This part is about families: some of them have lost their homes temporarily, some have lost them permanently and have nowhere to return to, some have lost their husbands at the frontline, and some have lost their children after a rocket attack in the city. There are almost no families left that have not lost something. A friend, a brother, a husband, a wife, a hope.
A woman holds a baby in her arms at the refugee hub on April 4, 2022 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion into Ukraine by Russian troops and the occupation of several Ukrainian regions Zaporizhzhia became the closest unoccupied city to many regions from where people came after being under occupation. A large refugee hub was created in the city, which receives and registers refugees, provides free medical, psychological assistance, necessary things, clothes, hygiene products, helps with shelter or transfer to other regions of Ukraine or abroad.
One of the refugee families that escaped from hell of Mariupol: a couple with 3 children, a grandfather, a dog and 2 kittens in a plastic box are moving toward evacuation bus on April 4, 2022 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
A mother feeds a child sitting on her father’s lap at the refugee centre on April 4, 2022 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
Children with parents sit inside the evacuation bus to Europe at the refugee hub on April 27, 2022 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
Women with their children on a balcony with plastic instead of glass and traces of the house’s destruction by shelling on August 8, 2022 in Irpin, Ukraine. Two women are friends, now both of them and their children live in the apartment of one of the women, because the apartment of the other woman is completely destroyed and uninhabitable.
Two residents look at the consequences of missile hitting their own home on October 10, 2022 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
Nina Ivanivna cries near her totally destroyed house where she lived with her granddaughter by Russian troops on August 4, 2022 in Borodyanka, Ukraine.
A man takes a baby carriage out of his wife’s destroyed car, which was heavily damaged after missile strike of a civilian building nearby on October 6, 2022 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
A man holds a child in his arms in a crowd at a train station on March 5, 2022 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion into Ukraine by Russian troops Zaporizhzhia like other frontline cities began to give people free evacuation trains in order mother with children could leave the city and go to more quiet ares of Ukraine or abroad. Those days there were thousands of people on railways. Men saw their families off, not understanding and not knowing whether they would ever see them again.
Hanna, wife of the fallen soldier, Serhiy Konakov with their three children pose in the apartment where they were living together for the project of psychological support to wives whose husbands were killed in the Russian-Ukrainian war “Beloved, I Live!” on April 26, 2024 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Konakov Serhiy, a fighter of the 92nd separate assault brigade named after Ataman Ivan Sirko, died on April 2, 2023 in the village of Novoselivske, Svatove district, Luhansk region.
Olha, the wife of the fallen soldier Andrii Chertov, visits the grave together for the first time after the birth of their daughter Solomiia on the day of the anniversary of her husband’s death at the front on July 30, 2024 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Andriy never knew he was going to become a father.
City circus as a temporary shelter for refugees on March 9, 2022 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
Children with parents stand in line for the evacuation bus to Europe at the refugee hub on April 27, 2022 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
Family from Kherson region is waiting for evacuation bus in the refugee center on October 12, 2022 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.The man is a father of 4 children, a clergyman. At first, the occupiers took away something small from the locals, then took away two cars from their parents, and in September they took away and occupied the church. When the family had already decided to leave the temporarily occupied territory, the occupiers even took away some of the children’s worn clothes. Arriving in Zaporizhzhia, the family is very surprised that there is life here, ATMs and shops are working, there is just no russian military equipment on the streets. At all checkpoints they only heard that they had nowhere to go, everything was destroyed long ago, and Ukraine no longer exists.
A family with children received humanitarian aid from volunteers on April 26, 2023 in Zaporizhzhia Region, Ukraine.