Coming of Age Amidst War

Sofiia Chyhyryn, 19, and Vadym Beilakh, 19, pose for a portrait during territorial defense training in Kyiv, on Feb. 5, 2022. Sofiia, a business psychology student, and Vadym, a management student, attended the training for the first time to prepare before the full-scale Russian invasion. “Prepare for the worst, believe in the best,” they shared.

Karina Bendik, 21, stands in the crater left by a Russian drone explosion in her yard, one day before joining the Ukrainian army, in Kyiv, Ukraine on Nov. 11, 2023.

Children mourn beside the coffins of Anna and Yuliia Aksenchenko during their funeral ceremony in Dobropillia, Donetsk Oblast, on June 30, 2023. Parents, relatives, and friends gathered to say goodbye to the twins, who were killed in the Russian attack on the RIA pizzeria in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, just days earlier. Anna and Yuliia had completed the eighth grade that year and were set to celebrate their 15th birthday in September 2023, a milestone that will never come.

Misha (L), Sonia (behind), and Maia (R) attend the “Free Azovstal Defenders” demonstration on Khreschatyk Street in Kyiv, on March 24, 2024. The classmates come together to advocate for the rights of Ukrainian servicemen to be released from Russian captivity.

Andrii (C) and Mykyta (R), both 16, along with their teacher, weave camouflage nets for the Ukrainian army in Kharkiv, on April 23, 2024. Due to its proximity to the Russian border, Kharkiv has been under relentless Russian attacks since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. For some local students, crafting nets became a meaningful response to the war. “We weave nets because we don’t work yet, so we don’t have money to donate to the army, which would be the right thing to do,” Andrii and Mykyta shared.

Anna and Mariia (pseudonyms), who survived the Russian occupation of Bucha, Kyiv Oblast, are photographed in their yard on July 6, 2023.

Students of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy throw a wreath bearing a “memorial” portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a stone into the Dnipro River on the holiday of Ivana Kupala in Kyiv on July 17, 2022. According to the Ivana Kupala tradition, girls toss wreaths into the water, believing that if their wreaths sink, they will not find love that year. However, during this first celebration of Kupala since Russia’s full-scale invasion, students altered the ritual, deliberately sinking a wreath with Putin's image as a symbolic gesture.

Anna (L) hugs her friend Maia after a heavy rain in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 29, 2024.

Classmates Dzvinka, Anna, Maia, Kseniia, Sonia, Dara, and Misha gaze at the evening view of Kyiv on March 29, 2024. They went to school 11 years ago, right before the EuroMaidan Revolution began, starting Ukraine's shift from Russia's influence. Now, they are graduating from school amid Russia's ongoing full-scale invasion.