Marinka, once a cozy town of 10,000 near Donetsk, since 2014 together with neighboring Krasnohorivka turned into a powerful defensive line. The story of heroic resistance in the Marinka sector is above all an epic of the superhuman resilience of Ukrainian soldiers who fought for every fragment of wall. It is also a memory of eight years of life for local residents on the line of separation, which after February 24, 2022, became a hell of total war. The enemy applied a scorched‑earth tactic in this direction — just as in Bakhmut — erasing the city from the face of the earth block by block. Ukrainian defenders withdrew from Marinka in December 2023, when only ruins remained of the city. Photojournalist Anatolii Stepanov, who has been documenting this war since 2014, told about the shelling of Marinka and the heroes who held this stronghold.

The exposure time needed to create an ambrotype lasts on average seven seconds. In the reality of war, this span can turn into a fragile pause between explosions, into the moment of death for many people, or into the instant when light falls onto the glass plate and preserves the image of a soldier. During this time, the fighter remains alone with himself, and his seven seconds of life are forever captured on glass.

As a result of the May 24 attack in Kyiv, unprecedented destruction of cultural sites has been recorded since the beginning of the Russian‑Ukrainian war. The Russians are deliberately destroying educational institutions — the buildings of the Kyiv‑Mohyla Academy were damaged, a drone strike completely burned down a school in Chernihiv region, and a school in Derhachi was damaged. The enemy continues airstrikes on Kramatorsk, terrorizes Odesa both day and night, and attacks foreign civilian vessels in the ports. In Kherson, a Russian shell exploded on a playground, killing the father of a family; doctors are fighting for the lives of the mother and their three‑year‑old daughter, while the six‑year‑old daughter is in moderate condition.

Every year on May 18, Ukraine bows its head in memory of the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people — a crime that has no statute of limitations. In 1944, the Soviet system deported more than 200,000 Crimean Tatars, taking thousands of innocent lives and crippling the fate of an entire people. This terrible crime against humanity has been recognized in Ukraine at the legislative level as genocide.

May 29 is the official day of the creation of the special‑purpose battalion “Donbas.” It was at this time in 2014 that the unit officially became part of the National Guard of Ukraine. This is one of the first and most well‑known volunteer formations in Ukraine. The battalion went through the hottest spots in eastern Ukraine, and its fighters took part in the liberation of Donetsk region and in fierce battles near Ilovaisk.