Black days of Ukraine

Attempts to divide southwest of Ukraine in 2014, led the country to the full-scale hostilities. Due to the protracted confrontation between the Ukrainian army and the separatists, more than 25 thousand inhabitants had already fled from the country. The conflict is destroying the country from within. I arrived in the Ukrainian city called Luhansk in the early summer of 2014 and it was still a peaceful town, but the feeling of impending disaster was already in the air and and every following day it became even stronger. The conflict between separatists and the official Ukrainian authorities gradually escalated into the war. The south-east of Ukraine was captured by the full-scale hostilities. This summer became the bloodiest time for the strategically important city of Luhansk. The locals had to survive without any water and electricity under the daily shelling. And each new day could become their last day. There always at least two armed fighting sides in any war. For me, as a journalist, the most interesting side in this conflict was the third one – ordinary civil people. Disaster came into their lives unexpectedly. These people appeared the participants of the military confrontation against their will. They experienced the most terrible things: the death of their friends and relatives, destroyed houses and ruined lives of thousands of people. I stayed in the Luhansk region for more than a month documenting the dramatic the recent Ukrainian historical events. This series of photos reflected the most awful events that I witnessed in the summer of 2014.

He has dedicated himself to documenting the political and social life of societies in conflict. Valery’s professional biography includes coverage of Chechen war, conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia, Lebanese war in 2006, uprising of Mali Republic, Syrian civil war. In 2014, Valery began documenting war in Eastern Ukraine. This work continues in his current ongoing project, Black days of Ukraine, about ordinary civil people who became the participants of the military confrontation against their will.