: 9 Photos That Capture a Year of Pain—and Resilience—in Ukraine #WorldNEWS One year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, photojournalists have seen it all. Weary from attending far too many

9 Photos That Capture a Year of Pain—and Resilience—in Ukraine #WorldNEWS
One year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, photojournalists have seen it all. Weary from attending far too many funerals and finding bodies under the rubble, many feel a sense of duty to document Moscow’s aggression for all the world to see.
It’s hard not to get involved sometimes in ways that go beyond the camera. In one moment, Pavlo Petrov, a photographer for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, found himself picking up a fire extinguisher to put out flames after a rocket attack in Kyiv.
With all the death and destruction in Ukraine, many photojournalists say they are drawn to capture subtle moments of joy amid the tragedy. Nicole Tung recalls children playing on a colorful swing set with destroyed buildings in the background in Borodyanka, in northern Ukraine. Meanwhile, Petrov remembers returning a gymnastics suit found in the rubble to a 7-year-old girl who was rescued from a Russian rocket attack but whose father did not make it.

The moments of hope are often short-lived. Felipe Dana remembers stepping outside at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Celebratory chants were quickly followed by the sound of air raid sirens across Kyiv.
To mark the wars anniversary, TIME spoke to various photographers—some of whom are Ukrainian—about what motivates them to continue covering the war, and the defining moments that have stayed with them. Their work has been featured in TIME, The Washington Post, the New York Times, and Associated Press, among other outlets.
Read More: How the World Changed in the Year Since Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
For some, it’s professional; they say they have a duty to document the conflict. But for others, it’s also personal; they have had colleagues, family members, or friends killed in the war.

Pavlo PetrovA rescuer and policeman carry an injured woman from a multi-story residential building in Kyiv, after a Russian rocket hit on Feb. 26, 2022.
Pavlo Petrov

Pavlo Petrov, 27, remembers spotting a gymnastics suit while accompanying rescuers searching for victims of a Russian rocket attack in Kyiv last June. He soon learned that it belonged to a 7-year-old girl who had been rescued from the rubble, along with her mother; her father, however, didn’t survive. Two weeks later, he visited the girl in hospital and gave her the suit back. “You know—it was a hope, a hope for me, that even after losing her father, losing her home, she would not lose herself,” Petrov says.
One of the most defining moments for Petrov, he says, was after a rocket attack in Kyiv on March 1. After arriving on the scene with firefighters and rescuers, he saw several burned bodies.