Attention! The material contains sensitive information, and the photos are scenes of cruelty that can shock you.
The Russian army began attacking the city of Kharkiv from the first day of a full-scale invasion. The Russian forces failed to capture the city, so they began systematically shelling it every day. In addition to shelling residential neighborhoods, from which the sleeping areas of Kharkiv suffered the most, the Russian military deliberately destroyed the civilian infrastructure of the city.
Today, the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers publishes photos of Mstislav Chernov, taken in the spring of 2022 in Kharkiv. Mstislav was born and raised in this city, so his photos are not only documentation of the liberation of the land, but also the liberation of memory and family history.
Russian troops began shelling the city of Kharkiv from 5 a.m. on February 24, 2022. The next night, Russian military equipment approached the city, but was destroyed by the Ukrainian military. Subsequent attempts to occupy the city ended in failure — as a result of the fighting, the Russian army suffered significant losses of both equipment and personnel. February 27 can be considered a turning point in the defense of the city. On that day, Russian special forces broke into the city on Tiger armored vehicles, which were immediately eliminated by the Ukrainian military. After that, the Russian army no longer entered the city. Instead, merciless shelling of the whole of Kharkiv began.
In March and April, the Russian military actively shelled residential dormitory areas of Kharkiv, especially North Saltivka. By mid-March in Kharkiv, according to the city council, about 600 residential buildings were destroyed due to constant shelling, 50 schools and a number of hospitals were bombed, including maternity hospitals.
“Only according to confirmed data, since the beginning of the war in Kharkiv, the invaders cynically killed more than 500 civilians, 88 of whom the rescuers had to get from under the rubble,” the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region reported.
The fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine repel the next attempts of the Russian army to break through with the fighting to Kharkov.
In April, shelling of residential areas of the city and critical infrastructure does not stop. For example, on April 3, about 50 attacks were recorded during the night, and during the day of April 4, the Russian military carried out 54 strikes from various types of long-range weapons on the city and the region: artillery strikes, mortar and tank shelling, shelling from RSHVs. The Russian army shelled enterprises, schools, kindergartens and architectural monuments of the city. However, the local authorities quickly removed the effects of shelling and the city continued to live.
“Russian shells do not fly to Kharkiv for the first time since the start of the full-scale war unleashed by the Russian Federation,” Mayor Igor Terekhov said on May 10.
On May 14, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) suggested that Ukraine had won the Battle of Kharkov. After a two-week lull, Kharkiv residents began to return home en masse.
“After we broke out of the siege of Mariupol, I went to Bucha, where the bodies of civilians killed by Russian troops were going to be searched,” recalls photographer and videographer Mstislav Chernov. “Almost immediately after that, I asked my editors to send me to Kharkov, the city where I was was born and raised, and where I have not been since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.”
At that time, Russian troops stood almost near the district city itself, and Kharkiv suffered from heavy artillery and RSDV attacks. The next three months Mstislav Chernov spent in the city filming the consequences of these attacks.
“It was a terrible deja vu — again I saw civilians killed by Russian shells, medics risking their lives trying to save the wounded, burning cars and destroyed houses,” Chernov said.
Once, arriving at the site of the shelling, Mstislav saw the killed people lying in front of the entrance of the house where he lived for several student years.
“It's like a nightmare from which it is impossible to wake up. Memories of the city of my childhood and youth are superimposed on the absurdity of these senseless attacks and murders,” the journalist shares.
In those months, he made several important shots for him. In them, he tried to reflect these feelings and show what the Russians were doing with Kharkov, which they could not occupy, and therefore mercilessly shelled.
Over the following months, Ukrainian troops began to gradually push the Russians away from the city. The shelling almost stopped, but other terrible pictures emerged: liberated but destroyed villages, burned vehicles, bodies of Russian soldiers on the roads.
“All this happened in the places where I spent my childhood,” says Mstislav Chernov. “It was not just the liberation of the land, but the liberation of memory and family history.”
Mstislav Chernov — Ukrainian photographer, journalist of the Associated Press, director, war correspondent, President of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers, honorary member of “Ukrainian PEN” and writer. Covered the Revolution of Dignity, the War in Eastern Ukraine, the aftermath of the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, the Syrian Civil War, the Battle of Mosul in Iraq, the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022, including the Mariupol Blockade (for this work he received Deutsche Welle Freedom of Speech Award, George George Prize) Jongadze, Knight International Journalism Awards, Biagio Agnes Award, Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award, Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award, Free Media Awards, according to the results of 2022 was included in the ratings “People of the NV 2022 in the Year of War” and “14 songs, photos and art objects that became symbols of Ukrainian resistance” from Forbes Ukraine, and video materials from Mariupol became the basis of the film “20 Days in Mariupol”.
Photographer's social networks: Facebook,Instagram
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 project is implemented thanks to support of ZMIN.
Attention! The material contains sensitive information, and the photos are scenes of cruelty that can shock you.
The Russian army began attacking the city of Kharkiv from the first day of a full-scale invasion. The Russian forces failed to capture the city, so they began systematically shelling it every day. In addition to shelling residential neighborhoods, from which the sleeping areas of Kharkiv suffered the most, the Russian military deliberately destroyed the civilian infrastructure of the city.
Today, the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers publishes photos of Mstislav Chernov, taken in the spring of 2022 in Kharkiv. Mstislav was born and raised in this city, so his photos are not only documentation of the liberation of the land, but also the liberation of memory and family history.
Russian troops began shelling the city of Kharkiv from 5 a.m. on February 24, 2022. The next night, Russian military equipment approached the city, but was destroyed by the Ukrainian military. Subsequent attempts to occupy the city ended in failure — as a result of the fighting, the Russian army suffered significant losses of both equipment and personnel. February 27 can be considered a turning point in the defense of the city. On that day, Russian special forces broke into the city on Tiger armored vehicles, which were immediately eliminated by the Ukrainian military. After that, the Russian army no longer entered the city. Instead, merciless shelling of the whole of Kharkiv began.
In March and April, the Russian military actively shelled residential dormitory areas of Kharkiv, especially North Saltivka. By mid-March in Kharkiv, according to the city council, about 600 residential buildings were destroyed due to constant shelling, 50 schools and a number of hospitals were bombed, including maternity hospitals.
“Only according to confirmed data, since the beginning of the war in Kharkiv, the invaders cynically killed more than 500 civilians, 88 of whom the rescuers had to get from under the rubble,” the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region reported.
The fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine repel the next attempts of the Russian army to break through with the fighting to Kharkov.
In April, shelling of residential areas of the city and critical infrastructure does not stop. For example, on April 3, about 50 attacks were recorded during the night, and during the day of April 4, the Russian military carried out 54 strikes from various types of long-range weapons on the city and the region: artillery strikes, mortar and tank shelling, shelling from RSHVs. The Russian army shelled enterprises, schools, kindergartens and architectural monuments of the city. However, the local authorities quickly removed the effects of shelling and the city continued to live.
“Russian shells do not fly to Kharkiv for the first time since the start of the full-scale war unleashed by the Russian Federation,” Mayor Igor Terekhov said on May 10.
On May 14, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) suggested that Ukraine had won the Battle of Kharkov. After a two-week lull, Kharkiv residents began to return home en masse.
“After we broke out of the siege of Mariupol, I went to Bucha, where the bodies of civilians killed by Russian troops were going to be searched,” recalls photographer and videographer Mstislav Chernov. “Almost immediately after that, I asked my editors to send me to Kharkov, the city where I was was born and raised, and where I have not been since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.”
At that time, Russian troops stood almost near the district city itself, and Kharkiv suffered from heavy artillery and RSDV attacks. The next three months Mstislav Chernov spent in the city filming the consequences of these attacks.
“It was a terrible deja vu — again I saw civilians killed by Russian shells, medics risking their lives trying to save the wounded, burning cars and destroyed houses,” Chernov said.
Once, arriving at the site of the shelling, Mstislav saw the killed people lying in front of the entrance of the house where he lived for several student years.
“It's like a nightmare from which it is impossible to wake up. Memories of the city of my childhood and youth are superimposed on the absurdity of these senseless attacks and murders,” the journalist shares.
In those months, he made several important shots for him. In them, he tried to reflect these feelings and show what the Russians were doing with Kharkov, which they could not occupy, and therefore mercilessly shelled.
Over the following months, Ukrainian troops began to gradually push the Russians away from the city. The shelling almost stopped, but other terrible pictures emerged: liberated but destroyed villages, burned vehicles, bodies of Russian soldiers on the roads.
“All this happened in the places where I spent my childhood,” says Mstislav Chernov. “It was not just the liberation of the land, but the liberation of memory and family history.”
Mstislav Chernov — Ukrainian photographer, journalist of the Associated Press, director, war correspondent, President of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers, honorary member of “Ukrainian PEN” and writer. Covered the Revolution of Dignity, the War in Eastern Ukraine, the aftermath of the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, the Syrian Civil War, the Battle of Mosul in Iraq, the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022, including the Mariupol Blockade (for this work he received Deutsche Welle Freedom of Speech Award, George George Prize) Jongadze, Knight International Journalism Awards, Biagio Agnes Award, Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award, Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award, Free Media Awards, according to the results of 2022 was included in the ratings “People of the NV 2022 in the Year of War” and “14 songs, photos and art objects that became symbols of Ukrainian resistance” from Forbes Ukraine, and video materials from Mariupol became the basis of the film “20 Days in Mariupol”.
Photographer's social networks: Facebook,Instagram
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 project is implemented thanks to support of ZMIN.
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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