Ivan Liubysh-Kirdei

Spring is in the air in the village of Zaitseve, a suburb of Horlivka. Mud squelches underfoot and the sky is blue above the roofs shattered by shells and perforated by splinters. The “green zone” stretching along the locals’ fields and gardens still stands bare, but it is fraught...

I had taken these pictures in Donetsk region a few days before we were encircled in Ilovaisk. They show different cities and towns, checkpoints and bases of our soldiers. For example, the tank photo was taken at a checkpoint that had sustained a mortar attack just a few days before, but our guys...