The evacuation of the civilians from Irpin was photographed by many Ukrainian and foreign photographers. Today, the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers is publishing the photographs and memoirs of Ukrainian documentary photographer and cinematographer Serhiy Mykhalchuk.
In late February and March 2022, Russian troops attempted to capture Kyiv. To do this, they needed to take control of the towns closest to the capital - Gostomel, Bucha, and Irpin. These settlements, as well as Vyshhorod and a section of the Kyiv-Chop highway near the capital, were identified as the most dangerous places for civilians in Kyiv Oblast.
In the first days of the full-scale invasion, Russian troops took Gostomel and seized the airport of the same name. From there, they moved towards Kyiv. On 27 March the battle for Irpin began. There was a tank battle in the town and the Ukrainian forces tried to stop the Russian forces. To prevent more troops from entering Irpin, the bridge between Bucha and Irpin was destroyed.
Irpin residents were left without heating, electricity, or running water. On 3 March, the Kyiv Regional Administration announced the start of evacuations from Bucha and Irpin. The 206th Territorial Defence Battalion began evacuating people by bus and train. On 5 March, the Ukrainian armed forces began evacuating civilians from Irpin to Kyiv on foot. The constant shelling by Russian troops made it very difficult to leave Irpin.
On 6 March, hundreds of civilians stood near a destroyed bridge waiting to be evacuated from Irpin to Kyiv. Ukrainian soldiers helped people cross the river, often carrying their bags, pets, and even children. Russian shelling continued for several hours. Eight civilians from Irpin were killed.
"The evacuation of Irpin civilians was filmed by Ukrainian documentary photographer and cameraman Serhiy Mykhalchuk. A few days before the full-scale Russian invasion, I realized that there was going to be a war. The day before, I read on Russian public and telegram channels that people were already planning to meet in a café on Khreshchatyk to celebrate. On the evening of 23 February, I took my family and drove to western Ukraine in two cars. We met the first hits on the road outside Zhytomyr," says the documentary filmmaker. On 25 February, Serhiy returned to Kyiv and began documenting the events of the war that day.
Sergiy Mikhalchuk and his colleagues were keeping an eye on the situation and realised that Russian troops were going to move through Irpin. On 4 March, he was at the 'Zhyraf' checkpoint near Irpin, filming Ukrainian soldiers and equipment. 'That evening there was heavy shelling, there were several battles. Russian soldiers entered Irpin through this checkpoint,' says Mykhalchuk.
He was working there with his colleagues, who had decided to film the war and send their footage to the world's leading media. At the end of March, almost all of them volunteered to join the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
'If I had been waiting to be called up for military service, I would have been the last one to receive it. I had a complicated spinal and head injury and two cases of malaria in Africa. In 2017, I had a medical examination before the ATO and was discharged,' says Sergiy Mikhalchuk.
Serhii Mykhalchuk compares his first impressions of the destroyed Romanivsky Bridge to the emotions of the liquidators who looked into the chamber of the destroyed power unit of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. Later, the events in Gostomel were similar in terms of the strength of feeling. 'Vitaliy Deynega and I were among the first to arrive at the Gostomel airport and see the destroyed "Mriya". At that moment we probably did not realize the power and significance of what we were seeing. We saw people leaving their homes, we saw the shelling...', adds Sergey Mikhalchuk.
During the evacuation from Irpin, many people needed help. Sergiy says that if he could help someone move their belongings, he would first help them and then fulfill his duties as a photographer and cameraman. He was very impressed by the pets, who behaved in a way that could be identified with humans. 'They had such intelligent and deep eyes, they were very quiet, they understood everything. After that, I told my children to get a dog, a cat, anything. Now we have a Scottish cat at home,' smiles Serhii Mykhalchuk.
The photographer came to take pictures of the evacuation almost every day until the middle of March. He remembers a purebred shepherd dog with a broken chain looking for its owner. He couldn't take it because he was always working - he went to Irpin to shoot and to the front line towards Chornobyl. The shepherd stood next to me and cried like a child. There were a lot of purebred and well-trained dogs left there all alone," Mykhalchuk recalls. He photographed a man on an old bicycle carrying two rats in a cage. He reached the Romanivsky Bridge, left the bike, and continued walking with only his pets. People parked their cars near the bridge and left their bicycles by the river.
Serhiy Mykhalchuk joined up at the end of March and went to Irpin as a soldier. "One of the most powerful impressions was when my unit and I arrived to Irpin in the morning of 29 March. I was there before the press, along with my fellow reconnaissance. We saw the town in ruins, bodies lying on the streets... I remember it to this day," says Mykhalchuk. He adds that he simply did not take a lot of pictures so as not to hurt people and cause them more emotional pain. "Sometimes a camera works worse than a machine gun," he says.
Serhiy Mykhalchuk serves in the Ukrainian army and continues to take photographs. But as a soldier, he cannot upload or post most of his photos on social media. The war is my reality now. I am constantly in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, sometimes in Zaporizhzhya or Kherson. Until I get out of this process, I won't be able to say what important shots I took during a full-scale war. This was the case with me when I filmed the Maidan. It took me a while to understand what was important in terms of historical footage and what was secondary.
We would like to remind you that the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers has launched a series of materials dedicated to the key events of the Russian war against Ukraine, where we will publish memoirs and photographs of Ukrainian documentary photographers.
The project is being implemented with the support of the 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 evacuation of the civilians from Irpin was photographed by many Ukrainian and foreign photographers. Today, the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers is publishing the photographs and memoirs of Ukrainian documentary photographer and cinematographer Serhiy Mykhalchuk.
In late February and March 2022, Russian troops attempted to capture Kyiv. To do this, they needed to take control of the towns closest to the capital - Gostomel, Bucha, and Irpin. These settlements, as well as Vyshhorod and a section of the Kyiv-Chop highway near the capital, were identified as the most dangerous places for civilians in Kyiv Oblast.
In the first days of the full-scale invasion, Russian troops took Gostomel and seized the airport of the same name. From there, they moved towards Kyiv. On 27 March the battle for Irpin began. There was a tank battle in the town and the Ukrainian forces tried to stop the Russian forces. To prevent more troops from entering Irpin, the bridge between Bucha and Irpin was destroyed.
Irpin residents were left without heating, electricity, or running water. On 3 March, the Kyiv Regional Administration announced the start of evacuations from Bucha and Irpin. The 206th Territorial Defence Battalion began evacuating people by bus and train. On 5 March, the Ukrainian armed forces began evacuating civilians from Irpin to Kyiv on foot. The constant shelling by Russian troops made it very difficult to leave Irpin.
On 6 March, hundreds of civilians stood near a destroyed bridge waiting to be evacuated from Irpin to Kyiv. Ukrainian soldiers helped people cross the river, often carrying their bags, pets, and even children. Russian shelling continued for several hours. Eight civilians from Irpin were killed.
"The evacuation of Irpin civilians was filmed by Ukrainian documentary photographer and cameraman Serhiy Mykhalchuk. A few days before the full-scale Russian invasion, I realized that there was going to be a war. The day before, I read on Russian public and telegram channels that people were already planning to meet in a café on Khreshchatyk to celebrate. On the evening of 23 February, I took my family and drove to western Ukraine in two cars. We met the first hits on the road outside Zhytomyr," says the documentary filmmaker. On 25 February, Serhiy returned to Kyiv and began documenting the events of the war that day.
Sergiy Mikhalchuk and his colleagues were keeping an eye on the situation and realised that Russian troops were going to move through Irpin. On 4 March, he was at the 'Zhyraf' checkpoint near Irpin, filming Ukrainian soldiers and equipment. 'That evening there was heavy shelling, there were several battles. Russian soldiers entered Irpin through this checkpoint,' says Mykhalchuk.
He was working there with his colleagues, who had decided to film the war and send their footage to the world's leading media. At the end of March, almost all of them volunteered to join the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
'If I had been waiting to be called up for military service, I would have been the last one to receive it. I had a complicated spinal and head injury and two cases of malaria in Africa. In 2017, I had a medical examination before the ATO and was discharged,' says Sergiy Mikhalchuk.
Serhii Mykhalchuk compares his first impressions of the destroyed Romanivsky Bridge to the emotions of the liquidators who looked into the chamber of the destroyed power unit of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. Later, the events in Gostomel were similar in terms of the strength of feeling. 'Vitaliy Deynega and I were among the first to arrive at the Gostomel airport and see the destroyed "Mriya". At that moment we probably did not realize the power and significance of what we were seeing. We saw people leaving their homes, we saw the shelling...', adds Sergey Mikhalchuk.
During the evacuation from Irpin, many people needed help. Sergiy says that if he could help someone move their belongings, he would first help them and then fulfill his duties as a photographer and cameraman. He was very impressed by the pets, who behaved in a way that could be identified with humans. 'They had such intelligent and deep eyes, they were very quiet, they understood everything. After that, I told my children to get a dog, a cat, anything. Now we have a Scottish cat at home,' smiles Serhii Mykhalchuk.
The photographer came to take pictures of the evacuation almost every day until the middle of March. He remembers a purebred shepherd dog with a broken chain looking for its owner. He couldn't take it because he was always working - he went to Irpin to shoot and to the front line towards Chornobyl. The shepherd stood next to me and cried like a child. There were a lot of purebred and well-trained dogs left there all alone," Mykhalchuk recalls. He photographed a man on an old bicycle carrying two rats in a cage. He reached the Romanivsky Bridge, left the bike, and continued walking with only his pets. People parked their cars near the bridge and left their bicycles by the river.
Serhiy Mykhalchuk joined up at the end of March and went to Irpin as a soldier. "One of the most powerful impressions was when my unit and I arrived to Irpin in the morning of 29 March. I was there before the press, along with my fellow reconnaissance. We saw the town in ruins, bodies lying on the streets... I remember it to this day," says Mykhalchuk. He adds that he simply did not take a lot of pictures so as not to hurt people and cause them more emotional pain. "Sometimes a camera works worse than a machine gun," he says.
Serhiy Mykhalchuk serves in the Ukrainian army and continues to take photographs. But as a soldier, he cannot upload or post most of his photos on social media. The war is my reality now. I am constantly in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, sometimes in Zaporizhzhya or Kherson. Until I get out of this process, I won't be able to say what important shots I took during a full-scale war. This was the case with me when I filmed the Maidan. It took me a while to understand what was important in terms of historical footage and what was secondary.
We would like to remind you that the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers has launched a series of materials dedicated to the key events of the Russian war against Ukraine, where we will publish memoirs and photographs of Ukrainian documentary photographers.
The project is being implemented with the support of the 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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