A journey through Ukraine: living in a war zone – in pictures

Byron Smith spent six months travelling across the battle-torn nation, meeting injured civilians, amateur bomb-makers and daredevil swimmers

Main image: ‘Tenacious spirit’ … a civilian rides his bike past a destroyed vehicle outside the Ukranian city of Kupiansk. Photograph: Byron Smith

  • March, 2022

    Testament ’22 is Byron Smith’s debut monograph documenting his journey across battle-torn Ukraine during the first year after Russia’s invasion. Smith documents Ukrainians forced to leave their homes and worldly possessions and confront an uncertain future. Here we see a group who fled Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv that has seen heavy fighting and shelling. Testament ’22: A Year of War in Ukraine is available via Smitty Books All photographs: Byron Smith
    March, 2022Testament ’22 is Byron Smith’s debut monograph documenting his journey across battle-torn Ukraine during the first year after Russia’s invasion. Smith documents Ukrainians forced to leave their homes and worldly possessions and confront an uncertain future. Here we see a group who fled Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv that has seen heavy fighting and shelling. Testament ’22: A Year of War in Ukraine is available via Smitty Books All photographs: Byron Smith

  • February, 2022

    Preparing for a Russian advance, the western city of Lviv, known as the cradle of Ukrainian nationalism, turns into the 1940s with volunteers spending hours making anti-tank Czech hedgehogs, camouflage nets, and molotov cocktails on a massive scale
    February 2022.Preparing for a Russian advance, the western city of Lviv, an outpost known as the cradle of Ukrainian nationalism, turns into the 1940s with volunteers spending hours making anti-tank Czech hedgehogs, camouflage nets, and Molotov cocktails on a massive scale for the army. February 28, 2022.

  • March, 2022

    Refugees line up to board a train to Poland at the Lviv central train station. Less than a week into the war, one million refugees had left their homes. In the second round of talks, both countries agreed to create a ‘humanitarian corridor’ to allow more people to flee
    March, 2022Ukrainian refugees line up to board a train to Poland at the Lviv central train station in Lviv, Ukraine. March, 2022. Less than one week into the war of Russian aggression in Ukraine, 1 million refugees have left their homes. In the second round of talks, both countries agreed to create a “humanitarian corridor” and a potential ceasefire to allow more refugees to flee.

  • April, 2022

    Serhiy, 56, spends the afternoon helping his elderly neighbours recover buried tools in the rubble of their home in order to rebuild their house in Chernihiv. The city, with a population of 285,000, had been under siege for 39 days and 700 people had been killed, according to the city’s mayor
    April, 2022Serhiy, 56, spends the afternoon helping his elderly neighbours recover buried tools in the rubble of their home in order to rebuild their house in Chernihiv. The city, with a population of 285,000, had been under siege for 39 days and 700 people had been killed, according to the city’s mayor

  • July, 2022

    A couple spends the afternoon alone on the Desna River in Chernihiv. ‘People were out fishing, swimming, grilling,’ recalls Smith. ‘Air raid sirens would come and go. Nobody was in a hurry to go anywhere’
    A couple spends the afternoon alone on the Desna River. Chernihiv, Ukraine. July, 2022.”On the desna river in chernihiv. people were out fishing swimming grilling. air raid sirens would come and go. nobody was in a hurry to go anywhere”

  • July, 2022

    At sunset, borscht, bread, fried pork and mashed potatoes are shared between 40-plus local people who volunteered to clear rubble and debris from a shelled house in a northern area of Chernihiv. The clearing ritual is now seen throughout the country and has taken many forms, some including rave music
    July, 2022At sunset, borscht, bread, fried pork, and mashed potatoes are shared between 40+ local people who, after working hours, volunteered to come and clear rubble and debris from a shelled house in a northern area of Chernihiv in July 26, 2022. The clearing ritual is now seen throughout the country and has taken many forms, some including rave music.

  • November, 2022

    A civilian rides his bike past a destroyed vehicle outside the city of Kupiansk, which was liberated from Russian occupation by Ukrainian forces. You can read more about this image with the Observer’s Big Picture feature
    November, 2022.Testament ’22: A Year of War in UkraineA civilian rides his bike past a destroyed vehicle outside the Ukranian city of Kupiansk, which was liberated from Russian occupation by Ukrainian forces two months ago. November 12, 2022. HIGH RES FILEBIG PICtuRE = https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/article/2024/aug/25/the-big-picture-byron-smith-ukraine-testament-22

  • November, 2022

    Civilians pad a monument dedicated to soldiers lost since the war began in 2014, as the Ukrainian army pushes deeper into Russian-occupied Kherson oblast
    November, 2022.The Russian attack stalls, spring returns and Ukrainians embrace a respite from the endless bombing. Smith has given us a comprehensive look at war and resistance, but most importantly, he delivers the existential struggle of a nation that has given birth to a defiant and determined Ukrainian spirit that will prevail.Civilians pad a monument dedicated to soldiers lost since the war began in 2014 in Mykolaiv in as the Armed Forces of Ukraine push deeper into Russian occupied Kherson oblast on November, 2022.

  • August, 2022

    On a boardwalk in Odesa. There are mines in the water so swimming is prohibited, but people do it anyway
    August, 2022On a boardwalk in Odesa. August 8, 2022.odesa boardwalk mines in water swimming is prohiited, people do it anyway

  • August, 2022

    A moment of joy on a summer’s day in downtown Odesa
    August, 2022dog days of sumer Downtown Odesa on August 5, 2022.

  • July, 2022

    An abandoned building hit by a Russian airstrike in the centre of Chernihiv. Survivors carve shelters into the ruins. Children build clubhouses from discarded Russian munitions boxes
    July, 2022With his ever-present lens, Smith searches through the cracks in the abyss and discovers hope. Survivors carve shelters into the ruins. Children build clubhouses from discarded Russian munitions boxes. After coming home from summer camp, A Ukrainian tween spend the afternoon in an abandoned building hit by a Russian airstrike in the center of Chernihiv on July, 2022.

  • April, 2022

    A gravedigger in Bucha digs ahead of time for new arrivals. Smith’s images bear witness to the staggering human cost of war – grieving mothers, shattered communities – while also celebrating Ukraine’s tenacious spirit and resilience against unspeakable tragedy. From Kyiv’s devastated suburbs to newly liberated villages, Smith’s photographs etch an image in the viewer’s mind that ensures these sacrifices will not be forgotten
    April, 2022A gravedigger in Bucha preemptively digs for new arrivals. April, 2022.Smith’s unwavering images bear witness to the staggering human cost of war—grieving mothers, shattered communities amid ruin—while also celebrating Ukraine’s tenacious spirit and resilience against unspeakable tragedy. From Kyiv’s devastated suburbs to newly liberated villages, Smith’s compelling photographs etch an image in the viewer’s mind that ensures these sacrifices will not be forgotten.

  • June, 2022

    Yuri, 59, says he used to go to church and pray that all people live in peace. But recently, since the war, he has ‘also started praying for Putin’s death’. He currently lives behind this building, in his garage with his wife, Svetlana, recovering after being hit in the leg with shrapnel in another attack in the same village
    June, 2022Yuri, 59, said he used to go to church and pray that all people live in peace. But recently, since the war, he “also started praying for Putin’s death.” He currently lives behind the building in his garage with his wife, Svetlana, who was recovering from wounds after being hit with shrapnel in her leg in another attack in the same village. .
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