Aerial view of Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv at sunset, the Independence Monument rising over the near-empty square

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War in Ukraine

There are two wars in Ukraine. There is the war of the capital — the sea of small flags on the Maidan, one for each of the fallen, tended like a garden; the grandmothers who walk children past the portraits of the dead. And there is the war of the East, where the roads run beneath nets strung against drones and the earth itself has been opened into trenches.

Since the full-scale invasion of February 2022, the country has learned to live in both at once. In the trenches, men and women wait, smoke, and fly drones the size of toys that strike like artillery. Behind them, the cities bury their dead, remember them, and go on living. This series moves between the two — because neither can be understood without the other.

Thousands of small Ukrainian flags and candles honouring fallen soldiers on the Maidan in Kyiv — Kyiv. On the Maidan, a flag for each of the fallen.

A grandmother and a little girl walk past the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen at St Michael’s Monastery in Kyiv — Kyiv. The Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen, St Michael’s Monastery.

Sasha, a young Russian volunteer fighting for Ukraine, beneath the Motherland Monument in Kyiv — Kyiv. Sasha, a young Russian who left his country to fight alongside the Ukrainians.

Military funeral of a Ukrainian soldier on the Maidan in Kyiv, honour guard and flowers in the rain — Kyiv. A soldier’s funeral on the Maidan.

A burned-out civilian car under an anti-drone net corridor on a frontline road in eastern Ukraine — Pavlograd sector. April 2026. The roads run beneath nets strung against drones.

An unexploded Uragan rocket planted in the mud of a roadside in the Donbas, seen from a car mirror — Bakhmut sector. March 2023. An unexploded rocket by the roadside.

A BMP infantry fighting vehicle loaded with Ukrainian soldiers rolls through a shell-scarred town — Bakhmut sector. March 2023. Infantry riding to the line.

A man narrowly escapes from his home near Bakhmut, just bombed by Russian forces — A man narrowly escapes from his home, which has just been bombed by the Russians, near Bakhmut.

A man cycles past collapsed and burnt apartment blocks in a destroyed Ukrainian residential district — A residential district after the fighting.

Marie, a Ukrainian drone pilot, in a trench in the Donbass — Marie, a drone pilot, in a trench in the Donbass. March 2023.

A Ukrainian soldier releases a small quadcopter drone from a trench at dusk — The drone war has officially begun in Ukraine.

An older Ukrainian soldier crouches in a narrow camouflaged trench holding an AT4 anti-tank launcher — Between artillery barrages, the soldiers take cover in shelters and trenches.

A machine-gunner of the Omega Unit’s special forces on patrol in the Donbass, almost invisible in the thicket — Donbass, April 2026, on patrol with the Omega Unit’s special forces.

A T-64 tank hidden under camouflage netting in a leafless orchard — Tanks are used as stationary artillery units because of the drones.

Portrait of a volunteer fighter with a cigarette, rifle and Ukrainian flag patch — A volunteer fighter.

The commander of a frontline unit near Pavlograd, in his dugout command post — The commander of a unit stationed on the front lines near Pavlograd, April 2026.

A drone-hunting crew and their heavy machine gun mounted on a pickup truck in Irpin — A drone-hunting crew and their machine gun in Irpin, April 2026.

A mock gravestone of Vladimir Putin beside missile debris and destroyed armour, with daffodils — A roadside installation: a gravestone for the invader, daffodils for spring.

A Ukrainian soldier fires an RPG-7, the grenade caught in flight in the muzzle flash — RPG firing drill a few kilometers from the front lines. March 2023.