During today’s visit to the transport hub, children peered out from behind the curtains of coaches, destined for new countries and hopefully safe homes, while the son of a volunteer entertained himself in the driver’s seat. Before the next group seeking to board the humanitarian buses reach the loading area, it's a bitter twist that they must wait beneath a sign advertising the new homes of tomorrow in Lviv.
I now know it takes around three days to make a sniper's ghillie suit.
Later in the day, the 3.5m tall living puppet called "Little Amal" visited one of the new "Container Town" housing facilities. I've photographed Amal a number of times during the culmination of its previous journey from Turkey to the UK. However, this time was the first time that I'd seen her presented to the people that she is intended to symbolise; refugee children. Inflicting the mental and physical damage of war on a person before they've grown old enough to begin to understand why this is happening is so fundamentally unfair. Thanks to this project, it's pleasing to end my short time in Ukraine to the sound of children's laughter.
Thanks for following over the past three weeks. Please follow my @gettyimages colleagues @cmcgrath_photo@jbmoorephoto@alexeyfurman@christopherfurlong for further stories from across Ukraine.
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Lviv has so many stories to offer but the main scars of the Russian invasion here are the tearing apart of families both at the transport hubs, and in the Field of Mars at Lychakiv cemetery. It's incredibly easy to become hardened to what's occurring here every day that it can sometimes take some motivation to return to the same locations only a day or so after a previous visit. However, as I've tried to keep reminding myself, this exact moment, today, here, now, is the one that this family or couple will remember for years to come. Just because I saw a different family live their worst day yesterday, it doesn't mean that I can look away today.
Starting at a coach station, Olexandr Shpak was bidding farewell to his fiancée, Valeria Karpova, reaching up to the glass as they spoke on the phone, only a few metres apart but already beginning the new reality of their relationship; through a device. Beside a different bus, Ksenia Lytvyn clung to Nazarii Sliusar as the passengers slowly took their seats. Due to the invasion, men aged between 18 and 60 must remain within the country, with very few exceptions.
In the afternoon, Olexandr Moisenko was buried in a joint funeral with Sergiy Turpetko in the Field of Mars at Lychakiv cemetery, after a service at the Garrison church in the centre of Lviv. As the coffin had arrived for the service, Olexandr's mother rushed forward to press her face against the wood, in need of one last scrap of contact. Senior Sergeant Olexandr Moisenko served as a combat medic and died in the Luhansk region of Ukraine. His wife Vira Moisenko attended in her own military uniform, receiving the flag from her husband's coffin and returning the salute to the honour guard. The invasion continues.
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“Russian Warship, Go F*ck Yourself!” is everywhere in Lviv. Along with the Ghost of Kyiv, the simple David and Goliath nature of these defiant words struck a chord not just with Ukrainians but with the world. We all like to think we’d act the same way when facing a hugely over-powering opponent, but border guard Roman Hrybov actually did, and now his words are everywhere; from billboard posters and mugs, to tote bags and t-shirts.
One item that attracted far more attention than anyone expected was the limited edition stamp, featuring artwork depicting the scene by Boris Grokh. Huge lines formed at post office branches, causing Ukrposhta to move the sale online. Shortly after, the site was hit by a cyberattack and crashed. Ukrainians philatelists waited patiently for the site to return but when it did, it was with only 30,000 stamps which sold out straight away.
Considering that there were one million of these stamps printed, they mostly seem to be locked away in the cupboards and desk drawers of Ukrainians across the country. However, if you look hard enough and ask around, you can find them. I could tell you where I found mine, but we all like to take on a big challenge, don’t we?
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In amongst the garlands and floral tributes at Lychakiv cemetery, glimpses of the person inside the uniform can be seen on some of the graves of those killed fighting against the Russian invasion.
The church services at Peter and Paul Garrison Church mark the military service and valour of those killed, but the families and loved ones leave clues to the lives cut short. Some, such as the traditional Easter cakes, can be a nod to the recent religious holiday but others reveal a little more. On the grave of Yuri Dadak, a lone coffee cup last week has now been joined by another. Victor Dorozhko’s stern military portrait is countered by the gaming console controller resting among the flowers and candles. Chocolates and sweet treats are a common sight, with a kingsize “Lion” bar tucked away behind the flowers for Olexandr Malevsky, and a cherry-filled croissant for Kyrylo Moroz. In the section for soldiers who were killed in the earliest phases of the invasion, Pablo Kostiuk’s grave displays both a croissant and a small packet of cat food.
With the colours of Ukraine visible in ribbons, flags and bouquets throughout the cemetery, it’s important to remember the person behind the symbols of the fallen soldier.
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The movement of people from the war-torn regions of Ukraine shows no signs of slowing, with trains carrying refugees arriving on a daily basis.
After reaching Lviv, the families must then face further agony as the men stay behind and watch as their wives and children travel on. Eugene Yevchenko wept as he hugged his daughter Maria tightly. His wife Maria settled their son Bogdan onto the coach then returned for another farewell. The only plans they had end right here; the family leave for Poland and Eugene stays behind. Where they will go once in Warsaw, they have no idea. He waited patiently, as the bus slowly filled with passengers, waving to his loved ones, with no idea how or when he'll see them again. The sight of men walking back across an empty carpark, fighting to retain their composure, as coach cruises away is absolutely heartbreaking.
In among the trains, the whistles and squeals of the mechanisms of travel have the ability to sound just like the sirens. Throughout the morning, a number of false alarms caused people to glance to the sky, until, inevitably, the sirens wailed out across Lviv. Rushing underground to the network of corridors and passageways, people huddled, away from the steps up to the platforms due to the increased risk of injury in the event a missile strike but unable to avoid edging away from the darkness and towards the daylight. The nationwide air alert was soon followed by confirmed strikes across the country, working their way towards the West. Thankfully, sightings of rockets overflying cities, heading in the direction of Lviv proved false and after ninety minutes, the all-clear sounded out. Emerging back above ground to a beautiful Spring day, it was very hard not to breath the air in a little deeper.
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It's fair to say that there have been few positive stories that have come from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The following one can’t really be described as a fairytale, either. However, the viral video that raced around the world in early May of a double leg amputee being carried in the arms of her new husband as they had their wedding day first dance was special.
Oksana Balandina lost both legs and four fingers from her left hand when she stepped on a mine while returning from collecting supplies for elderly neighbours in her hometown of Lysychansk, in the eastern Luhansk region, in March. Speaking to the Guardian, she described how after triggering the mine, she remembers flying into the air and looking down on landing to see no feet, just bones. With everyone around her in shock, she took control of the situation, telling Viktor to call an ambulance and even talking the young inexperienced paramedic who arrived through the process of closing off the veins and arteries safely. It was only on arriving at hospital and seeing her mother that she lost consciousness.
While recovering from surgery in Lviv, she married her partner, Viktor Vasyliv, in a hospital-room ceremony. The spontaneous first dance was captured on mobile phone and uploaded to her TikTok channel @ksyucha_kareglaska, where she has also been uploading videos of her therapy sessions and exercises.
To describe her as an inspirational person is a woefully inadequate description.
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Today began with a very positive refugee story from the Lviv region. As people have surged from the Eastern and Southern regions of Ukraine, the tide of refugees has also seen a handful of bears in their midst. The Bear Sanctuary Domazhyr took in seven bears from the White Rock Bear Shelter near Kyiv which is run by the Four Paws partner organisation "Save Wild Fund", in an emergency transfer. Three of the bears have since been moved on to bear sanctuaries in Germany but four remain. Walking through the 20 hectare site between the large woodland enclosures, it’s enormously satisfying to know that these animals have gone from being abused as hotel and restaurant entertainment, or used as training for hunting dogs, to being evacuated from a war zone, to now be living in a woodland oasis of absolute calm.
Back in Lviv, three soldiers were buried simultaneously in the Field of Mars. The mother of one soldier clutched his beret in her hand with such tenderness after receiving it from the honour guard. Through the whole burial, the bride of one of the soldiers simply stared, near-motionless, at the framed photograph of her dead husband. While others around her wept, the absolute stillness she held was incredibly moving. An elderly mother of another soldier held onto his grave marker for support as her family helped her to stand. I can only hope that such an unreal situation of grieving together in this way brings support for them all.
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I've attended more funerals since arriving in Lviv than during the rest of my life combined. This morning, Igor Malets, aged 59, was buried in the Field of Mars, the new area reserved for military funeral art Lychakiv cemetery after the previous section reached capacity.
In the afternoon, a lecture was held for a group of people, mainly refugees who had fled the East and South of Ukraine, on recognising stray munitions and explosives. With deactivated and dummy items on hand to allow children to spot and avoid lethal items such as butterfly mines and mortar shells, it was a sobering experience. The families present all hope to return to their homes soon, but knowing that they're taking their families back into a region awash with deadly military debris must be an unbelievably hard decision to make.
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The combination of a nationwide fuel shortage and the need to spend the day zigzagging around Lviv, locating rocket strike sites isn’t a good one. With only vague ideas of locations due to reporting restrictions but some helpful tips from shared sources and local media apps, we managed to visit three of the sites, all while hoping for a petrol station with both available fuel and reasonable queues.
The first location was next to an area of private garages; a few rows of rundown workshops with men sweeping up the shrapnel and surveying the destruction to their cars. One man gestured to his phone and played the footage from the previous evening, showing the moments when he frantically climbed from the pit under his garage and tried to escape in his damaged car, while a huge inferno blazed just metres away. The ever-present threat of a “double tap” where a second missile is sent, timed for when the emergency services arrive, is always in the minds of those living in a conflict zone.
The second location, which I visited the previous evening, was heavily guarded as investigations were still underway, but the damage to nearby residential blocks showed how close the rockets come to causing a tremendous loss of life. Despite this, the Ukrainian version of “Blitz mentality” was visible in the man cleaning his shattered apartment window.
The third location was isolated but had clearly produced a large part of the black clouds seen over Lviv on the previous night. Huge amounts of damage were visible to the substation and buildings but work had already begun on getting it all running once again.
As I write this, another air alert is currently in place not only in Lviv but across the whole of Ukraine. Walking back to my hotel, it was noticeable how many in Lviv were looking to the skies tonight.
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If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Lviv it’s that as soon as you start to think the story may be over here, it snatches a bite and reminds you of what is just beneath the surface.
Just after 8:30pm, a series of rocket strikes hit the Lviv area. According to a statement by the Mayor, the attack targeted electricity substations and essential infrastructure. The city was locked down quickly and no amount of accreditation, documents, phone calls or avoidance could make it an easy job to cover. Recent rule changes allow media to document a strike but not publish or broadcast the content until an official announcement is made. These rules never made it as far as those at the cordons.
However, thanks to some help, some luck and some GTA-style driving by my fixer, I finally got to get a few images to file. Driving back to the hotel through the dark streets, Dominik was fascinated, never having seen his hometown plunged into darkness through lack of power. Stopping at a high-rise residential block, torchlight lit a few apartment windows. I hope that early reports of no casualties turn out to be accurate and everyone is safely home tonight.
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