Photoreports

Ukrainian troops on the Sumy front are battling subzero temperatures as low as –25°C (–13°F), where frozen trenches, failing engines, and constant drone surveillance reshape daily combat. Snow conceals artillery positions even as it risks exposing them, while frostbite and exhaustion shadow soldiers holding the line. In Ukraine’s winter war, endurance has become as decisive as firepower.

Every night and day, surgeons from the 3rd Army Corps’ 4th Separate Medical Battalion race against time to save the lives of fellow soldiers. Our team spent 24 hours with them, sharing their grueling routine and their relentless fight to deal with the gruesome consequences of war.

“This film roll is both a record and a reminder,” says one Ukrainian soldier. This is a story of how a camera carried in a pocket becomes a diary of dust, silence, work, people, and the moments that survive between missions.

As Russian missile and drone strikes plunged large parts of Kyiv into darkness and cold on the night of January 15, residents sheltering in municipal “Points of Invincibility” and inside unheated apartments, which they described as having gone days without electricity, water, or heating, rejected the idea that the pressure would force them to give in.

“As a kid, Christmas felt like a dream,” says Jag. Now, as I stand holding a small Christmas tree in front of my friend—dressed in full body armor, a man who hasn’t had a real holiday in years—he doesn’t even blink.

On January 6, Ukrainians across the country marked Epiphany with a time-honored tradition—plunging into icy waters to renew their faith. Despite ongoing challenges from Russia’s war, the ritual of immersing in frigid rivers, symbolizing the Holy Trinity, remains a powerful expression of Ukraine’s cultural resilience and spiritual renewal.