Warning! The material contains sensitive information and the photographs contain scenes of violence that may shock you.
On 24 February 2022, a large-scale invasion of Russian troops began in several directions: near the line of contact in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, from the temporarily occupied Crimea and Belarus to Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kyiv. Russian troops planned to capture the capital in two to three days, but their plan failed. Kyiv held out, but the Russians occupied part of the region and came close to the capital. Fierce fighting took place near Kyiv.
Today, the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers is publishing photos by Oleksandr Ratushniak. The photographer tells us about his work in the first month of the war, when chaos was raging around him and Kyiv was defending itself with all its might.
With this material, we are launching a series of publications about the battles for Kyiv at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in the spring of 2022.
In the first days of full-scale war, the Russian military advanced towards Kyiv. They passed through Ivankiv, Obukhovychi, Katyuzhanka, and other settlements north of the capital. But the key points were the towns of Borodyanka, Bucha, and Irpin. Borodyanka was shelled by the Russians from the ground and the air - it is one of the most destroyed settlements in the Kyiv region. There was heavy fighting in Vasylkiv, Russian troops shelled Irpin, and fighting continued near the Antonov airport.
At the end of February, Russian troops captured Vorzel and Nemishayeve. A convoy of Russian vehicles entered Bucha on Vokzalna Street. The column was dispersed by the Ukrainian military. After a failed attempt to enter Bucha, the Russians shelled the town. In March, Russian troops attacked Irpin. By 5 March, Bucha was fully occupied. In mid-March, the Ukrainian side agreed with the Russians to create 'green' corridors to evacuate people. Before that, residents of the occupied territories in the Kyiv region were evacuated by volunteers. People were picked up near the almost-destroyed Romanivskyi Bridge in Irpin. Many people walked, and some drove. On the Zhytomyr motorway, many wrecked cars, even those marked 'children', were left - they were shot at by the Russian military.
On 21 March, the Ukrainian military liberated the village of Makariv. By the end of the month, Ukrainian forces had surrounded Irpin, Gostomel, and Bucha. Russian troops began to withdraw from the occupied territories of the Kyiv region. Irpin was liberated from the Russian occupiers on 28 March and Bucha on 31 March.
Photographer Oleksandr Ratushniak decided to stay in Kyiv until the very end and considered the Russians' bombing of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant to be a critical moment. The photographer explains that from the first day of the war, he clung to his friends who had joined a volunteer unit.
'On 24 February, I came to my friends who had joined a unit based in Kyiv. I decided to take pictures of their work, so it would be obvious. Since the guys didn't have any heavy equipment and they were going on specific missions in cars with a limited number of seats, they didn't need an extra person. That's when I realized that I had to look for other ways of documenting the war,' says Ratushniak.
Oleksandr Ratushniak had only a scooter and a bicycle, so he used them to get to different parts of the city and region:
'I often used to go to various "hits" in Kyiv by bike or subway to save fuel. I would dress up and ride my scooter to Irpin, Bucha or Stoyanka. That was when the evacuations took place. Everyone was leaving and I was the only one going that way,' the photographer recalls.
Oleksandr only received his accreditation from the Ministry of Defence on 11 March, and before that he was working at his own risk. Once he almost got into trouble near a supermarket for filming a queue of people in the store.
’The video was deleted from my phone. It's a good thing they didn't beat me up. To be honest, even after that the accreditation didn't help much because the checkpoints had never heard of such a document. Everyone was concentrating on passports and residence permits,’ says the photographer.
Oleksandr Ratushniak explains that he was able to film most of the stories thanks to his contacts with people. For example, volunteers who delivered aid or evacuated civilians.
‘Towards the end of March, I got acquainted with the Carpathian Sich battalion, so I was able to film the fighting. But, just like before, they did not take me on missions because they did not need an additional burden. After all, going out in the middle of the night with just a camera in hand was not a good idea,’ Oleksandr recalls.
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Oleksandr Ratushniak is a Ukrainian photojournalist. He is a holder of the Order of Merit III class (2022). He worked in a bank and took pictures in a studio. He has worked with news agencies, including AFP and Reuters, and is currently a freelance photographer. He photographed the events that took place on Euromaidan. He actively documents the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Photographer's social networks:
Facebook
Instagram
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
Warning! The material contains sensitive information and the photographs contain scenes of violence that may shock you.
On 24 February 2022, a large-scale invasion of Russian troops began in several directions: near the line of contact in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, from the temporarily occupied Crimea and Belarus to Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kyiv. Russian troops planned to capture the capital in two to three days, but their plan failed. Kyiv held out, but the Russians occupied part of the region and came close to the capital. Fierce fighting took place near Kyiv.
Today, the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers is publishing photos by Oleksandr Ratushniak. The photographer tells us about his work in the first month of the war, when chaos was raging around him and Kyiv was defending itself with all its might.
With this material, we are launching a series of publications about the battles for Kyiv at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in the spring of 2022.
In the first days of full-scale war, the Russian military advanced towards Kyiv. They passed through Ivankiv, Obukhovychi, Katyuzhanka, and other settlements north of the capital. But the key points were the towns of Borodyanka, Bucha, and Irpin. Borodyanka was shelled by the Russians from the ground and the air - it is one of the most destroyed settlements in the Kyiv region. There was heavy fighting in Vasylkiv, Russian troops shelled Irpin, and fighting continued near the Antonov airport.
At the end of February, Russian troops captured Vorzel and Nemishayeve. A convoy of Russian vehicles entered Bucha on Vokzalna Street. The column was dispersed by the Ukrainian military. After a failed attempt to enter Bucha, the Russians shelled the town. In March, Russian troops attacked Irpin. By 5 March, Bucha was fully occupied. In mid-March, the Ukrainian side agreed with the Russians to create 'green' corridors to evacuate people. Before that, residents of the occupied territories in the Kyiv region were evacuated by volunteers. People were picked up near the almost-destroyed Romanivskyi Bridge in Irpin. Many people walked, and some drove. On the Zhytomyr motorway, many wrecked cars, even those marked 'children', were left - they were shot at by the Russian military.
On 21 March, the Ukrainian military liberated the village of Makariv. By the end of the month, Ukrainian forces had surrounded Irpin, Gostomel, and Bucha. Russian troops began to withdraw from the occupied territories of the Kyiv region. Irpin was liberated from the Russian occupiers on 28 March and Bucha on 31 March.
Photographer Oleksandr Ratushniak decided to stay in Kyiv until the very end and considered the Russians' bombing of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant to be a critical moment. The photographer explains that from the first day of the war, he clung to his friends who had joined a volunteer unit.
'On 24 February, I came to my friends who had joined a unit based in Kyiv. I decided to take pictures of their work, so it would be obvious. Since the guys didn't have any heavy equipment and they were going on specific missions in cars with a limited number of seats, they didn't need an extra person. That's when I realized that I had to look for other ways of documenting the war,' says Ratushniak.
Oleksandr Ratushniak had only a scooter and a bicycle, so he used them to get to different parts of the city and region:
'I often used to go to various "hits" in Kyiv by bike or subway to save fuel. I would dress up and ride my scooter to Irpin, Bucha or Stoyanka. That was when the evacuations took place. Everyone was leaving and I was the only one going that way,' the photographer recalls.
Oleksandr only received his accreditation from the Ministry of Defence on 11 March, and before that he was working at his own risk. Once he almost got into trouble near a supermarket for filming a queue of people in the store.
’The video was deleted from my phone. It's a good thing they didn't beat me up. To be honest, even after that the accreditation didn't help much because the checkpoints had never heard of such a document. Everyone was concentrating on passports and residence permits,’ says the photographer.
Oleksandr Ratushniak explains that he was able to film most of the stories thanks to his contacts with people. For example, volunteers who delivered aid or evacuated civilians.
‘Towards the end of March, I got acquainted with the Carpathian Sich battalion, so I was able to film the fighting. But, just like before, they did not take me on missions because they did not need an additional burden. After all, going out in the middle of the night with just a camera in hand was not a good idea,’ Oleksandr recalls.
Oleksandr Ratushniak is a Ukrainian photojournalist. He is a holder of the Order of Merit III class (2022). He worked in a bank and took pictures in a studio. He has worked with news agencies, including AFP and Reuters, and is currently a freelance photographer. He photographed the events that took place on Euromaidan. He actively documents the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Photographer's social networks:
Facebook
Instagram
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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