Photographer Andriy Dubchak about the first days of the full-scale invasion
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.
"She was in Kharkiv then. "War! We are being shelled!" - she screamed into the phone. "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. We saw the movement of Ukrainian equipment and units everywhere", - says Dubchak.
The photographer explains that he did not realize the scale of the invasion. He did not believe that the Russian army would attack Kyiv from Belarus. He thought Donbas, Kharkiv, and Mariupol would be the main theatre of future hostilities.
"The first place we went to was Kramatorsk, to avoid the possible danger of the roads being cut off and the traffic jams in Sievierodonetsk. There I filmed the first queues at military registration and confused soldiers. First refugees. Then I received information about a convoy of Russian military equipment. It was eighty kilometers long, moving towards Kyiv. Shock. My three cats, my family, and my friends are in the capital," explains Andriy.
Andrii adds that at that moment he decided to go to Dnipro and then to Kyiv.
"On the way, we stopped at the base to see the volunteer medics from the Hospitallers. They were packing the evacuees to go to the front. One of the medics, Yuriy Skrebets, answered my question about what the prognosis was: "We will win. What about us? We will win. But at what cost..." - Dubchak says, adding: "That moment brought tears to my eyes".
"We stayed overnight in Dnipro, and in the afternoon of the 25th, we reached Kropyvnytskyi in the heavy refugee traffic. From there on, the road to Kyiv was free in our lane of traffic. But in the opposite direction there was complete gridlock," the photographer continues.
Dubchak says it looked like a panic escape: "And I was even a little pleased that everyone had finally 'believed', and now everything that had happened over the years was finally called concisely and clearly - 'war'.
Now, at last, people call everything that has happened over the years concisely and understandably - 'war'.
As the photographer recalls, Kyiv met him with empty streets and nervous territorial defense soldiers. He immediately began to fear them more than his enemies because of their not always adequate behavior.
On the same day, 25 February, in the Darnytsia district, a photographer photographed a woman looking out of a house destroyed by a rocket blast and the remains of a downed aircraft, which turned out to be Ukrainian. Its wreckage fell on private houses near the Dnipro river.
"I also took pictures of refugees at the railway station. Everything around me was unprepared for war. I was very worried about my family and tried to get everyone out of the city. I analyzed the news and rumors. I was sure that the city had no chance of survival. That Kyiv would soon be surrounded, and that it would become a "Stalingrad". I wanted to show it to the world. But it was frightening because it was no longer the Joint Forces Operation in the East. It was a real "wild" war for my country's survival. I knew that many people I knew would die. I might as well."
The project is supported by ЗМІN.
Read also: 9 Ukrainian photographers share and show how the great invasion began
Photographer Andriy Dubchak about the first days of the full-scale invasion
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.
"She was in Kharkiv then. "War! We are being shelled!" - she screamed into the phone. "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. We saw the movement of Ukrainian equipment and units everywhere", - says Dubchak.
The photographer explains that he did not realize the scale of the invasion. He did not believe that the Russian army would attack Kyiv from Belarus. He thought Donbas, Kharkiv, and Mariupol would be the main theatre of future hostilities.
"The first place we went to was Kramatorsk, to avoid the possible danger of the roads being cut off and the traffic jams in Sievierodonetsk. There I filmed the first queues at military registration and confused soldiers. First refugees. Then I received information about a convoy of Russian military equipment. It was eighty kilometers long, moving towards Kyiv. Shock. My three cats, my family, and my friends are in the capital," explains Andriy.
Andrii adds that at that moment he decided to go to Dnipro and then to Kyiv.
"On the way, we stopped at the base to see the volunteer medics from the Hospitallers. They were packing the evacuees to go to the front. One of the medics, Yuriy Skrebets, answered my question about what the prognosis was: "We will win. What about us? We will win. But at what cost..." - Dubchak says, adding: "That moment brought tears to my eyes".
"We stayed overnight in Dnipro, and in the afternoon of the 25th, we reached Kropyvnytskyi in the heavy refugee traffic. From there on, the road to Kyiv was free in our lane of traffic. But in the opposite direction there was complete gridlock," the photographer continues.
Dubchak says it looked like a panic escape: "And I was even a little pleased that everyone had finally 'believed', and now everything that had happened over the years was finally called concisely and clearly - 'war'.
Now, at last, people call everything that has happened over the years concisely and understandably - 'war'.
As the photographer recalls, Kyiv met him with empty streets and nervous territorial defense soldiers. He immediately began to fear them more than his enemies because of their not always adequate behavior.
On the same day, 25 February, in the Darnytsia district, a photographer photographed a woman looking out of a house destroyed by a rocket blast and the remains of a downed aircraft, which turned out to be Ukrainian. Its wreckage fell on private houses near the Dnipro river.
"I also took pictures of refugees at the railway station. Everything around me was unprepared for war. I was very worried about my family and tried to get everyone out of the city. I analyzed the news and rumors. I was sure that the city had no chance of survival. That Kyiv would soon be surrounded, and that it would become a "Stalingrad". I wanted to show it to the world. But it was frightening because it was no longer the Joint Forces Operation in the East. It was a real "wild" war for my country's survival. I knew that many people I knew would die. I might as well."
The project is supported by ЗМІN.
Read also: 9 Ukrainian photographers share and show how the great invasion began
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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