#Ukrainian Armed Forces

Ukrainians aged 18–24 do not have to serve, but many still walk into recruitment centers on their own. Through portraits and first-person stories, we capture what motivates them, and how a year in the army is reshaping who they are and who they hope to become.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed Ukrainian forces were “surrounded” in Kupiansk and invited journalists to see it—but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy showed up there himself, as Ukrainian forces carried out a successful counteroffensive in the city.