Ukrainian documentary photography has been recording the country's struggle for freedom and self-determination for several decades. It is a synergy of art, reflecting sharp social changes and the events of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Prior to 2022, domestic documentarians mainly represented Ukraine on international platforms through social projects. Today, however, behind every international recognition lies the highest price — daily work at the epicenter of human pain and tragedy.
For instance, Oleksandr Chekmenev became famous outside Ukraine thanks to his social documentary series "Passport" and "Donbass," which he created between the 1990s and 2010s. In 2017, Serhiy Melnychenko became the first Ukrainian to win the Leica Oskar Barnack Award for his series "Behind the Scenes," revealing the hidden life of Chinese club dancers. Maksym Dondyuk won at Visa pour l’Image by capturing turning points of the Revolution of Dignity, while Sasha Maslov in 2020 secured third place at the Sony World Photography Awards with a project on Ukrainian train conductors.
With the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukrainian photographers have been documenting the war in Ukraine: capturing the daily lives of soldiers on the front lines, civilians living under bombardment, stories of evacuation from frontline areas, and Russian war crimes in liberated cities, shaping the world's collective memory. Some photographers left behind structured lives and jobs abroad to return and work in Ukraine. One of them is Roman Pilypey, former head of the EPA bureau in China and recipient of the POY Asia 2022 Photographer of the Year title. He returned home from Beijing to cover the full-scale war for AFP, TIME, NYT, and other global media outlets.
In the first years of the full-scale invasion, the works of Ukrainian authors earned high acclaim from the global community. Evgeniy Maloletka's photograph of an injured pregnant woman outside a bombed maternity hospital in Mariupol won World Press Photo of the Year in 2023. In 2024, Yulia Kochetova received the Global World Press Photo Award for her project "War is Personal," which combined documentary work with a personal diary. Yulia sought to show the nation's tragedy through the lens of one individual's fate, and this approach resonated deeply with international audiences.
"I want Ukrainian photography of this war to be remembered as a first-person story. Not drone footage. Not a wide shot of graves and bombed-out streets. In a wide shot, it’s easy to lose the human being. Just tell one personal story honestly", — explained Yulia.
Amid growing international news fatigue regarding Ukraine, foreign platforms, festivals, and prestigious publications remain the megaphone that prevents the world from forgetting that the war in Ukraine continues. At the same time, for competition organizers, it is a way to recognize the courage and professionalism of documentary photographers working under extraordinary conditions.
In 2024, Serhiy Korovayny took second place in the Storyboard category with his series "Ground Zero Of Ukrainian War" at the Italian photo contest Siena Awards, shot in Avdiivka, Vuhledar, and Marinka. That same year, Iva Sidash won the main category of the prestigious Ian Parry Photojournalism Grant in the UK with her project "Seeing the Unseen," highlighting the lives of civilians near the Russian border and the difficult experience of families returning to their destroyed homes.
At the prestigious French award for war correspondents, the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award 2024, married photographers Kostyantyn and Vlada Liberov won second place in the "Photo" category and earned the "Public Choice Award" for their series "War in Ukraine. Pain, Despair and Hope." Meanwhile, Olena Hrom in 2025 became Photographer of the Year with a picture from her project "Stolen Spring" and won a series of prestigious international photography competitions.
The Liberovs view international recognition merely as a tool to keep the world from forgetting about events in Ukraine.
"We never made winning competitions a goal in our work, and in fact we rarely apply, but when it happens and is accompanied by recognition, for us it only means that Ukraine is being talked about today, nothing more and nothing less. And that has always been the goal of our work — to prevent communities in Ukraine and abroad from forgetting that Ukraine is at war", — emphasize Kostyantyn and Vlada.
As the war progressed, visual documentation deepened, and Ukrainian artists sought new forms of reflection. Ukrainian documentary work found a powerful continuation in cinema as well, where war documentary films by director Mstyslav Chernov gathered a constellation of the most prestigious global awards, demonstrating two different approaches to recording the war. The documentary "20 Days in Mariupol," filmed together with Evgeniy Maloletka and Vasilisa Stepanenko, became the first Oscar-winning chronicle of civilian tragedy in a besieged city in Ukraine's history.
The second film — "2000 Meters to Andriivka," created together with Oleksandr Babenko, takes the viewer directly to the front line using body-cam footage from fighters of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. The film won the News & Documentary Emmy Awards 2026 for Best Direction and was nominated for an Oscar. "2000 Meters to Andriivka" will forever enter world cinema history as one of the fifteen most powerful films of 2025.
We covered the international achievements of Serhiy Melnychenko, Evgeniy Maloletka, Kostyantyn and Vlada Liberov, Roman Pilypey, Mstyslav Chernov, and the team behind the film "2000 Meters to Andriivka" in 2026, as well as reflections from individual authors on the role of war documentary work on the global stage, in our article "Ukrainian Photographers — Winners of the World's Most Prestigious Competitions".
Among other forms of international recognition for Ukrainian creators is their presence in year-end rankings of global media and participation in international exhibitions. In particular, through the initiative of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers (UAPP) and in collaboration with partners, works by over 25 documentarians were presented at exhibitions in more than 20 countries worldwide.
The importance of international recognition and the mission of a documentary photographer continuing to work in Ukraine was formulated through her personal calling by Yulia Kochetova:
"No award wins a war. But I have been given a clear feeling that I am one of those holding our flag. I will do this as long as I can. Honor to the fallen, glory to the living heroes. Thank you to those who protected me and continue to defend my right to live".
Credits:
Researcher, text author: Yana Yevmenova
Photo editor: Marusya Maruzhenko
Literary editor: Yulia Futey
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