Ukraine - Recovery in Conflict
Field-based photography and video documenting civilian impact and recovery in the midst of conflict.
In February 2022, life in Ukraine changed forever following the full-scale Russian invasion. Villages and towns found themselves on the frontline, trapped between crossfire for months. Homes, streets and vast areas of agricultural land have been contaminated by landmines, with an estimated two million laid since the start of the war.
Photographed between 2022 and 2025, this series documents the impact of the conflict on everyday life. It captures the work of Ukrainian men and women risking their lives to clear mines and unexploded ordnance, protecting communities and supporting recovery.
Avid historian and collector, Oleksandr lived through six months of Russian occupation.
He lost his leg to a mine and his fingers to a booby trap.
He lost his leg to a mine and his fingers to a booby trap.
— Oleksandr, Snihurivka village, Mykolaiv.
Across Ukraine, landmines and explosive remnants of war are killing and injuring civilians, reshaping lives in an instant.
Hrakove village, Kharkiv.
Under Russian occupation for six months, the population fell from 750 to just 47. Homes were reduced to rubble, the school and community centre destroyed.
Mines were laid throughout the village, including PFM-1s — ‘butterfly’ mines scattered from the air.
PFM-1 ‘butterfly' mine found in Hrakove village. With 40 grams of liquid explosive in each they can cause devastating injury.
An estimated 1400 civilians have been injured by mines or explosives since the start of the war.
“I went to collect apricot branches to heat the house. There was a PFM-1 mine under the leaves. I stepped on it and my leg was gone.
Hope is the most important thing. Without hope, there is nothing to live for.”
— Mykhailo, Nova Husarivka village, Mykolaiv region.
— Mykhailo, Nova Husarivka village, Mykolaiv region.
“I ran out of the house and my son and grandson, Sashunia, just 10 years old, were lying there already dead.
My eldest son had lost his fingers.
Then they started shooting — shot after shot, with planes and helicopters overhead.”
— Nadiia, Korolivka village, Kyiv region.
Beyond the immediate human toll, agricultural land across Ukraine remains heavily contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance.
“Everything is broken, burned. Mines, tripwires all over the place – including the tractors.
There were at least 500 mines in the grain store.
10 days ago, 250 mines were found in a field.”
— Alexander, landowner, Kharkiv region.
Demining teams are working to clear contaminated land, though the scale of the task remains vast.
New technologies are helping to speed up mine clearance.
“My hope is that the war will end, that no one will ever know what a minefield is.
I hope that we can clear everything as safely and quickly as possible.”
— Karina, deminer, Ukraine
