Editor's Note: People interviewed for this story are not identified by their full names to protect their identities since they or their relatives still remain in Russian-occupied towns in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The native city of released prisoner Bohdan, which is still under Russian occupation, is also not mentioned to protect
Kindergarten teacher Olena Naumova was struggling to breathe as she sat in the back seat of a car driving through the streets of her hometown of Kherson on the morning of Aug. 23. There was a tight plastic bag over her head and three Russian soldiers surrounded her. Naumova knew
The good-humored Ukrainian fighter pilot Danylo Murashko was in low spirits on Jan. 27. He hadn’t gone out on a sortie in several days, which always put him in a bad mood. Noticing Murashko’s state of mind, his commander, lieutenant colonel Rostyslav Lazarenko, decided to allow 24-year-old Murashko
BROVARY, Kyiv Oblast – That early morning on Jan. 18, Iryna Laptinova, a kindergarten teacher in the city of Brovary was getting ready for yet another joyful day of working with children. As usual, she came to work early to prepare the classroom and greet her little students. Many of them
A Russian missile killed 46 people after smashing straight into an apartment building in the city of Dnipro on Jan. 14. It was one of the deadliest single Russian attacks on Ukraine and the deadliest one for Dnipro, a central Ukrainian city with a pre-war population of nearly 1 million.
On Dec. 18, Kyiv resident Tetiana Venhlinska was without power at home for 10 hours straight. The blackout was imposed following another large-scale missile strike in a series of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. For most Kyiv residents, the long power outage was likely a mere annoying inconvenience.
Russia unleashed its 10th mass missile strike targeting Ukraine's critical infrastructure in the afternoon of Jan. 14. The nationwide attack damaged critical infrastructure in several oblasts, according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. The hits caused emergency blackouts in multiple regions. The strike also hit a nine-story apartment building in Dnipro
When Russian forces opened fire on the peaceful village of Oskil, Kharkiv Oblast, on March 27, Svitlana Voshchana realized her friend’s home was under attack. When the attack stopped, she rushed to their home, hoping the family had managed to hide. Stepping into their yard, she saw the house
When Ukrainian soldiers were entering the village of Yampil in Donetsk Oblast after five months of Russian occupation, they discovered an abandoned zoo on the outskirts. Dozens of animal corpses, either killed by Russian troops or dead of starvation, were lying throughout the zoo’s territory. But in one locked
Russian missiles were shot down in Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Mykolaiv, and Sumy oblasts on the morning of Dec. 29, according to local authorities.
The lives of millions of Ukrainians turned upside down in 2022, as Russia waged a brutal all-out war against their home. This year, we interviewed frontline soldiers, released prisoners of war, families of those killed by this war, survivors of Russian occupation and torture, volunteers, and officials. All of them
On a warm day in early September, Anastasiia Kolchyna took her nine-year-old sons, twin brothers Ruslan and Denys, for a walk. They went to a small park in their native Zelenodolsk, a town in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, where many locals would gather on the weekends. The family was enjoying the outdoors
Days before giving birth to her first child, Ukrainian military medic Mariana Mamonova was made to board a plane in the Russian city of Taganrog. She was blindfolded, and her hands were bound with rope. “Do you know where they’re taking us?” she heard a man sitting next to
On the evening of Feb. 24, Nataliia Sivak received a terrifying message from her younger brother, Ukrainian soldier Yakiv Nehrii. "Tell everyone I love them very much," the message read. "We are under heavy attack." It was the last time she heard from him. When Russia launched its full-scale war
When Russia's drone strike hit a residential building in central Kyiv on the morning of Oct. 17, emergency workers turned up at the scene within minutes. As rescuers worked to put out the fire and clear out the rubble of the severely damaged high-rise apartment complex, medics provided first aid
Anastasiia Buhera, a university student from Izium, hid inside her sofa when she heard the Russian soldiers approaching. She held her breath and froze in fear. On that day in May, ten Russian soldiers searched every room in Buhera and her parents’ home in then-occupied Izium, Kharkiv Oblast. As the
