serhii, who became his arms and legs in the hospital and then in Chechen basements, waiting for the exchange.
On June 11, 2023, Vyacheslav and Serhii were among 95 Ukrainian soldiers released from captivity and finally got to a hospital with the necessary conditions for treatment and rehabilitation.