The guys didn't let us play war, they say we — girls — will spoil everything for them. None of them explained exactly how we could spoil the «war». However, we definitely believed that this was some very important game. My dad had to come and scold the guys for not taking us. Scowled, the guys reluctantly put sticks in our hands that were supposed to serve as weapons, — and in a moment they were looking for a way to throw us out of the game the fastest. Under his father's watchful eye, we were treated, of course, not badly, but as soon as he turned away or walked away in his business — us, so to speak, «were killed» with a fictional shot in the back, and we had to lie on the grass for the rest of the game. Wow, how many years did it take me to understand this exact metaphor of «civilized supervision».

End of July 2025. Ukrainians with children and dogs, wearing prostheses and wheel chairs gather in the streets and squares of major cities to protest. These are mostly young people, they hold cardboard posters with slogans and yellow-blue flags in their hands. For the first time since the start of the Great War, mass protests are being held in dozens of Ukrainian cities. Protesters demand that the president veto the law No. 12414, which eliminates the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP).

UAPP in partnership with Kyiv Independent continues its monthly column — a selection of key photographs that most accurately convey the events, mood and challenges of the next month of full-scale war.

From July 21 to 27, 2025, Russia continued a large-scale wave of terror against Ukraine, striking Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy Oblast and dozens of other settlements with drones, missiles and aerial bombs. Among the dead are — civilians, among the wounded are — children. In terms of scale and intensity, these attacks have become one of the most brutal in recent months.

On July 22 and 23, dozens of Ukrainian cities held protests against the draft law №12414 adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, which, according to experts and civil society, threatens the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP).

Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, and Kostyantynivka are cities that are part of the Kramatorsk-Kostyantynivka agglomeration. They are of strategic importance and form the basis of Ukraine's defense in Donetsk Oblast in the Russian-Ukrainian war. At the same time, the city of Kostiantynivka occupies one of the key positions in the Russian army's summer offensive. The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers analyzes the narratives and fakes spread by enemy propaganda in Kostiantynivka since the beginning of the war in 2014: from the “main base of pro-Russian militias” to the “gateway to the last agglomeration in Donbas not controlled by Russia.”