Ukraine

Ukraine

We have been dealing with the history and present of Ukraine for years. Not only the revolutions and the war that has been going on since 2014 have shown that the country in the heart of Europe is exposed to significant internal and external conflicts.

Ukraine

Living with war

Photo report from Kyiv and Odesa, August 2022

by Niklas Golitschek touch_app Swipe for next photo keyboard_arrow_down Scollen für nächstes Foto
City employess are painting park benches in Shevchenko Park. They lost their jobs at the beginning of the major Russian offensive and had to return to their home near Chernihiv due to lack of money. Now they live again in the Ukrainian capital. Artur and Zhenya (both 18 years old) learn to play the guitar together in the park on St. Volodymyr Hill near the Dnipro river. Zhenya saw Artur playing in the street four days earlier and asked him if he could help him. When they first meet, they practice the song "Weekend Game". At the edge of the park stands the Arch of Freedom of the Ukrainian People (formerly the Monument to Friendship of Nations) near the Dnipro, which has symbolized the rupture in Ukrainian-Russian relations since 2018. The bronze sculpture was also removed. A car graveyard in Irpin commemorates the violent war over Kyiv until the Russian troops left in March 2022. More on Irpin In front of the St. Michael’s Monastery in Kyiv, several Russian war machines, which were destroyed in the fighting, for example during the battle for Hostomel, are presented Read more

Nadiya Kravchenko (74) from Pidhaine near Kyiv experienced the bombs herself: five of them hit her property. All that remains is the garden house, which volunteers from a Baptist church in Kyiv are now repairing and expanding.

The house of Serhiy Kolevych (47) was also bombed twice from the air, he says. At the first he was still in these rooms with his family. All survived. Read more Alexandr (Sasha) Semenchenko lives in Kyiv as an entertainer and musician. He initially left the city in February, but quickly returned. Read more Stanislava Liasota is the founder of the first Ukrainian professional musical theater group "Comme il faut" from Kyiv. She spent the whole time in the capital. Read more Despite the war in the country, life goes on. Somehow. Knowing that the next
air alert may be the last.
The same applies to Odesa. The city and region are repeatedly targeted by rockets. In between, everyday life continues. In the city garden, musicians invite their audience to free open-air concerts. Many people no longer react to air raid alarms. The sirens often sound several times a day. At the same time, negligence increases the risk of civilian casualties during attacks. Sergey Stepevoy from Mayaky knows from his own experience what it means when a rocket hits in the immediate vicinity. Click Here In Odesa, volunteers want to remind those around them that the front line is only 150 kilometers away: They are working on a long camouflage fence that they want to put up in the city center for Independence Day. Vassili Dimov and son Serhiy take part in the action. Meanwhile, local politics is hardly to be thought of. The Ukrainian cities are under military administration. Council members like Vadim Tereshchuk are only allowed to decide on trivial aspects like street names. Opposition politicians are still behind the government – but they warn that the centralization of power should not be permanent. Read more But not everyone who stayed in Ukraine is doing so voluntarily. Around 200 years ago, Natalia Gubenko Hornbacher’s (pictured) ancestors emigrated from Germany to Odesa. Now, at the age of 86, she actually wants to leave Ukraine with her family.
"I have a small pension, we live poorly here," she says with a Swabian accent – and then there’s the war in the immediate vicinity.
"It’s very difficult to survive the war when you’re old. You can’t stand it," says Sister Nadine. But where else could they go in their old age? "The rockets are flying and everyone is getting killed," she says. Roads and rails are too dangerous.
As normal as much of everyday life in Ukraine may seem at first glance, the country is still at war.
The port of Odesa, which is currently closed off, is only a few meters away from this fountain. Photos are forbidden, military checkpoints block the way there.
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Ein Hinweisschild an der Autobahn zwischen Kyjiw und Uman (nahe Buzivka) warnt vor Minen.
Dmitro Soochekov fled Bakhmut with his family and now lives in a guest room at Ahrobud in Orativ.
Cardboard signs are also used for communication in Poland: free rides are offered here. With "Unterkunft Ukraine" the concept only worked to a limited extent.
Serhiy Kolevych (47) stands in front of the ruins of his house. During the first air raid on March 14, he was in the building with his wife, niece and nephew and was injured. During the second attack, which completely destroyed the house, he was already staying with neighbors.
Eugene and Kristina stand in front of a patio heater and hold hands.
Leonid Kucheruk sits in front of a computer screen showing a 1980 calendar page.
A destroyed tank stands on the side of the road in Kharkiv.
The Kyiv-based charity "Caring Cats" (Turbotlyvi kotyky - Турботливі котики) helps victims of the Ukraine war. The founders: Ruslana Zahnii (Руслана Загній), Julia Sydorchuk (Юлія Сидорчук) and Lilia Lypova (Лілія Липова).

The “Caring Cats” from Kyiv

Powerlessness gives way to a thirst for action: despite fearing for their own lives, three women in Kyiv have founded an aid organization and are helping their fellow human beings in Ukraine.

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A car buried in rubble amidst a scene of urban destruction.

The lessons of living with war

Reporter Sergey Panashchuk lives in Odesa. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in Ukraine he risks his life to cover Russian war crimes, tells people’s stories and reports from the frontline. Here he is sharing his thoughts.

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Oleksandr Beluga is standing in front of his desk. On the wall behind many awards for him and his NGO can be seen.
Leonid Maslov and comrade Oleg.
Children are walking on a street between skyscrapers. in the background an explosion can be seen. The image was generated with AI to illustrate the attacks in Israel and Ukraine.
At the Dorohusk border crossing
Tatiana Ovays fled Sievierodonetsk and is building a new life in Vinnytsia.
The town sign of Chermalyk. Photos: Niklas Golitschek
A group of people holding signs.
A person wearing a hairnet and gloves holds a large tray of uncooked shredded material, possibly food, in a kitchen with plastic bins and an industrial oven in the background, preparing for food delivery organized by Ukrainian volunteers.
A destroyed urban area with scattered bricks and debris, a flooded crater, and distant buildings under a cloudy sky.

Will Kupyansk become a new Avdiivka?

Russia has amassed tens of thousands of soldiers near Kupyansk and is trying to breakthrough. Meanwhile battle-weary Ukrainian troops on the other side await reinforcement and rotation. Sergey Panashchuk reports from a frontline village.

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Sergey Panashchuk with a bulletproof vest on the beach in Odesa. Photo: Nina Lyashonok/Нина Ляшонок
Die Gasleitungen an der Unfallstelle in Majaky wurden bereits erneuert. Der Schaden ist noch deutlich sichtbar.
Juli Karzanova is documenting the daily life in the war-torn city of Chernihiv in Ukraine.

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