Dmytro Malyshev is a photographer and, since recently, a member of the UAPF who has been working in panoramic photography for more than 10 years. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Dmytro has been documenting the consequences of Russian crimes in VR. To date, he has taken more than 1,700 panoramic photographs in over 30 settlements.
“VR is a very useful service that can fully show destroyed sites and devastated settlements. It offers unique opportunities to depict a specific place. In my view, it’s the most emotionally powerful format—it can transport a person to that place, to that location, and allow them to feel everything that happened there,” Dmytro says.
The photographer notes that he doesn’t take just panoramic shots, but spherical ones:
“That is, this kind of shooting covers 360 degrees. What does it look like? Imagine a sphere with the viewer inside it, looking around and seeing the space all around. This way, a person can immerse themselves in a particular location—be in that destroyed, burned-out apartment. In effect, the person becomes the director, choosing the desired angle. They can examine everything around them. They can look down and see the remains of residents’ personal belongings. And then they can lift their head and see the broken floors hanging above them.”
Dmytro began working with panoramic photography in 2013 and with virtual tours in 2015, when Google Street View came to Ukraine. Google Street View is a panoramic street-view feature worldwide, available via Google Maps and Google Earth.
“Since 2016, together with the Ukrainian Google Street View office, we’ve shot many sites. We even filmed the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and much more. Around the same time, the Antonov State Enterprise reached out to me, and I filmed the Ukrainian aircraft ‘Mriya.’ It was a virtual tour—both outside and inside. The passenger areas, the pilots’ cockpit, and everything else were captured.”
OOf all the shoots Dmytro has done, documenting the destroyed “Mriya” in VR was the most emotional moment for him. In 2016, he was proud to have the opportunity to create the only virtual tour of the world’s largest cargo plane, built by Ukrainians. Even before the invasion, Dmytro had been in talks with the Antonov State Enterprise to update the virtual tour, since technical progress had been made over those years. New, better lenses and software appeared, making it possible to shoot the Ukrainian “Mriya” at an even higher quality. The photographer did get access to film in 2022—but with a different purpose.
“The shattered, burned, blown-up ‘Mriya’—the AN-225 aircraft. We had big plans with the Antonov State Enterprise for 2022, but I had to film what I call a dead ‘Mriya.’ Of course, when I arrived at this location, I’ll be honest, I had tears in my eyes. I stood there looking at it, and it was lying there like a person—simply dead. I was in complete shock that something like this could be allowed to happen, because the AN-225 is a heritage not only of Ukraine, but of the whole world. It’s the only aircraft like it! It was very emotional for me,” Dmytro admits.
The photographer actively creates panoramic shots and virtual tours for the 360war.in.ua project, authored by Taras Volianiuk. It is a map where you can see the consequences of Russian aggression in specific locations:
“This is history that needs to be recorded. It’s documentary work so people don’t forget. That’s the idea of the project,” Dmytro says.
The team mainly films civilian infrastructure destroyed or damaged by Russians: schools, kindergartens, and multi-apartment residential buildings. For security reasons, Dmytro never covers anything related to military sites that could threaten national security.
Unfortunately, war continues. Russians shell Ukrainians every day, and so the number of places that need to be digitally documented keeps growing. Dmytro says feedback from people gives him the strength to keep working in this direction.
“We’ve had cases when people commented on the places we filmed. For example, when we published images from the village of Dovhenske in Kharkiv region, people started writing: ‘This is my grandmother’s house,’ ‘My husband was killed not far from this house.’ Someone wrote: ‘We held the defense there.’ And once a teacher from a destroyed school wrote: ‘We cooked food for the military in that school until the very end,’” he says.
When asked what Dmytro dreams of filming in VR, he answered: Mariupol and Crimea:
“When Google Street View came to Ukraine in 2015, the Russians had already annexed Crimea. And there are so many incredible tourist, historical, and cultural places there. That’s a simple dream.”
Dmytro Malyshev is a professional photographer specializing in panoramic photography and the creation of VR 360 projects. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Dmytro has been documenting the consequences of Russian crimes in VR.
In 2015–2021, more than 17,000 panoramic photos and 500 kilometers of roads were shot in Ukraine and added to Google services. This includes virtual tours of such sites as the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the AN-225 MRIYA aircraft, and roads and facilities reconstructed by Ukravtodor under the President of Ukraine’s “Great Construction” program.
2016–2018: implementation of projects with the German tour operator TUI, including photo shoots of more than 120 five-star resorts in Turkey; cooperation with the Central Television and Radio Studio of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine as part of aerial filming for the “Technology of War” TV program on Channel 24; panoramic shoots and the creation of virtual tours for many commercial entities (Gulliver Business Center and Globus Business Center, the Citrus and Rozetka retail chains, residential complexes, restaurants, and hotels across Ukraine).
2018–2020: filming cultural and historical sites for regional administrations and communities in Ukraine; digitization of natural and infrastructure sites with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Infrastructure, and the State Agency for Tourism Development (DART); panoramic photography and end-to-end cultural and historical projects in Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
2019–2023: creation of the Virtual Ukraine project and active work within the project to photograph and digitize sites across Ukraine. Comprehensive projects presenting cultural-historical, natural, industrial, and infrastructure sites have been created. In total: 9 regions, 37 districts, 65 communities, 478 sites.
With the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine: filming the results of the aggressor’s actions. More than 1,500 panoramic photos of destroyed buildings, universities, schools, museums, etc. have been shot.
Has in his portfolio a unique, complete virtual tour of the destroyed AN-225 MRIYA aircraft.
Prepared by:
Researcher, text author: Vira Labych
Literary editor: Yuliia Futei
