During the week of May 19-25, 2025, Ukraine suffered one of the largest waves of attacks from Russia. Missile and drone strikes hit dozens of cities, causing numerous casualties, injuries, and destruction of civilian infrastructure. Kyiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, and Khmelnytskyi were the most affected. The attack on the capital on the eve of Kyiv Day was particularly cynical.

On May 20, 2022, the withdrawal of Ukrainian defenders from Azovstal was completed, a symbol of invulnerability that held the defense in Mariupol surrounded by Russian troops for 86 days. Families of the defenders of “Azovstal” are still waiting for the return of their loved ones from Russian captivity. Today, the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers publishes footage of the photographer, at that time a soldier of the Azov regiment Dmitry (Orest) Kozatsky, taken on the territory of the plant during the defense, as well as a conversation with him — about photography, war, captivity and the right to pause.

Another metaphor I would like to avoid, but it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Ukrainian photographer Elizaveta Bukreeva told why she does not expect anything from photography, but continues to film the war close up, and why she chooses such complex emotional topics, although she considers herself too sensitive for this profession.

Ukrainian photographer Stanislav Ostrous spoke about shooting in the coastal areas of Kherson, which are attacked by drones every day, about the only resident of Portova Street, and about feeling at home in a city where fewer and fewer people remain.

During the year Nikolaev photographer Sergey Melnichenko worked on a large-scale documentary project “Under the Dnieper”, implemented with the support of the German Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung Foundation. Traveling through cities along the Dnieper — from Kherson to Kiev — he gathered more than 50 testimonies of Ukrainians who experienced various experiences during the full-scale Russian invasion: from victims of sexual violence in the occupation, people who live daily under shelling, volunteers and rescuers soldiers, to soldiers who returned from captivity. The project combines a photobook, a documentary film and a photo project, creating an in-depth chronicle of the country's life during the war.