Ukraine: Haunting Scenes from a Country Under Attack
November 2022
In November 2022, as winter tightened its grip on Ukraine, the country faced not only the ongoing violence of Russia’s invasion but also the brutal cold. Repeated strikes on energy infrastructure had left large parts of the country without electricity, heat, or reliable water.
I travelled there initially to document the work of Global Outreach Doctors, an organisation providing medical support in the Donetsk region. In cities like Kramatorsk, I photographed their teams treating injured civilians and transporting patients to hospitals farther from the frontline.
But I also spent long hours walking through Kyiv itself, where the war and the cold had driven most people indoors. Streets that would normally be full of life were eerily quiet.
The city often seemed suspended in time. Snow covered empty avenues and abandoned playgrounds, traffic lights blinked over nearly deserted roads, and apartment blocks stood dark during the frequent power cuts. Occasionally someone would pass by — a person walking a dog, a couple hurrying home — small signs of life continuing despite everything.
There are rarely many people in the photographs, but that absence is part of the story. The stillness felt haunting, yet strangely beautiful — a city enduring war while everyday life carried on quietly in the background.
A thick fog descends over St. Andrew’s Church in Kyiv.
A small coffee shop opposite St. Andrew’s Church in Kyiv.
Snow turns to ice along the paths in a park in Kyiv.
Birds fly over St. Andrew’s Church in Kyiv on a cold, foggy day, heralding the onset of winter.
A dense fog surrounds the striking St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv.
An elderly woman cleans wax from candle holders inside St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv.
The Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv
International medical volunteers help transport an injured civilian from a clinic on the frontline to a hospital in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.
Fog surrounded St. Michael’s Golden-domed Monastery in Kyiv.
Icy streets in Kyiv
Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Mykytenko works on a sculpture at his studio in Kyiv.
Artwork by Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Mykytenko called Palyanytsya, which is a type of Ukrainian hearth-baked bread made mostly of wheat flour in a home oven.
Artwork by Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Mykytenko of a child inside the shell of a 122mm rocket shell illuminated by red light. The piece, entitled ‘EVIL’, is a reflection of Oleksandr’s pain regarding the children killed during the war with Russia. On his instagram account Oleksadr writes that the child symbolizes a lost life, the life of hundreds of children who will never live it again.
“When I saw this fragment of a shell, I immediately saw the finished work, no sketches or time to think were needed, I just started doing it right away,” writes Oleksandr. “Emotionally, it was difficult to work on her because all these bad thoughts circled in a circle day after day, as if it was hell from the inside. Therefore, I am glad that I completed it in a fairly short period of time.”