Documentary photographer Serhiy Korovainyi visits the de-occupied villages and towns in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, recording how people survived the occupation and are gradually returning to life.
"We survived! We survived!" a Ukrainian officer shouted to Yuriy and Halyna from Mala Komyshuvakha when he met them again after the liberation. His brigade held the line here in the spring of 2022. The elderly couple communicated well with the military, and they painfully left the village, retreating to more convenient battlegrounds with heavy fighting.
War has swept through Slobozhanshchyna, leaving behind ruined towns and shattered lives. Due to its strategic location, the town of Izyum and the surrounding villages were a key battleground for the Russian and Ukrainian armies.
In the autumn of 2022, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched the lightning-quick Kharkiv Operation and liberated areas in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, including Izyum. The liberated territories revealed to the world more crimes committed by the Russian Federation: the mass grave, where 449 Ukrainians are buried, is the most striking example.
However, the end of the occupation did not bring an end to poverty for the residents of Izyum. Destroyed infrastructure, damaged buildings, and painful memories. Yuriy and Halyna still have no electricity, gas, or communications in their village. Reconstruction is difficult. Fields and forests are mined. Mice and rats have taken over the houses. But there is a place for warmth (from a stove and the mutual help of family members), the joy of simple things, and the laughter of children.
Life goes on in the Izium region during the second winter of wartime.
Serhiy Korovainyi is a photojournalist and portrait photographer. He works with international publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Financial Times, and others. His documentary projects focus on the Russian-Ukrainian war, ecology and various aspects of Ukrainian modernity. He studied in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar at the Master's Programme in Visual Storytelling. In 2018 he joined The Gate, a leading Ukrainian photo agency. Sergiy's work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Ukraine, the USA, and the EU.
The programme is supported by the International Press Institute.
Read also: Documentary projects of 10 finalists of microgrants from UAPP.
Documentary photographer Serhiy Korovainyi visits the de-occupied villages and towns in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, recording how people survived the occupation and are gradually returning to life.
"We survived! We survived!" a Ukrainian officer shouted to Yuriy and Halyna from Mala Komyshuvakha when he met them again after the liberation. His brigade held the line here in the spring of 2022. The elderly couple communicated well with the military, and they painfully left the village, retreating to more convenient battlegrounds with heavy fighting.
War has swept through Slobozhanshchyna, leaving behind ruined towns and shattered lives. Due to its strategic location, the town of Izyum and the surrounding villages were a key battleground for the Russian and Ukrainian armies.
In the autumn of 2022, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched the lightning-quick Kharkiv Operation and liberated areas in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, including Izyum. The liberated territories revealed to the world more crimes committed by the Russian Federation: the mass grave, where 449 Ukrainians are buried, is the most striking example.
However, the end of the occupation did not bring an end to poverty for the residents of Izyum. Destroyed infrastructure, damaged buildings, and painful memories. Yuriy and Halyna still have no electricity, gas, or communications in their village. Reconstruction is difficult. Fields and forests are mined. Mice and rats have taken over the houses. But there is a place for warmth (from a stove and the mutual help of family members), the joy of simple things, and the laughter of children.
Life goes on in the Izium region during the second winter of wartime.
Serhiy Korovainyi is a photojournalist and portrait photographer. He works with international publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Financial Times, and others. His documentary projects focus on the Russian-Ukrainian war, ecology and various aspects of Ukrainian modernity. He studied in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar at the Master's Programme in Visual Storytelling. In 2018 he joined The Gate, a leading Ukrainian photo agency. Sergiy's work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Ukraine, the USA, and the EU.
The programme is supported by the International Press Institute.
Read also: Documentary projects of 10 finalists of microgrants from UAPP.
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.
