Two years of full-scale invasion: A photo report from the liberated territories of Ukraine

24th February marks precisely two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to the interactive map by DeepStateUA, the Russian army has managed to capture almost 18% of Ukraine’s territory over the course of the war. Additionally, the Ukrainian military has liberated about 7% of the territory at various times.

This photo essay focuses on what the Russians left behind in the liberated territories and depicts how Ukrainian cities and towns appeared after the occupation.

All photos are credited to Oleksandra Yefymenko/Hromadske Radio.

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This high-rise building is located in the city of Irpin in the Kyiv region, a part of the city that was under the control of the Russian military for approximately a month. In one of the windows, the silhouette of a local resident is visible, covering the window with plastic sheeting in response to the shelling.

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The wreckage of a Russian tank lies in a garden in the village of Velyka Dymerka. Later, the owners of this garden will plant cabbage beds around the rusty remains of the equipment.

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A kindergarten in the village of Bohdanivka, Kyiv region. Based on the evidence found on the premises, it served as one of the Russians’ posts during the occupation of the Kyiv region.

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An ostrich farm in the village of Yasnohorodka. Amid the fighting in February and March 2022, approximately only 150 out of 300 birds managed to survive. Besides ostriches, other animals resided on the farm. Some of them escaped, some were wounded, and some perished due to shelling. Ostriches were particularly affected, as evacuating the birds was impossible, and farm workers risked their lives to feed them amidst gunfire.

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The town of Borodyanka and a Banksy drawing—an anonymous British artist. In November 2022, he created seven graffiti pieces in Ukraine dedicated to the war. He painted a building in Kyiv and created drawings in Borodyanka, Irpin, Hostomel, and Horenka—cities that endured the Russian occupation. The Borodyanka community decided to relocate their two murals to the museum. The photo depicts one of them, with a baby stroller beside the image, set against the backdrop of a destroyed apartment building. On the perpendicular wall, someone left an inscription: «We will kill you all».

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A boy sweeps away clods of earth from the bombs dropped on the village of Novoselivka in the Chernihiv region. The village was completely destroyed during the siege of Chernihiv, with not a single building left standing.

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The railway station square in Trostianets, Sumy region, after the de-occupation. A dog against the backdrop of destroyed buildings and the remnants of military equipment and shells.

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All that remains of the city council in Okhtyrka, Sumy region, is a fragment of the facade wall. The Ukrainian flag was raised after the city was liberated in the spring of 2022.

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During one of the initial attacks on the thermal power plant in Okhtyrka, Sumy region, Russian aviation dropped several bombs on the infrastructure facility. The explosions were so forceful that a piece of rail broke off and became lodged in a tree on the plant’s premises. The management intends to construct a makeshift memorial in honor of their colleagues who were killed.

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The village of Kozacha Lopan is situated 4 kilometers from the border with the Russian Federation. The photo depicts the railway station, which served as a makeshift headquarters for the Russian military during the occupation. In the basement, they established a torture chamber for the villagers.

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Children’s drawings on the floor of the railway station in Kozacha Lopan, addressed to the Russian military by Russian children.

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A mass grave in the forest near the town of Izium in the Kharkiv region. Following the liberation in the autumn of 2022, the graves of 451 civilians and 22 soldiers were discovered. The prosecutor’s office determined that some of the victims displayed signs of torture, gunshot wounds, explosive injuries, and fractures. As of now, 57 of the deceased have not been identified.

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The village of Krynky on the left bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region, which became a stronghold for the Ukrainian military. On February 7, 2024, the Ukrainian military raised the flag of Ukraine there. No houses in the village survived, and this photo was taken in the village a few years before the full-scale invasion.