COVID-19 SPIKE
In East Ukraine People’s Biggest Wish is Peace
After over four years of conflict, peace is what the men, women and children in east Ukraine want more than anything.
ПЕРЕСМЕНКА
Sixteen thousand people work at the Minsk Tractor Factory, which is why it takes up to half an hour for the day shift to leave the grounds.
This video was filmed on August, 19th 2020 when a Belarusian choir came to support the factory’s employees, 2,000 of whom had supported a strike action with their signatures.
They had hoped to strike against the actions of the Belarusian regime and against the official results of the presidential election.
But after a few days the strike was quashed through threats of dismissal. The choir sang until police dispersed the protest outside the factory walls.
Zolote-4, eastern Ukraine
Here is the story from Zolote, a place on the contact line in eastern Ukraine where parents and teachers living in the conflict area to be protected from the conflict.
Since the beginning of the conflict in 2014 over 750 education facilities have been damaged and many more experienced disruptions to education.
According to the Ukraine Education Cluster between January and April 2019, there were 14 conflict-related incidents resulting in physical damages to school infrastructure,
2 education facilities that have been temporarily closed, 3 cases of military presence in close vicinity to the education facility and 4 incidents resulting in threat of death
or injuries to students, teachers and parents. Comparatively, there were only three incidents during the same period last year.
The alarming increase is reminiscent of the violence experienced by schoolchildren and teachers in 2017, when there were more than 40 attacks on education facilities.
Daryna: six years of hope in eastern Ukraine
Daryna lives in a small town close to the frontline in eastern Ukraine. She finds solace by continuing her education at the local school.
With the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine entering its seventh year and COVID-19 pandemic spreading, the needs of children have become even more acute.
With support from EU Humanitarian Aid, UNICEF Ukraine helps the most vulnerable, like Daryna, with access to education and humanitarian assistance.
Poems for peace: Ukraine | UNICEF
Children affected by conflict in eastern Ukraine are using poetry to call for peace.
This can’t be the new normal
Using sandbags to protect themselves against stray bullets, taking shelter in underground bunkers, terrified to learn.
Sonia’s school is just one of over 750 educational facilities that have been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine’s five-year conflict.
Video done for UNICEF
EUROMAIDAN
Young Ukrainians who have never lived in the Soviet Union as well as an older generation with progressive views have come out to express their desire to move closer to the European Union.
Ukraine on November 30 postponed the decision to sign an association agreement with European Union.
For various reasons President Viktor Yanukovych then refused to sign the agreement, which triggered mass protests and further upheaval in Ukraine, in the end forcing Yanukovych out of power and out of the country.
The previous so-called Orange revolution in 2004 did not bring any major changes to the way Ukraine is governed.
The political system was perceived as thoroughly corrupt, which was a source of increasing public discontent.
When the new/old government came to power in 2004 all it cared was stuff its own pockets.
The Revolution in Kiev in the winter 2013/2014 focused on corruption and social injustice in Ukraine.
Protests started in November with students rallying in support of closer ties with the EU, and ended in February with shout-outs Maidan (Kiev’s Independence Square), which killed both anti-government protesters and police officers.
More than 120 people including police officers were killed in the riots on Maidan. Ukraine’s younger generation, raised after the fall of the Soviet Union is ready and committed to a European future.
The events on Maidan soon triggered the Russian annexation of Crimea, and the war in eastern Ukraine’s region of Donbass.
The Euromaidan multimedia project shows anti-government protesters fighting riot police in central Kiev. But they were not just fighting against government forces, but also against the entire corrupt government system.
ONE YEAR OF WAR
As for me, the conflict in Donbas started on the 13th of April 2014 in the city of Slovyansk. That day the pro-Russian separatists took over the police department and office of the security service.
It was my first experience working as a photographer in the conflict zone.
The pictures in this slide show represent a year of my work in eastern Ukraine covering the crisis from both sides of the conflict.
Shootings were in almost all cities of Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Most of the time I worked with Associated Press.
At the moment, I continue to cover the crisis in Donbas.
As a resident of Ukraine I can’t stay indifferent to the situation which happened in my country. I hope that the conflict is going to end soon.
In East Ukraine People’s Biggest Wish is Peace
After over four years of conflict, peace is what the men, women and children in east Ukraine want more than anything.
ПЕРЕСМЕНКА
Sixteen thousand people work at the Minsk Tractor Factory, which is why it takes up to half an hour for the day shift to leave the grounds.
This video was filmed on August, 19th 2020 when a Belarusian choir came to support the factory’s employees, 2,000 of whom had supported a strike action with their signatures.
They had hoped to strike against the actions of the Belarusian regime and against the official results of the presidential election.
But after a few days the strike was quashed through threats of dismissal. The choir sang until police dispersed the protest outside the factory walls.
Zolote-4, eastern Ukraine
Here is the story from Zolote, a place on the contact line in eastern Ukraine where parents and teachers living in the conflict area to be protected from the conflict.
Since the beginning of the conflict in 2014 over 750 education facilities have been damaged and many more experienced disruptions to education.
According to the Ukraine Education Cluster between January and April 2019, there were 14 conflict-related incidents resulting in physical damages to school infrastructure,
2 education facilities that have been temporarily closed, 3 cases of military presence in close vicinity to the education facility and 4 incidents resulting in threat of death
or injuries to students, teachers and parents. Comparatively, there were only three incidents during the same period last year.
The alarming increase is reminiscent of the violence experienced by schoolchildren and teachers in 2017, when there were more than 40 attacks on education facilities.
Daryna: six years of hope in eastern Ukraine
Daryna lives in a small town close to the frontline in eastern Ukraine. She finds solace by continuing her education at the local school.
With the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine entering its seventh year and COVID-19 pandemic spreading, the needs of children have become even more acute.
With support from EU Humanitarian Aid, UNICEF Ukraine helps the most vulnerable, like Daryna, with access to education and humanitarian assistance.
Poems for peace: Ukraine | UNICEF
Children affected by conflict in eastern Ukraine are using poetry to call for peace.
This can’t be the new normal
Using sandbags to protect themselves against stray bullets, taking shelter in underground bunkers, terrified to learn.
Sonia’s school is just one of over 750 educational facilities that have been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine’s five-year conflict.
Video done for UNICEF
EUROMAIDAN
Young Ukrainians who have never lived in the Soviet Union as well as an older generation with progressive views have come out to express their desire to move closer to the European Union.
Ukraine on November 30 postponed the decision to sign an association agreement with European Union.
For various reasons President Viktor Yanukovych then refused to sign the agreement, which triggered mass protests and further upheaval in Ukraine, in the end forcing Yanukovych out of power and out of the country.
The previous so-called Orange revolution in 2004 did not bring any major changes to the way Ukraine is governed.
The political system was perceived as thoroughly corrupt, which was a source of increasing public discontent.
When the new/old government came to power in 2004 all it cared was stuff its own pockets.
The Revolution in Kiev in the winter 2013/2014 focused on corruption and social injustice in Ukraine.
Protests started in November with students rallying in support of closer ties with the EU, and ended in February with shout-outs Maidan (Kiev’s Independence Square), which killed both anti-government protesters and police officers.
More than 120 people including police officers were killed in the riots on Maidan. Ukraine’s younger generation, raised after the fall of the Soviet Union is ready and committed to a European future.
The events on Maidan soon triggered the Russian annexation of Crimea, and the war in eastern Ukraine’s region of Donbass.
The Euromaidan multimedia project shows anti-government protesters fighting riot police in central Kiev. But they were not just fighting against government forces, but also against the entire corrupt government system.
ONE YEAR OF WAR
As for me, the conflict in Donbas started on the 13th of April 2014 in the city of Slovyansk. That day the pro-Russian separatists took over the police department and office of the security service.
It was my first experience working as a photographer in the conflict zone.
The pictures in this slide show represent a year of my work in eastern Ukraine covering the crisis from both sides of the conflict.
Shootings were in almost all cities of Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Most of the time I worked with Associated Press.
At the moment, I continue to cover the crisis in Donbas.
As a resident of Ukraine I can’t stay indifferent to the situation which happened in my country. I hope that the conflict is going to end soon.