The city of Chernihiv became one of the first where Russian troops tried to break through on February 24, 2022. The city is located at the intersection of the borders of three states - Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian Federation, and it takes no more than two hours to go to Kiev from here. Chernihiv was under siege until April, but it was never possible to occupy it.
The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers publishes photos of Roman Zakrevsky, who has been in Chernihiv since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion and documented the events of the war.
Russian troops could not occupy Chernihiv — the Armed Forces of Ukraine and local defenders did not let the city's defenses break through. Instead, the Russian military systematically shelled Chernihiv, hitting infrastructure facilities, residential buildings, schools and kindergartens. The first shots were heard by residents of Chernihiv on the morning of February 24. On this day, Russian troops attacked the command post of the airfield of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Nizhyn. Three people were killed.
On February 25, the Armed Forces repelled the attack of the Russian military directly on the approach to the city. On February 27, in Koryukovka, local residents stopped a column of Russian equipment. People took to the road and did not allow the Russians to enter the village. Chernihiv suffered several air strikes that day. A rocket hit an apartment building in the city center. There was a fire, the two lower floors burned. In the evening, the center of Chernihiv suffered another missile strike, which destroyed the building of the former cinema.
After noon on March 3, the Russian military launched an air strike on residential buildings in Chernihiv. 47 people were killed. On the night of March 11, the Russian military bombed the stadium and the library, killing 2 people. A few hours later, they dropped three air bombs on the city. In mid-March, Russian shelling killed people standing in line for bread. At the end of March, the Russian military destroyed an automobile bridge across the Desna. Chernihiv lost communication with Kyiv. The destruction of the bridge became critical for the residents of Chernihiv: through it, people left the city and received humanitarian aid. People transported the river in boats and also brought food.
From April 1, 2022, the Russian army began to retreat and withdraw troops from Chernihiv region. By April 6, the Russian military had left the area.
Photographer Roman Zakrevsky hails from Chernihiv. On February 24, 2022, he was in Chernihiv with his wife Yulia, daughter Vasilina and pet dog Archie. At the time of the full-scale Russian invasion, Roman's daughter was only six months old. “My daughter in the basement learned to roll over and sit down,” says Roman. From the second day of the war, he and his family and other residents of his native street lived in the basement of a children's hospital.
On the morning of February 24, 2022, Roman was walking with his dog, saw a large queue to the store. I learned from people that the war had begun. “That day I went to work. He worked as a television operator for “Social. Chernihiv,” Roman recalls. “We spent the first night at home. The next day I also had to go to the editorial office, but did not want to leave the girls alone. He met an old friend of Sergei Zosimenko, who as a volunteer took care of the department with children with cancer in the hospital. He asked if it was possible to go down to them for shelter. On February 25, we moved to the basement.”
Roman Zakrevsky recalls that there were many people in the basement of the hospital. Children played, painted the walls. “From the first days of the full-scale war, I photographed a lot. People had a great fear of cameras - they were afraid that they would come to crack, find photos and learn something from them, - Zakrevsky shares his memories. - He photographed mainly portraits of people and children who lived in the shelter. Documenting our life, there is even a moment when a baby tooth is pulled out. He filmed people who were engaged in security, were in the metro or appeared in the basement, hiding from shelling. I tried to preserve these historic moments. Someone had a machine, and I had a photo and video camera.” Roman recalls that in his apartment the windows were covered with a mattress. For him, it became a symbol of helplessness and change in the whole life. “At first it was good to sleep on the mattress, and now it has another role — to protect against debris,” says Roman.
Roman Zakrevsky's wife and daughter were able to leave on March 9. An acquaintance of the photographer was engaged in evacuation and took Julia and Vasilina by bus to Kiev and transferred to a train to Lviv. The girls stayed for a short time in Lviv, and later moved to friends in the town of Pechenizhin in Ivano-Frankivsk region. Roman remained in Chernihiv until March 17. “It was the morning when we left Chernihiv. We drove through the field, the so-called “road of life”. The main road was shelled and it was dangerous to drive,” Roman says.
The photographer documented the consequences of Russian airstrikes on his hometown. On March 3, the Russian military dropped an air bomb on a high-rise building in Chernihiv. The house is located literally two hundred meters from the hospital, in which Zakrevsky and his family were sheltered. “I saw a plane dropping a bomb on a high rise. The sound of that plane is the most terrible, I think I have heard during this war,” Roman says. He adds that he was always inspired by photos from hot spots and he dreamed of becoming a war correspondent. However, I never thought that his dream would come true in this way. “Behind this high-rise is the house in which I grew up and where now my father and older brother live with their family. These bombs fell very close to my native “Chinese wall”. It is one of the longest houses in Chernihiv and locals call it “Chinese”. I just took the camera and went to shoot,” says Roman Zakrevsky. He did not take any documents with him, but only had the inscription “Press” on his jacket. Fortunately, no one asked for permission to shoot. Roman says it's scary for people who don't understand the importance of documentation and who really are the enemy.
“When I went to photograph the aftermath of the bombing, I didn't think about anything, only the foreground and background, the details, the composition of the frame. So that there is nothing superfluous in the frame, so as not to disturb anyone. The feeling is that everything is not real, that it is a movie,” says Roman Zakrevsky. His photo of the aftermath of the airstrike was published in The New York Times.
The photographer does not even remember how much time he spent near that house. He remembered the guys standing on the background of a high-rise building with a hole and pointing to a severed hand with a ring. “I accepted for myself that I would not shoot all sorts of “blackleg”. However, he approached, took a picture of this hand and did not feel anything, - says the photographer. “Then there were no sensations at all, only dry documentary, only the correct construction of the composition - foreground, background, perspective, the right lines in the frame.”
A few days later, when there was good sunny weather, Roman Zakrevsky returned to the scene of the tragedy. Spent an hour or a half there. It was very cold, it was snowing, but there was good light. “My uncle came to me with a machine gun — there was a checkpoint nearby. I had with me the NSFHU ID, which I found while collecting the alarm suitcase. This piece of paper saved me from unnecessary questions. My uncle “blessed” me on the set so that I could show our neighbors from the north,” Roman recalls. “When I returned to the shelter, I slept six hours in a row. Shooting took a lot of energy out of me.”
Roman photographed an old linden tree that was dislodged from the air strike. It was one of Roman's favorite trees, growing along the road between his dad's house and his wife's residence. “The linden tree had a beautiful cone-shaped crown. Now the linden is not so beautiful, but alive. This makes me very happy,” Roman smiles. - The brick buildings were repaired by volunteers and foreign partners. The ruined skyscraper was fenced off with a fence and it stands as a reminder of all this horror and all the deaths of innocent people.” Roman says that this day is like a whole piece of meat that was torn from the body. A symbol of the horror that he had to go through with his family and that our whole country is still going through. Roman joined the defenders of Ukraine and now transforms his experience into front-line photography and videos he shoots for the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the east of the state.
The novel filmed a lot in Chernihiv during its siege. He took a photo of the hotel where the Russian military dropped the bomb. They thought that special forces were stationed there, however, there were no military there. In the end, as in other residential buildings in Chernihiv, where the Russian military hit.
Postscript
“In the hospital, we were given black plastic bags so we could keep warm. I even have a photo. Now black bags cause us completely different associations,” says Roman Zakrevsky.
Roman Zakrevsky (37 years) -Ukrainian photographer and videographer. It is characterized by author's and reportage photography. The photographer has been conducting exhibition activities since 2006. Exhibitions were held in Ukraine (Kiev, Chernihiv, Lviv, Donetsk, Ostrog) and abroad (Austria). For the past four years, he worked as a videographer at the TV channel Socialne Chernihiv. He has been published in Ukrainian (The Ukrainians, The Reporters, Local Stories) and foreign publications (The New York Times, wyborcza.pl).
He shot documentary and feature films.
Social networks of the author:
Instagram
Facebook
The project is implemented thanks to support IWM Documenting Ukraine.
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 city of Chernihiv became one of the first where Russian troops tried to break through on February 24, 2022. The city is located at the intersection of the borders of three states - Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian Federation, and it takes no more than two hours to go to Kiev from here. Chernihiv was under siege until April, but it was never possible to occupy it.
The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers publishes photos of Roman Zakrevsky, who has been in Chernihiv since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion and documented the events of the war.
Russian troops could not occupy Chernihiv — the Armed Forces of Ukraine and local defenders did not let the city's defenses break through. Instead, the Russian military systematically shelled Chernihiv, hitting infrastructure facilities, residential buildings, schools and kindergartens. The first shots were heard by residents of Chernihiv on the morning of February 24. On this day, Russian troops attacked the command post of the airfield of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Nizhyn. Three people were killed.
On February 25, the Armed Forces repelled the attack of the Russian military directly on the approach to the city. On February 27, in Koryukovka, local residents stopped a column of Russian equipment. People took to the road and did not allow the Russians to enter the village. Chernihiv suffered several air strikes that day. A rocket hit an apartment building in the city center. There was a fire, the two lower floors burned. In the evening, the center of Chernihiv suffered another missile strike, which destroyed the building of the former cinema.
After noon on March 3, the Russian military launched an air strike on residential buildings in Chernihiv. 47 people were killed. On the night of March 11, the Russian military bombed the stadium and the library, killing 2 people. A few hours later, they dropped three air bombs on the city. In mid-March, Russian shelling killed people standing in line for bread. At the end of March, the Russian military destroyed an automobile bridge across the Desna. Chernihiv lost communication with Kyiv. The destruction of the bridge became critical for the residents of Chernihiv: through it, people left the city and received humanitarian aid. People transported the river in boats and also brought food.
From April 1, 2022, the Russian army began to retreat and withdraw troops from Chernihiv region. By April 6, the Russian military had left the area.
Photographer Roman Zakrevsky hails from Chernihiv. On February 24, 2022, he was in Chernihiv with his wife Yulia, daughter Vasilina and pet dog Archie. At the time of the full-scale Russian invasion, Roman's daughter was only six months old. “My daughter in the basement learned to roll over and sit down,” says Roman. From the second day of the war, he and his family and other residents of his native street lived in the basement of a children's hospital.
On the morning of February 24, 2022, Roman was walking with his dog, saw a large queue to the store. I learned from people that the war had begun. “That day I went to work. He worked as a television operator for “Social. Chernihiv,” Roman recalls. “We spent the first night at home. The next day I also had to go to the editorial office, but did not want to leave the girls alone. He met an old friend of Sergei Zosimenko, who as a volunteer took care of the department with children with cancer in the hospital. He asked if it was possible to go down to them for shelter. On February 25, we moved to the basement.”
Roman Zakrevsky recalls that there were many people in the basement of the hospital. Children played, painted the walls. “From the first days of the full-scale war, I photographed a lot. People had a great fear of cameras - they were afraid that they would come to crack, find photos and learn something from them, - Zakrevsky shares his memories. - He photographed mainly portraits of people and children who lived in the shelter. Documenting our life, there is even a moment when a baby tooth is pulled out. He filmed people who were engaged in security, were in the metro or appeared in the basement, hiding from shelling. I tried to preserve these historic moments. Someone had a machine, and I had a photo and video camera.” Roman recalls that in his apartment the windows were covered with a mattress. For him, it became a symbol of helplessness and change in the whole life. “At first it was good to sleep on the mattress, and now it has another role — to protect against debris,” says Roman.
Roman Zakrevsky's wife and daughter were able to leave on March 9. An acquaintance of the photographer was engaged in evacuation and took Julia and Vasilina by bus to Kiev and transferred to a train to Lviv. The girls stayed for a short time in Lviv, and later moved to friends in the town of Pechenizhin in Ivano-Frankivsk region. Roman remained in Chernihiv until March 17. “It was the morning when we left Chernihiv. We drove through the field, the so-called “road of life”. The main road was shelled and it was dangerous to drive,” Roman says.
The photographer documented the consequences of Russian airstrikes on his hometown. On March 3, the Russian military dropped an air bomb on a high-rise building in Chernihiv. The house is located literally two hundred meters from the hospital, in which Zakrevsky and his family were sheltered. “I saw a plane dropping a bomb on a high rise. The sound of that plane is the most terrible, I think I have heard during this war,” Roman says. He adds that he was always inspired by photos from hot spots and he dreamed of becoming a war correspondent. However, I never thought that his dream would come true in this way. “Behind this high-rise is the house in which I grew up and where now my father and older brother live with their family. These bombs fell very close to my native “Chinese wall”. It is one of the longest houses in Chernihiv and locals call it “Chinese”. I just took the camera and went to shoot,” says Roman Zakrevsky. He did not take any documents with him, but only had the inscription “Press” on his jacket. Fortunately, no one asked for permission to shoot. Roman says it's scary for people who don't understand the importance of documentation and who really are the enemy.
“When I went to photograph the aftermath of the bombing, I didn't think about anything, only the foreground and background, the details, the composition of the frame. So that there is nothing superfluous in the frame, so as not to disturb anyone. The feeling is that everything is not real, that it is a movie,” says Roman Zakrevsky. His photo of the aftermath of the airstrike was published in The New York Times.
The photographer does not even remember how much time he spent near that house. He remembered the guys standing on the background of a high-rise building with a hole and pointing to a severed hand with a ring. “I accepted for myself that I would not shoot all sorts of “blackleg”. However, he approached, took a picture of this hand and did not feel anything, - says the photographer. “Then there were no sensations at all, only dry documentary, only the correct construction of the composition - foreground, background, perspective, the right lines in the frame.”
A few days later, when there was good sunny weather, Roman Zakrevsky returned to the scene of the tragedy. Spent an hour or a half there. It was very cold, it was snowing, but there was good light. “My uncle came to me with a machine gun — there was a checkpoint nearby. I had with me the NSFHU ID, which I found while collecting the alarm suitcase. This piece of paper saved me from unnecessary questions. My uncle “blessed” me on the set so that I could show our neighbors from the north,” Roman recalls. “When I returned to the shelter, I slept six hours in a row. Shooting took a lot of energy out of me.”
Roman photographed an old linden tree that was dislodged from the air strike. It was one of Roman's favorite trees, growing along the road between his dad's house and his wife's residence. “The linden tree had a beautiful cone-shaped crown. Now the linden is not so beautiful, but alive. This makes me very happy,” Roman smiles. - The brick buildings were repaired by volunteers and foreign partners. The ruined skyscraper was fenced off with a fence and it stands as a reminder of all this horror and all the deaths of innocent people.” Roman says that this day is like a whole piece of meat that was torn from the body. A symbol of the horror that he had to go through with his family and that our whole country is still going through. Roman joined the defenders of Ukraine and now transforms his experience into front-line photography and videos he shoots for the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the east of the state.
The novel filmed a lot in Chernihiv during its siege. He took a photo of the hotel where the Russian military dropped the bomb. They thought that special forces were stationed there, however, there were no military there. In the end, as in other residential buildings in Chernihiv, where the Russian military hit.
Postscript
“In the hospital, we were given black plastic bags so we could keep warm. I even have a photo. Now black bags cause us completely different associations,” says Roman Zakrevsky.
Roman Zakrevsky (37 years) -Ukrainian photographer and videographer. It is characterized by author's and reportage photography. The photographer has been conducting exhibition activities since 2006. Exhibitions were held in Ukraine (Kiev, Chernihiv, Lviv, Donetsk, Ostrog) and abroad (Austria). For the past four years, he worked as a videographer at the TV channel Socialne Chernihiv. He has been published in Ukrainian (The Ukrainians, The Reporters, Local Stories) and foreign publications (The New York Times, wyborcza.pl).
He shot documentary and feature films.
Social networks of the author:
Instagram
Facebook
The project is implemented thanks to support IWM Documenting Ukraine.
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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