The battles for Debaltseve became one of the key events in the confrontation in Donbas. The most intense phase of the battle lasted from 25 January to 18 February 2015 and included massive artillery attacks, close-range small-arms firefights, as well as street fighting and tank battles. According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, about 5,000 service members defended Debaltseve, facing an enemy force four times larger. The fighting for the city and the operation to withdraw Ukrainian troops became among the most tragic and large-scale events of the entire ATO/JFO period.
The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers publishes photographs by photojournalist Oleksandr Klymenko, who documented the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Debaltseve after heavy fighting.
Occupation, liberation, occupation: Debaltseve
On 29 July 2014, the Defense Forces liberated Debaltseve from illegal armed formations that had controlled the city since April. However, seven months later Ukrainian troops were forced to leave. Russian mercenaries shelled residential neighborhoods with Grad multiple rocket launchers and tanks. With the support of regular Russian army units, the militants managed to encircle the city from three sides.
Withdrawal of troops
At that time, talks of the “Normandy Four” were underway in Minsk. The Russians promised a complete ceasefire—but only on paper. Debaltseve continued to suffer from intense shelling. Militants, supported by units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, sought at any cost to encircle and rout our troops. After a conditional truce was declared, pro-Russian mercenaries moved forces to Debaltseve from other directions. As a result, shelling of Ukrainian positions intensified even more.
There were almost no additional reserves to support the ATO forces in Debaltseve. Therefore, on the night of 17 to 18 February 2015, Ukrainian troops began withdrawing from Debaltseve. For more than a day, they moved in small columns along different routes—alongside damaged equipment and wounded personnel—under shelling. Some went on foot. Because of the frost, it was planned to leave not only via highways but also along field roads.
Significance
According to the assessment of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, by holding the Debaltseve bridgehead until 18 February, Ukrainian troops disrupted the militants’ plans for a large-scale offensive on Artemivsk (Bakhmut), Kramatorsk, and further movement toward Kharkiv. Ukrainian forces had never carried out such a large-scale withdrawal before. In the battles on the Debaltseve bridgehead, the whole world saw the professionalism and valor of Ukrainian soldiers. Ukrainian forces took up positions near Artemivsk—today’s Bakhmut. Debaltseve remains under Russian occupation to this day.
“Very bitter emotions”
Oleksandr Klymenko is a photojournalist who began photographing major events in Ukraine even before independence. He has also repeatedly covered armed conflicts in various countries around the world. But in 2014 he had to put on body armor and go to war with a camera in his own country. He managed to capture the movement of columns of Ukrainian military vehicles during the withdrawal from Debaltseve.
They’re coming, coming, coming, coming. All kinds of tanks, self-propelled artillery, just cargo trucks. IFVs, APCs. They’re all packed with our soldiers. The troops look so exhausted. Those who came out of hell, — the photographer says.
Oleksandr’s photographs preserve not only the tired eyes of the soldiers, but also those wounded and killed because of the battles for Debaltseve.
I welcomed the New Year of 2015 together with the Right Sector in Pisky. I clearly remember the feeling that in 2015 the war would definitely end. It seemed that victory was just around the corner. But you see… Then came the withdrawal from Debaltseve on 18 February 2015. At that moment I was in Bakhmut and in the morning I saw tanks and other military vehicles driving through the city, with exhausted men sitting on them. I filmed it. Then I went to the hospital. They were bringing in the wounded. I asked one National Guardsman: where are the dead? “Where would they be? In the morgue.” So I went there. Outside lay wooden coffins made of rough, unfinished boards. Inside them were soldiers. Through the cracks you could see their hands and feet. Besides the coffins, there were also black plastic bags with bodies. It was a horrifying picture and very bitter emotions, — Oleksandr Klymenko recalls.
18 February is observed as the day of remembrance for the battles for Debaltseve; on this day, those killed during the Debaltseve operation are honored. According to the Ministry of Defense, during combat operations in the Debaltseve area from 15 January to 18 February, 110 service members were killed, 270 were wounded, 7 were taken prisoner, and 18 went missing. Over the entire period of defending the Debaltseve salient, 136 Ukrainian service members were killed and 331 were wounded.
This material was produced with the support of The Fritt Ord Foundation.
Oleksandr Klymenko was born in the Chernihiv region. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. From 1991 to 2024, he was a staff photojournalist for the newspaper “Holos Ukrainy.” In 1992, he documented events in Transnistria, later in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, as well as in Lebanon, Kuwait, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During the Revolution of Dignity, while in the very epicenter of events, Oleksandr was wounded. Since the start of Russia’s military aggression in 2014 in the East, he has been photographing events at the front. Oleksandr is the author of several photo albums, including: “Ukraine: 10 Years of Progress” (2001), “Peacekeeping Activity of the Ukrainian Army: The First Decade” (2004), “Through Fire and Tears” (2009), and “Frontline Album” (2016). He also co-authored “Modern History of Ukrainian Journalism: From Maidan to Maidan” with Yurii Nesteriak and Yuliia Nesteriak (2022). He has held solo photo exhibitions at the UN Headquarters in New York (2012), at NATO Headquarters in Brussels (2012, 2013, 2014), in Lithuania (2015), Poland (2015, 2016, 2023), Luxembourg (2015), Norway (2023), and Latvia (2022), and participated in collective exhibitions about the war in Ukraine in the parliaments of the United Kingdom (2015) and Denmark (2014).
Contributors:
Researcher, text author: Vira Labych
Literary editor: Yuliia Futei
Photo editor: Viacheslav Ratynskyi
