Mykyta Shandyba

Strapped in tight and flying low, Ukraine’s army aviators cut through smoke and rotor wash to deliver the full force of their firepower during their daring combat missions. These rare photos take you inside their world—on the ground and in the sky—and reveal why they keep doing their job.

Flames devoured rooftops. Smoke choked entire blocks. As air raid sirens wailed through the night, Kyiv’s firefighters ran toward the destruction that Russia had unleashed, once again.

Ever wondered what Ukraine’s weapons can do? Meet Bohdana, Ukraine's domestically built howitzer, now destroying Russian forces and leaving craters in their positions.

At a Ukrainian military training ground, foreign fighters are learning what it takes to survive trench warfare. Many are American and British volunteers—some with prior military service, others with none—now training under Ukraine’s 25th Airborne Brigade “Sicheslav”.

Russia turned the skies over Kyiv into a killing field overnight on May 7, 2025, launching a wave of missiles and suicide drones that killed at least two people—a mother and her son—and injured eight others, including four children, reducing civilian homes to smoking wreckage.

The river remembers every battle. Now, Ukraine’s fighters from the 144th Special Operations Forces Center return to its waters—training to fight back the Russian invasion.