It has been one year since Russia’s full-scale, illegal invasion of Ukraine, and Ukrainians are still standing tall — undefeated, unbowed, unyielding.
On February 25, 2022, the day after Russia’s invasion began, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went out on the streets of Kyiv, Ukraine, and said, “The president is here. We are all here. Our soldiers are here.”
While Russia’s illegal war has caused injury or death to civilians and destroyed infrastructure, it has not weakened Ukrainians’ resolve. “I want to win the war, return home, hug my friends, family, tell everyone it’s over and return to my civilian profession,” says Iryna Sergeyeva, one of the nearly 60,000 women who serve in Ukraine’s military.
See an interactive digital collection of photos of Ukrainians from before and after the February 24, 2022, invasion. These photos do not feature the same person twice but evoke similar situations.