The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers is launching a series of publications dedicated to the key events of the Russian war against Ukraine, publishing recollections and photos by Ukrainian documentary photographers.
On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The main events of that day were rocket attacks on Ukrainian cities and the breakthrough of Russian troops in the north, south, and east.
03:30 - 03:59: The first Russian sabotaging and reconnaissance groups attempt to enter Ukrainian territory. Regular units of the State Border Guard Service fight them off. These sabotage groups are followed by regular units of Russian armed forces, and active fighting takes place near Zorynivka village in the Luhansk region and at Kalanchak checkpoint, the administrative border with temporarily occupied Crimea.
04:50: Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announces to the Russians the start of a "special military operation in Ukraine".
Photographer Yevhen Maloletka and his colleague Mstyslav Chernov faced the war in Mariupol. He recalls that they arrived in the city an hour before full-scale war began. The journey from Bakhmut to Mariupol took most of the night.
"We were driving and it was completely quiet. There had been mortar fire and artillery fire the day before. We saw that the troops had already assumed fighting positions. We had a feeling that if there was silence, there would be a new wave. So everyone waited," he recalls.
05:00: In the morning, Russian troops attack Ukraine along the entire border line - in the Luhansk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and Zhytomyr regions, from the temporarily occupied Crimea, in Donbas, and entering the Kyiv region from Belarus. Missile strikes were launched against Kharkiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Brovary, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhya, with over 150 missiles fired.
07:40: Russian invaders are breaking through the Chernobyl exclusion zone. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant guards are fighting with Russian terrorists.
Photographer Andriy Dubchak met the war on 24 February at the Hotel Mir in Severodonetsk, Luhansk region. He recalls waking up to a phone call from his wife, Lisa, informing him that war had broken out.
"Frankly, I was too calm about the news. I knew that the invasion was coming. I knew that an escalation was inevitable. Because even then the front line had already changed and the JFO I knew no longer existed. The week before the invasion, I came under fire twice, the activity of which was off the scale by 'before' standards," says the photographer.
Around 08:00: The news reports that five Russian planes and a helicopter had been shot down. The Verkhovna Rada voted to declare martial law in Ukraine on 24 February. The decision was approved by 300 deputies.
Photographer Serhiy Korovainyi worked in Sievierodonetsk on the eve of the Russian invasion. After Putin's speech, the photographer decided to leave Donbas to avoid being in the middle of the fighting.
"I was in Kharkiv on 23 February. We talked late into the night with friends. I felt something terrible was about to happen. I was influenced by this atmosphere and went to bed with my clothes on. I woke up to the sounds of explosions," he says.
Around 10:00: Russian troops are spotted on the Okruzhnaya road near Kharkiv. They set up roadblocks, barriers, and tanks. An hour later they tried to break through into the city. However, they were met with stubborn resistance from the city's defenders.
Around 11:00: despite Russian shelling from the cruiser Moskva and the landing of the occupying forces, the defenders of Zmeinyi Island in southern Ukraine refuse to give up. The legendary phrase "Russian warship, go f*ck yourself" is heard, and it proves to be prophetic - on the 14th of April 2022, the cruiser will pass by in this direction, straight to the bottom of the sea.
Pavlo Petrov, the SES photographer, remembers that his duty fell on 23 February 2022. On that day a state of emergency was declared throughout the country. And he faced the invasion on the unit's sofa.
"I was unemotional, everything was clear for me. Nothing new, I come from the Luhansk region. And then everything went crazy. There was shelling all over the country," says Pavlo.
12:40: Fighting for Gostomel and an attempt by the Russians to seize the Antonov airfield are reported. An incomplete Ukrainian National Guard brigade fights more than 50 helicopters and Russian special forces for the town and airfield. After fighting for three hours, the brigade withdrew, having fired mortars at the runway.
A photographer from Lviv, Yurko Dyachyshyn, recalls that he did not believe in the possibility of war. He thought the first news of Russian aggression was faked.
"I was sick and in bad shape, but my journalistic reflex was to go out and film, I didn't know what exactly. So, I packed my camera, dressed, and sat in the hallway in my clothes, expecting explosions or an air raid or something, and then the first air alert went off," Dyachyshyn describes that morning.
13:00: The Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Oleksiy Reznikov, addressed the Ukrainians.
"Whoever is ready to bear weapons, join the ranks of terror defense. We're going to arm all the patriots who are ready to use them against the enemy without hesitating," he said.
The distribution of the weapons to all who came begins in Kyiv and Kharkiv; only in the capital, more than 20,000 weapons are handed out in a few hours.
Volodymyr Petrov, a Kyiv-based photographer, says that he woke up to explosions in Kyiv at around 4 am on 24 February.
"I was literally thrown out of bed, jumped to the side, away from the window, grabbed my mobile phone, and ran to the bathroom, away from the windows. There I started reading the news and monitoring chats with friends and fellow photojournalists," Petrov recalls.
Petrov spent the day driving around Kyiv, taking pictures, and trying to understand what was happening. In the evening, he set up a bedroom and a mini-office in the bathroom.
16:30 - 17:00: It is announced that the Russians have attacked Okhtyrka. The battles for Okhirka and Trostyanets begin, and Sumy is under siege.
The photographer Alina Smutko was in Kyiv on 24 February 2022. She recalls that she had not expected such a development and had only packed her bug-out bag because her friends asked.
"I just went out sometimes with my camera. At the time, I had no idea what kind of damage this or that kind of weapon could do and how safe it was to be outside. "My colleagues and I would go out for a coffee in the cafes that were still open on Khreshchatyk and Maidan Nezalezhnosti," says Alina. "I took some photos of the deserted Khreshchatyk and Maidan. I had a feeling that these might be my last photos of Kyiv".
17:30: a reconnaissance unit of the 74th motorized rifle brigade of the Russian Armed Forces is captured near Chernihiv; the Russians surrendered voluntarily.
19:00: Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to the head of the Presidential Office,reports that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been seized by the Russians and that the Ukrainian military has been forced to lay down its weapons.
Photographer Mykhaylo Palinchak woke up to explosions on 24 February 2022. He remembers being torn between wanting to capture the first moments of the war and the need to protect his family.
"My main priority for the day was to get my eldest son to Uzhhorod as soon as possible. It was only in the evening that I was able to do this and finally concentrate on documentation," Palinchak said.
Around 21:00: Reports stated that Russian paratroopers were driven from Gostomel, which they temporarily captured. However, the island of Zmeinyi was taken by the occupiers after a fierce battle.
Around 23:00: The Russian columns reached Konotop in the Sumy region, where they were fiercely defeated. Later, the Ukrainian forces gave the Russians a very 'funny' night - photos of the columns of burnt-out 'liberators' quickly spread across the internet.
Kharkiv-based photographer Pavlo Dorohoy received a phone call from his mother, who was living in Saltivka at the time. She heard and saw the first explosions in the city.
"I told her in my sleep that maybe it was fireworks. Then I read the news, texted my friends, and realized it wasn't fireworks. I had a very strange feeling, the birds were singing outside my window, it was snowing, it was beautiful, and the news was broadcasting something lunatic," explains Dorohoy.
The photographer recalls that he photographed soldiers from the 92nd Brigade arriving in Saltivka that day. He also saw the first Russian armored vehicle get hit.
23:59: The first day of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war comes to an end.
The chronicle of the events is based on the materials of Wikipedia, Ukrayinska Pravda and Suspilne.
The project is realised with the support of media ЗМІN.
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Katya Moskalyuk
Bildeditor: Vyacheslav Ratynskyi
Literary Editor: Julia Futei
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers is launching a series of publications dedicated to the key events of the Russian war against Ukraine, publishing recollections and photos by Ukrainian documentary photographers.
On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The main events of that day were rocket attacks on Ukrainian cities and the breakthrough of Russian troops in the north, south, and east.
03:30 - 03:59: The first Russian sabotaging and reconnaissance groups attempt to enter Ukrainian territory. Regular units of the State Border Guard Service fight them off. These sabotage groups are followed by regular units of Russian armed forces, and active fighting takes place near Zorynivka village in the Luhansk region and at Kalanchak checkpoint, the administrative border with temporarily occupied Crimea.
04:50: Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announces to the Russians the start of a "special military operation in Ukraine".
Photographer Yevhen Maloletka and his colleague Mstyslav Chernov faced the war in Mariupol. He recalls that they arrived in the city an hour before full-scale war began. The journey from Bakhmut to Mariupol took most of the night.
"We were driving and it was completely quiet. There had been mortar fire and artillery fire the day before. We saw that the troops had already assumed fighting positions. We had a feeling that if there was silence, there would be a new wave. So everyone waited," he recalls.
05:00: In the morning, Russian troops attack Ukraine along the entire border line - in the Luhansk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and Zhytomyr regions, from the temporarily occupied Crimea, in Donbas, and entering the Kyiv region from Belarus. Missile strikes were launched against Kharkiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Brovary, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhya, with over 150 missiles fired.
07:40: Russian invaders are breaking through the Chernobyl exclusion zone. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant guards are fighting with Russian terrorists.
Photographer Andriy Dubchak met the war on 24 February at the Hotel Mir in Severodonetsk, Luhansk region. He recalls waking up to a phone call from his wife, Lisa, informing him that war had broken out.
"Frankly, I was too calm about the news. I knew that the invasion was coming. I knew that an escalation was inevitable. Because even then the front line had already changed and the JFO I knew no longer existed. The week before the invasion, I came under fire twice, the activity of which was off the scale by 'before' standards," says the photographer.
Around 08:00: The news reports that five Russian planes and a helicopter had been shot down. The Verkhovna Rada voted to declare martial law in Ukraine on 24 February. The decision was approved by 300 deputies.
Photographer Serhiy Korovainyi worked in Sievierodonetsk on the eve of the Russian invasion. After Putin's speech, the photographer decided to leave Donbas to avoid being in the middle of the fighting.
"I was in Kharkiv on 23 February. We talked late into the night with friends. I felt something terrible was about to happen. I was influenced by this atmosphere and went to bed with my clothes on. I woke up to the sounds of explosions," he says.
Around 10:00: Russian troops are spotted on the Okruzhnaya road near Kharkiv. They set up roadblocks, barriers, and tanks. An hour later they tried to break through into the city. However, they were met with stubborn resistance from the city's defenders.
Around 11:00: despite Russian shelling from the cruiser Moskva and the landing of the occupying forces, the defenders of Zmeinyi Island in southern Ukraine refuse to give up. The legendary phrase "Russian warship, go f*ck yourself" is heard, and it proves to be prophetic - on the 14th of April 2022, the cruiser will pass by in this direction, straight to the bottom of the sea.
Pavlo Petrov, the SES photographer, remembers that his duty fell on 23 February 2022. On that day a state of emergency was declared throughout the country. And he faced the invasion on the unit's sofa.
"I was unemotional, everything was clear for me. Nothing new, I come from the Luhansk region. And then everything went crazy. There was shelling all over the country," says Pavlo.
12:40: Fighting for Gostomel and an attempt by the Russians to seize the Antonov airfield are reported. An incomplete Ukrainian National Guard brigade fights more than 50 helicopters and Russian special forces for the town and airfield. After fighting for three hours, the brigade withdrew, having fired mortars at the runway.
A photographer from Lviv, Yurko Dyachyshyn, recalls that he did not believe in the possibility of war. He thought the first news of Russian aggression was faked.
"I was sick and in bad shape, but my journalistic reflex was to go out and film, I didn't know what exactly. So, I packed my camera, dressed, and sat in the hallway in my clothes, expecting explosions or an air raid or something, and then the first air alert went off," Dyachyshyn describes that morning.
13:00: The Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Oleksiy Reznikov, addressed the Ukrainians.
"Whoever is ready to bear weapons, join the ranks of terror defense. We're going to arm all the patriots who are ready to use them against the enemy without hesitating," he said.
The distribution of the weapons to all who came begins in Kyiv and Kharkiv; only in the capital, more than 20,000 weapons are handed out in a few hours.
Volodymyr Petrov, a Kyiv-based photographer, says that he woke up to explosions in Kyiv at around 4 am on 24 February.
"I was literally thrown out of bed, jumped to the side, away from the window, grabbed my mobile phone, and ran to the bathroom, away from the windows. There I started reading the news and monitoring chats with friends and fellow photojournalists," Petrov recalls.
Petrov spent the day driving around Kyiv, taking pictures, and trying to understand what was happening. In the evening, he set up a bedroom and a mini-office in the bathroom.
16:30 - 17:00: It is announced that the Russians have attacked Okhtyrka. The battles for Okhirka and Trostyanets begin, and Sumy is under siege.
The photographer Alina Smutko was in Kyiv on 24 February 2022. She recalls that she had not expected such a development and had only packed her bug-out bag because her friends asked.
"I just went out sometimes with my camera. At the time, I had no idea what kind of damage this or that kind of weapon could do and how safe it was to be outside. "My colleagues and I would go out for a coffee in the cafes that were still open on Khreshchatyk and Maidan Nezalezhnosti," says Alina. "I took some photos of the deserted Khreshchatyk and Maidan. I had a feeling that these might be my last photos of Kyiv".
17:30: a reconnaissance unit of the 74th motorized rifle brigade of the Russian Armed Forces is captured near Chernihiv; the Russians surrendered voluntarily.
19:00: Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to the head of the Presidential Office,reports that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been seized by the Russians and that the Ukrainian military has been forced to lay down its weapons.
Photographer Mykhaylo Palinchak woke up to explosions on 24 February 2022. He remembers being torn between wanting to capture the first moments of the war and the need to protect his family.
"My main priority for the day was to get my eldest son to Uzhhorod as soon as possible. It was only in the evening that I was able to do this and finally concentrate on documentation," Palinchak said.
Around 21:00: Reports stated that Russian paratroopers were driven from Gostomel, which they temporarily captured. However, the island of Zmeinyi was taken by the occupiers after a fierce battle.
Around 23:00: The Russian columns reached Konotop in the Sumy region, where they were fiercely defeated. Later, the Ukrainian forces gave the Russians a very 'funny' night - photos of the columns of burnt-out 'liberators' quickly spread across the internet.
Kharkiv-based photographer Pavlo Dorohoy received a phone call from his mother, who was living in Saltivka at the time. She heard and saw the first explosions in the city.
"I told her in my sleep that maybe it was fireworks. Then I read the news, texted my friends, and realized it wasn't fireworks. I had a very strange feeling, the birds were singing outside my window, it was snowing, it was beautiful, and the news was broadcasting something lunatic," explains Dorohoy.
The photographer recalls that he photographed soldiers from the 92nd Brigade arriving in Saltivka that day. He also saw the first Russian armored vehicle get hit.
23:59: The first day of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war comes to an end.
The chronicle of the events is based on the materials of Wikipedia, Ukrayinska Pravda and Suspilne.
The project is realised with the support of media ЗМІN.
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Katya Moskalyuk
Bildeditor: Vyacheslav Ratynskyi
Literary Editor: Julia Futei
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
UAPP is an independent association of professional Ukrainian photographers, designed to protect their interests, support, develop and promote Ukrainian photography as an important element of national culture.
UAPP's activities span educational, social, research and cultural initiatives, as well as book publishing.
UAPP represents Ukrainian professional photography in the international photographic community and is an official member of the Federation of European Photographers (FEP) — an international organization representing more than 50,000 professional photographers in Europe and other countries around the world.
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