Traveling Alone in Wartime Ukraine
Traveling Alone in Wartime Ukraine
Going to wartime Ukraine was not more than a personal trip. As a photographer, I documented Japanese-Dutch children born of war, and the war-displaced Filipino Japanese, yet, I had no experience of war. I felt a bit of guilt of not knowing of real war, and I needed to take even a glance at even a bit of war now. What would I see there? What kind land is Ukraine? What kind of lives normal people there have?
In May 2023, I took trains from my base Arnhem in the Netherlands to Berlin, to Przemyśl of eastern Poland, and then made a round in Ukraine mostly with trains: Kharkiv, Izyum, Kramatorsk, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Lviv and back to home. There, Air raid sirens were heard very often, even at the dead of night. If I heard that in a train station, all the passengers had to take shelter underground. Then, I realized that Ukraine is a land that had to be prepared for wartime for a long time.
*On the 9th September, 2023, these images of wartime Ukraine I captured were published on "Akahata" a daily newspaper of Japan with my article.
Night train to Kyiv: Przemysl Station at the Poland and Ukraine border. Night train departs in 30 minutes after this. The train car is new here in the west. Later, I would come to notice the difference of west and east of Ukraine, even from the difference of trains.
Alev, a Ukrainian soldier, in the same compartment with me, bandaging his leg, lost in the battle in Kherson. During this train
travels in Ukraine, I came to see many seriously wounded soldiers like Alev.
A man holding his girlfriend's cat, Simon. They have just been returned to Kharkiv from a year of evacuation. Saltivka apartment area, Kharkiv.
One of the most bombarded apartment buildings, Saltivka apartment area, Kharkiv. Acoording to AMNESTY, 606 civilians had been killed and 1,248 injured in the Kharkiv region between 24 February and 28 April.
One of the most bombarded apartment buildings, Saltivka area, Kharkiv.
According to AMNESTY, 606 civilians had been killed and 1,248 injured in the Kharkiv region between 24 February and 28 April, 2022.
Being close to Russian-Ukrainian border, Kharkiv had to suffer Russian invasion for three months.
A friendly cat, missing human company, approaching. Saltivka apartment area, Kharkiv.
Russian armored convoy blew up a bridge in Izyum in April, 2022. Next to this bridge, there is a makeshift bridge set up.
“Izyum city council member Maksym Strelnyk said earlier that at least 1,000 civilians had died in Izyum, Kharkiv Oblast, during the Russian occupation, and more than 80% of the town’s infrastructure was destroyed” (The New Voice of Ukraine, Sep 16, 2022)
An old, left-behind photo of a young boy. In the destroyed apartment (photo above), Izyum.
A wedding photo left behind in a bombed apartment in Izyum
Colorful plastic flowers and photos of the victims died in the bombed apartment complex, Izyum.
Heavily destroyed apartment, Izyum
451 bodies* of mostly civilians were found in a pine tree forest outside of Izyum in September 2022.
* https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63987512
Kostia, manager of the local bus company, standing in his former office, heavily bombed. Izyum. He was very willing to share his and the Izyum people’s devastating experience. When he was done with his work, he drove his car and showed me the town with countless destroyed houses, bridges, schools and more.
On the way from Izyum to Kramatorsk. There is no train of this route running now. This small worn out bus was filled with soldiers heading to Kramatorsk, only 30 km from the front line.
Soldiers newly arriving / coming back to Kramatorsk with a train from Kyiv. Kramatorsk train station was hit by a Russian missile, more than 50 people were victimized in April 2022.
A train from Odesa arrived in Kramatorsk. Soldiers will take this train for 10 day holiday. A woman came to see a soldier, her loved one.
At Dusk. A view from a train crossing Dnipro river, as it is approaching the city of Dnipro.
Carnations for the deads, Dripro
When my mini-bus from Odesa was about to enter Kherson, Ukrainian army rejected me, an obvious foreigner, to enter the city, because it is too close to the frontline. I had to wait for my returning bus at the military check point. It started to rain hard and thundered. A female stray dog came in too to rest under the wooden palette I was sitting. Also, I heard lots of crows cawing, it sounded somehow symbolically.
Attacked and damaged wall, Mykolaiv. As Mykolaïu is a port city, large-scale Russian attacks continued.
An old suitcase left in front of a bombed house, Mykolaiv. What would be in the suitcase?
View from the train heading to Lviv.
Sergiy was my compartment mate in a train from Khmelnytsky to Lviv. Sergiy is 194cm tall, and used to do arm wrestling, he told me. It was just a small conversation to feel comfortable in train. And then, Sergiy told me: He, his wife and their son, were living in an apartment in Mariupol. The name of the city became known for the threatening news of heavy bombing, damages and numerous victims. After the first bombing in early spring of 2022, he and his family had to escape. Sergiy showed me some photos of the destroyed apartment blocks, and the photo of him with his family in the cold shelter.
Domivka, Home of Rescued Animals, Lviv, was established five years ago to rescue wild animals. When the war started in
2022, it started to receive pets of the people who had to evacuate. A young volunteer spontaneously offered to walk Bonny, a dog rescued in Kherson. Bonny’s back leg was badly damaged and lost sensation. Now he is wearing a specially made support to recover.