Life in Ukraine

When the full-scale war began, businesses left Russia due to sanctions, while their departures across Ukraine were driven by the threat of Russian missile strikes. Now, big brands are coming back to Ukraine. Here’s how global companies are learning to operate under air-raid alerts—and sometimes, underground.

Ukraine’s black soil is fertile and forgiving. It has fed nations, outlasted ideologies, and survived occupation. But even the finest earth has its limits. Across Ukraine, the land that once sustained villages turned into the frontline: mined, scorched, and contaminated. Three years of war have driven people from their homes and forced Ukrainians from their motherland. As farmers return home to mined fields, what was once a livelihood has become an act of endurance and a form of resistance.

The Bayeux War Correspondents’ Award highlights the crucial role of photojournalism in a world dominated by social media, featuring powerful exhibitions and tributes to journalists like Antoni Lallican, killed by a Russian FPV drone on the Ukrainian frontline.

War leaves its mark on everyone—soldiers and civilians, children and adults. We have traveled across Ukraine, collecting stories of people whose lives were forever affected by eye injuries sustained following Russian strikes.

Once the beating industrial heart of Donbas, Kramatorsk now beats for survival. During World War II, its factories forged weapons to fight Nazi Germany. That same industrial foundation made Kramatorsk a strategic target again during Russia’s 2014 and 2022 invasions. It’s one of the last major cities before the front line.

Vadym Adamov, a 21-year-old filmmaker who enlisted at 18 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now serves as a drone operator. Between rotations at the front, he tours campuses and countries to show how drones reshaped the war—and why Europe must rethink its approach.