We continue to share the documentary projects of the finalists within the framework of grant support from the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers. Timofey Melnikov went to Donetsk region to work on the documentary project “Echoes of Donbass”.
In November 2023, I went on a business trip to Donetsk region. The main point of the route was the town of Hirnyk in Donetsk region. It is located 12 kilometers from the front line at the time of the trip and 25 kilometers from occupied Donetsk. Before the war, more than 10 thousand inhabitants lived in it, and now there are only a few. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the city has been under constant shelling. Most people have left the city, and those who remain are forced to survive.
The purpose of the trip itself is a humanitarian mission to support the remaining residents. Volunteer groups constantly travel to this region, bringing food, water, hygiene products and heating equipment to help the local population. In the city itself, for days, weeks and months there is no electricity, heat supply, water and cellular communication. You can get to it by the main road Dnipro — Donetsk, the main transport hub of the whole country with hostilities in the East.
The road from the Dnieper to the destination takes about 3 hours, more than 250 kilometers. Volunteers travel this distance back and forth every day. They ride on fully loaded cars to provide residents with everything they need. Without humanitarian aid, life in this region is impossible, there are no grocery stores in the towns near the front line.
The heart of Donbas is coal. The whole region is completely covered with coal mines. The coal industry generates profits for both local residents and the whole country. After the start of the war in 2014, many mines were occupied by Russia. Now, after the start of the new phase of the war in 2022, the remaining mines began to operate in a limited mode. This greatly reduced the income of the local population.
The whole trip was accompanied by a volunteer group, which included Alina, Pavel, Vladimir and Maxim. They work for the charity Children New Generation. Their volunteer missions to Donbas are carried out almost daily in shifts. Without their help, people would not be able to exist here. The volunteers themselves are locals, after the start of the war in the East in 2014, they lived in occupied Donetsk for a year. And later they moved to the territory controlled by Ukraine. But when the war again entered a hot phase, and the Russian army began to advance, seizing Ukrainian lands, they decided to help their native region.
The main goal of this trip is to help people prepare for a difficult winter. With the support of HelpDesk Media, not indifferent people raised money to help residents of Donbas. And volunteers agreed to help organize the delivery of aid. The main problem for locals is the heat in winter. Despite the large reserves of coal in Donetsk region, it is now very difficult to buy it here. People do not have enough money for this, and because of the small volumes of coal production, there is not enough coal for everyone. So the goal of the mission was to find coal and deliver it to those who needed it most.
In this region there are a lot of tericones — artificial mountains from the rock that was extracted from the mine. On them, people can find themselves some coal to heat their house. But now, for military reasons, most terricons cannot be hit, it can be dangerous.
In many areas of Donbas there is a complete lack of water: somewhere, like in Donetsk itself, since 2014, and somewhere quite recently. There is no water in this part of Donetsk region since mid-2023. After the Russian army bombed the dam of the Karlovsky reservoir, thousands of people are forced to live without water supply. Water is brought here by volunteers and local authorities. It is common — in many yards there are public tanks in which residents can draw water on their own. People are forced to live like this for months, saving water, hoping that next time the tanks will not be empty.
People are forced to equip their entire lives in conditions of complete lack of water supply. The need to bathe, wash dishes or do laundry can be a real test for them. After all, in order to live normally, they first need to go and collect water in mobile water tanks. Each such exit they are forced to make, fearing that at any moment shelling may begin.
Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine (from February 2022 to November 2023), there have been more than 5,700 air alarms in the Donetsk region. For each of them there is a considerable risk that the result for local residents can be fatal. During the same period, more than 1,100 times media and city authorities reported explosions in the region. More than 650 artillery attacks were recorded. This is the largest indicator in all of Ukraine, and the most tragic. Many residents are forced to stay in their homes because they have nowhere else to hide.
Altogether, the alarms in Donbas have been going on for more than 130 days. But in reality, this region has been living in terrible conditions since 2014. It was from the moment when the Russian army faithfully occupied Donetsk and Luhansk, and later unleashed a bloody war. And then repeated it again on a much more terrible scale in 2022, wiping Mariupol, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka and many other major cities in Donbas from the face of the earth.
Front-line villages and cities of Donbass are under daily shelling. These places are constantly subjected to rocket, artillery, mortar and drone shelling. Most of the houses are not equipped with bomb shelters and other means of protection. Local residents cannot hide from the shelling of the Russian army. Every day they live in fear that a projectile could fly into their home. To protect against shelling, a mobile bomb shelter was installed in the center of Hirnyk village, capable of protecting them from shrapnel during shelling.
Galina lives in a house with her son Ruslan just next to the tericon. They have a small farm and several small kittens. It is very cold in their old house and they are forced to save heat by not going outside, without opening windows and doors. They do not have money to buy coal, they stretch one bag for a whole month. Sometimes local police officer Alexander comes to them to guide them and deliver humanitarian aid.
In the photo Alexander, a guy from Gornik. In his youth, he received an industrial injury while working in a mine. Since then, he has lost the ability to walk and is forced to move around in a wheelchair. He now makes a living repairing bicycles, scooters and various tools. Volunteers brought him coal, because a simple miner from Donetsk region cannot afford to buy coal for the winter.
This is Oksana's family, she has a husband and 3 small children. Their house smells strongly of burning, they are forced to heat with food packages, newspapers and a dryer. They live in one room to save on heating. Volunteers regularly visit their families and bring everything they need so that they can continue to live. They cannot evacuate, because they do not have relatives in other cities where they could be accepted.
This is Paraskovia, a pensioner from Miner. Recently, she does not get out of bed at all. A few years ago, she was seriously injured and has not been able to move since. She lives with her older sister. Together they support each other to survive in difficult conditions.
Every day Donbas is under constant fire from the Russian occupation forces. Thousands of people are suffering: many injured or killed, and their homes destroyed. Many people were forced to leave their homes and evacuate to safer areas. And the rest of the inhabitants survive in the conditions of a bloody war to complete destruction. Thousands of homes have been destroyed since February 2022, their residents will no longer be able to return home.
During the full-scale war in Ukraine, many citizens cooperated for the common goal — victory in the war. The photo shows a cafe on the border of Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions, where all those who help the country in difficult times are fed free of charge. Military, doctors, volunteers, journalists and many others can eat for free before a difficult trip to Donbas. The owners of the cafe are ready to help free of charge, doing everything possible. And all volunteers are ready to help the owners of the coffee shop themselves, so that they can continue to work for a common goal. The military leaves here their battle flags, artifacts and chevrons for memory.
Tymofii Melnykov — Ukrainian documentary filmmaker. For seven years of work, he devoted most of his time to journalism, namely reportage photography. Since February 24, 2022, he has been engaged in military documentaries - filming chronicles of the war in Odessa.
The program is supported by the International Press Institute.
We continue to share the documentary projects of the finalists within the framework of grant support from the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers. Timofey Melnikov went to Donetsk region to work on the documentary project “Echoes of Donbass”.
In November 2023, I went on a business trip to Donetsk region. The main point of the route was the town of Hirnyk in Donetsk region. It is located 12 kilometers from the front line at the time of the trip and 25 kilometers from occupied Donetsk. Before the war, more than 10 thousand inhabitants lived in it, and now there are only a few. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the city has been under constant shelling. Most people have left the city, and those who remain are forced to survive.
The purpose of the trip itself is a humanitarian mission to support the remaining residents. Volunteer groups constantly travel to this region, bringing food, water, hygiene products and heating equipment to help the local population. In the city itself, for days, weeks and months there is no electricity, heat supply, water and cellular communication. You can get to it by the main road Dnipro — Donetsk, the main transport hub of the whole country with hostilities in the East.
The road from the Dnieper to the destination takes about 3 hours, more than 250 kilometers. Volunteers travel this distance back and forth every day. They ride on fully loaded cars to provide residents with everything they need. Without humanitarian aid, life in this region is impossible, there are no grocery stores in the towns near the front line.
The heart of Donbas is coal. The whole region is completely covered with coal mines. The coal industry generates profits for both local residents and the whole country. After the start of the war in 2014, many mines were occupied by Russia. Now, after the start of the new phase of the war in 2022, the remaining mines began to operate in a limited mode. This greatly reduced the income of the local population.
The whole trip was accompanied by a volunteer group, which included Alina, Pavel, Vladimir and Maxim. They work for the charity Children New Generation. Their volunteer missions to Donbas are carried out almost daily in shifts. Without their help, people would not be able to exist here. The volunteers themselves are locals, after the start of the war in the East in 2014, they lived in occupied Donetsk for a year. And later they moved to the territory controlled by Ukraine. But when the war again entered a hot phase, and the Russian army began to advance, seizing Ukrainian lands, they decided to help their native region.
The main goal of this trip is to help people prepare for a difficult winter. With the support of HelpDesk Media, not indifferent people raised money to help residents of Donbas. And volunteers agreed to help organize the delivery of aid. The main problem for locals is the heat in winter. Despite the large reserves of coal in Donetsk region, it is now very difficult to buy it here. People do not have enough money for this, and because of the small volumes of coal production, there is not enough coal for everyone. So the goal of the mission was to find coal and deliver it to those who needed it most.
In this region there are a lot of tericones — artificial mountains from the rock that was extracted from the mine. On them, people can find themselves some coal to heat their house. But now, for military reasons, most terricons cannot be hit, it can be dangerous.
In many areas of Donbas there is a complete lack of water: somewhere, like in Donetsk itself, since 2014, and somewhere quite recently. There is no water in this part of Donetsk region since mid-2023. After the Russian army bombed the dam of the Karlovsky reservoir, thousands of people are forced to live without water supply. Water is brought here by volunteers and local authorities. It is common — in many yards there are public tanks in which residents can draw water on their own. People are forced to live like this for months, saving water, hoping that next time the tanks will not be empty.
People are forced to equip their entire lives in conditions of complete lack of water supply. The need to bathe, wash dishes or do laundry can be a real test for them. After all, in order to live normally, they first need to go and collect water in mobile water tanks. Each such exit they are forced to make, fearing that at any moment shelling may begin.
Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine (from February 2022 to November 2023), there have been more than 5,700 air alarms in the Donetsk region. For each of them there is a considerable risk that the result for local residents can be fatal. During the same period, more than 1,100 times media and city authorities reported explosions in the region. More than 650 artillery attacks were recorded. This is the largest indicator in all of Ukraine, and the most tragic. Many residents are forced to stay in their homes because they have nowhere else to hide.
Altogether, the alarms in Donbas have been going on for more than 130 days. But in reality, this region has been living in terrible conditions since 2014. It was from the moment when the Russian army faithfully occupied Donetsk and Luhansk, and later unleashed a bloody war. And then repeated it again on a much more terrible scale in 2022, wiping Mariupol, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka and many other major cities in Donbas from the face of the earth.
Front-line villages and cities of Donbass are under daily shelling. These places are constantly subjected to rocket, artillery, mortar and drone shelling. Most of the houses are not equipped with bomb shelters and other means of protection. Local residents cannot hide from the shelling of the Russian army. Every day they live in fear that a projectile could fly into their home. To protect against shelling, a mobile bomb shelter was installed in the center of Hirnyk village, capable of protecting them from shrapnel during shelling.
Galina lives in a house with her son Ruslan just next to the tericon. They have a small farm and several small kittens. It is very cold in their old house and they are forced to save heat by not going outside, without opening windows and doors. They do not have money to buy coal, they stretch one bag for a whole month. Sometimes local police officer Alexander comes to them to guide them and deliver humanitarian aid.
In the photo Alexander, a guy from Gornik. In his youth, he received an industrial injury while working in a mine. Since then, he has lost the ability to walk and is forced to move around in a wheelchair. He now makes a living repairing bicycles, scooters and various tools. Volunteers brought him coal, because a simple miner from Donetsk region cannot afford to buy coal for the winter.
This is Oksana's family, she has a husband and 3 small children. Their house smells strongly of burning, they are forced to heat with food packages, newspapers and a dryer. They live in one room to save on heating. Volunteers regularly visit their families and bring everything they need so that they can continue to live. They cannot evacuate, because they do not have relatives in other cities where they could be accepted.
This is Paraskovia, a pensioner from Miner. Recently, she does not get out of bed at all. A few years ago, she was seriously injured and has not been able to move since. She lives with her older sister. Together they support each other to survive in difficult conditions.
Every day Donbas is under constant fire from the Russian occupation forces. Thousands of people are suffering: many injured or killed, and their homes destroyed. Many people were forced to leave their homes and evacuate to safer areas. And the rest of the inhabitants survive in the conditions of a bloody war to complete destruction. Thousands of homes have been destroyed since February 2022, their residents will no longer be able to return home.
During the full-scale war in Ukraine, many citizens cooperated for the common goal — victory in the war. The photo shows a cafe on the border of Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions, where all those who help the country in difficult times are fed free of charge. Military, doctors, volunteers, journalists and many others can eat for free before a difficult trip to Donbas. The owners of the cafe are ready to help free of charge, doing everything possible. And all volunteers are ready to help the owners of the coffee shop themselves, so that they can continue to work for a common goal. The military leaves here their battle flags, artifacts and chevrons for memory.
Tymofii Melnykov — Ukrainian documentary filmmaker. For seven years of work, he devoted most of his time to journalism, namely reportage photography. Since February 24, 2022, he has been engaged in military documentaries - filming chronicles of the war in Odessa.
The program is supported by the International Press Institute.
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