A 9-year-old girl named Sofiyka hugs her guinea pig during her evacuation from Makiyivka, in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region, on November 19, 2022.
Ukrainian journalists do not just report on Russia’s full-scale war -- they are also among the victims of it.
One of them was Victoria Roshchyna, a former freelancer for RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service who died in Russian captivity. The 27-year-old’s death was confirmed in October, but her body has still not been returned to her family.
She is not alone.
Russia’s three-year all-out war has taken a huge toll on Ukrainian journalists, many of whom risk their lives to report on the truth. Among them are RFE/RL’s own reporters.
In March, journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko will mark four years behind bars in Russian-occupied Crimea, which Moscow has transformed into a military base.
Reporting on social and environmental issues for RFE/RL, Vladyslav was convicted of carrying explosives, which he denied. He told the court that he was tortured in custody.
Vladyslav Yesypenko at his trial in Simferopol in Russian-occupied Crimea (file photo)
RFE/RL journalist Dmytro Yevchyn was seriously wounded on the front line in southern Ukraine. He returned to RFE/RL’s newsroom in Kyiv after months of rehabilitation.
Yevhenia Kytaiva was reporting near the front line in eastern Ukraine in 2023 when she was caught in a Russian artillery strike. She was unharmed and scrambled to provide first aid to a wounded Ukrainian soldier.
It took Yevheniia months to recover from the ordeal. A year later, Yevhenia gave birth to a daughter. Now, she is back on the front lines and reporting on female convicts preparing to join the Ukrainian Army, which is grappling with a shortage of recruits.
Correspondent Maryan Kushnir has filmed some of the war’s most devastating battles. He does not talk about his journalistic awards. Instead, he talks about an elderly man he helped evacuate during a reporting trip. The man was the last resident of his frontline village.
There are threats even far from the front lines.
In the fall of 2024, RFE/RL’s Kyiv bureau received bomb threats, just like hundreds of Ukrainian schools, business centers, and government buildings.
The threats followed RFE/RL’s investigation into how Russian operatives recruited Ukrainian teenagers and children, some as young as 12, to sabotage their own country’s military.
The studio of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service in Kyiv (file photo)
Reporting on the human toll of the war is only part of our coverage. We have uncovered corruption in the Ukrainian Army, exposed officials who have purchased lavish properties abroad, and identified judges concealing their Russian citizenship.
Some of our reporting has become part of history. Ukraine’s national postal service issued a stamp commemorating the liberation of Kyiv Oblast in 2022. Two of the three images that appear on the stamp were taken by RFE/RL photographer Serhiy Nuzhnenko.
Civilians look at a destroyed Russian armored column in Bucha, near Kyiv, in a photo taken by RFE/RL photographer Serhiy Nuzhnenko in March 2022.
One of the images was of Bucha, the town outside Kyiv where Russian soldiers left the corpses of hundreds of civilians they killed lying in the streets. Bucha became a symbol of Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine. Despite overwhelming evidence, Moscow still claims the massacre was staged.
One of the victims, local shopkeeper Oleksiy Pobihay, was found buried in a mass grave deep in the forest. Who killed him, and why?
RFE/RL’s OSINT reporter Dmytro Dzhulay investigated the atrocities, identifying the Russian units responsible. His findings led to Ukrainian prosecutors launching an official investigation.
In Pictures: 3 Years Of War In Ukraine
1/36A woman hugs her child in a subway station in Kyiv during the first day of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
2/36Civilians look at a destroyed Russian armored column in Bucha, near Kyiv, on March 1, 2022. The town was finally captured by Russian troops days after this photo was taken, but they withdrew less than a month later. Following Moscow’s retreat, evidence of war crimes emerged in Bucha, drawing international condemnation.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
3/36Civilians fleeing from Bucha and Irpin on March 11, 2022.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
4/36A woman greets Ukrainian troops as they enter a recaptured town in the northern Chernihiv region on April 2, 2022.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
5/36Oleksandr, a military chaplain, blesses a Ukrainian soldier in the northeastern Kharkiv region on April 24, 2022.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
6/36Yuriy, a Ukrainian tank mechanic, photographed in the eastern Donetsk region on June 11, 2022.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
7/36Damaged apartment blocks in Saltivka, a suburb of Kharkiv, seen on September 13, 2022.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
8/36The body of a Ukrainian soldier, found with his hands tied behind his back, in a mass grave near Izyum, in the Kharkiv region, on September 16, 2022.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
9/36A firefighter battles a blaze after a Shahed suicide drone attack in Kyiv on October 17, 2022.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
10/36A 9-year-old girl named Sofiyka hugs her guinea pig during her evacuation from Makiyivka, in the eastern Luhansk region, on November 19, 2022.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
11/36Ukrainian troops fire a howitzer provided by Western allies in the Donetsk region on November 23, 2022.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
12/36A Ukrainian soldier's bloodied body armor photographed near Soledar, in the Donetsk Region on January 23, 2023.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
13/36The center of Bakhmut, in the Donetsk Region, photographed on February 25, 2023.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
14/36A Ukrainian serviceman in Bakhmut on February 25, 2023.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
15/36A Ukrainian soldier photographed as his position was being shelled in May 2023.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
16/36Ukrainian soldiers seen after the storming of a Russian position near Bakhmut in May 2023.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
17/36
A Russian soldier is given water after his capture by Ukrainian forces near Bakhmut in May, 2023.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
18/36A Ukrainian soldier in a battle-damaged building in Blahodatne in the Donetsk Region on June 17, 2023.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
19/36Workers celebrate after the installation of the Ukrainian trident on the shield of Kyiv's motherland monument on August 6, 2023. The massive trident replaced a Soviet emblem.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
20/36The aftermath of a missile strike on the center of Chernihiv on August 19, 2023.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
21/36A soldier walks beneath a mural in the embattled town of Avdiyivka in the Donetsk Region in November 2023.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
22/36A member of a Ukrainian mortar team pauses for a sunrise cigarette at a position near Bakhmut in December 2023.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
23/36Ukrainian troops watch the sky for enemy drones at a position near Bakhmut on March 6, 2024.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
24/36A barista at work inside her explosion-damaged cafe on March 25, 2024 after a Russian missile hit central Kyiv.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
25/36Firefighters pick through the rubble of a building in Kyiv destroyed by a falling Russian missile on March 25, 2024.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
26/36Fragments of shrapnel that were removed from the wounded at a medical facility near Avdiyivka in March 2024.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
27/36A young woman cries as she bids farewell to family members during an evacuation of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk Region on August 30, 2024.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
28/36
A sign advertises assistance with evacuation out of Pokrovsk on a street in the eastern Ukrainian city in late September 2024.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
29/36A overview of fires burning in a settlement around Pokrovsk in September 2024.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
30/36Artem, a 40-year-old Ukrainian commander, shouts a warning before his artillery team fires toward Russian positions near Pokrovsk in early October 2024.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
31/36The mother of fallen soldier Danylo Lyashkevych weeps over his coffin during his funeral in Kyiv on November 8, 2024.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
32/36A woman holds her dog in the wake of a Russian strike in Kyiv on December 20, 2024.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
33/36A child is led away from the impact site of a Russian strike on Kyiv on December 20, 2024.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
34/36The entrance to Kyiv's Lukyanivska subway station damaged by a Russian attack on January 18, 2025.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
35/36A crater at the site of the Russian attack near the Lukyanivska subway station in Kyiv on January 18, 2025.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
36/36People gather to commemorate Ukraine's 2014 Euromaidan protests in Kyiv on February 20, 2025.
The protests in 2013-14 helped push Moscow-friendly President Vitkor Yanukovych from power. Russia responded by seizing Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and fomenting unrest that led to conflict in the eastern Donbas region. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
Photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has spent three years intensively covering the war in his country. We selected 36 of his most powerful pictures of the conflict.
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Just a 15-minute car ride from Bucha lies Nemishayeve, another town that was temporarily seized by Russian forces.
In a quiet cemetery in the town, near her parents' house, rests Vira Hyrych. The RFE/RL journalist was killed in April 2022 when a Russian missile struck her Kyiv apartment.
The last story she produced was about a Holocaust survivor who lived through the siege of the southeastern city of Mariupol, which Russia occupied in 2022. RFE/RL investigated her death and confronted key figures in the Russian chain of command.
