Dima, a soldier at a front line position called Warrior, poses for a portrait on Thursday, November 4, 2021 in Hranitne, Ukraine.

Concrete barriers near a Ukrainian military checkpoint on Thursday, November 4, 2021 outside Hranitne, Ukraine.

A military helicopter at the Kramatorsk airport on Friday, April 16, 2021 in Kramatorsk, Ukraine.

Ukrainian soldiers congregate near the command post of their recently-established withdrawal position some 500 meters back from their previous front-line positions on Friday, October 18, 2019 in Stanytsia Luhanska, Ukraine.

A Ukrainian soldier at a front-line position on Friday, April 16, 2021 in Shchastya, Ukraine.

Tetyana Karabakieva, 53, in her kitchen after registering for assistance from Caritas, a Catholic charity, on Friday, November 5, 2021 in Hranitne, Ukraine.

A member of the Ukrainian army's 25th airborne brigade at a front-line position in a former neighborhood of country houses next to the industrial zone on Wednesday, December 1, 2021 in Avdiivka, Ukraine.

Captain Denis Branitsky, a member of the Ukrainian army's 25th airborne brigade, at a front-line position in the industrial zone on Thursday, December 2, 2021 in Avdiivka, Ukraine.

Andriy, a member of the Ukrainian army's 25th airborne brigade, keeps watch against snipers at a front-line position in the industrial zone on Thursday, December 2, 2021 in Avdiivka, Ukraine.

Ukrainian soldiers in a building on the front line on December 8, 2021 in Marinka, Ukraine.

A Ukrainian soldier in a front-line position on December 8, 2021 in Marinka, Ukraine.

Students at School Number 5 play on the playground while waiting for the bus after school on December 8, 2021 in Krasnohorivka, Ukraine.

Ukrainian soldiers at a front line position on Thursday, December 9, 2021 in Avdiivka, Ukraine.

Destroyed houses at a front line position on Friday, December 10, 2021 in Pisky, Ukraine.

Khalid Yakubov, 63, who is blind and suffers from diabetes, in the doorway of his home after a visit from charity workers on Friday, November 5, 2021 in Hranitne, Ukraine. The town is located on the front line of Ukraine's war with Russian-backed separatists, and Yakubov's sister lives on the other side. She has been unable to come visit her brother in more than a year and a half due to Covid restrictions on travel between the territories.

A soldier named Vanya and other members of the Ukrainian army's 25th airborne brigade relax in their barracks in the industrial zone on Wednesday, December 1, 2021 in Avdiivka, Ukraine.

Captain Denis Branitsky, left, and Lieutenant Alexey Kasyanov, members of the Ukrainian army's 25th airborne brigade, at a front-line position in the industrial zone on Thursday, December 2, 2021 in Avdiivka, Ukraine.

Members of the Kyiv Territorial Defense Unit attend a training in an industrial area on January 15, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Pavlo (R), a Ukrainian soldier, uses a small hand-held periscope to view the positions of Russian-backed troops from a small bunker near on the front line on January 17, 2022 in the village of New York, formerly known as Novhorodske, Ukraine.

Anatoliy, Ukrainian soldier with the 56th Brigade, on the front line on January 18, 2022 in Pisky, Ukraine.

A Ukrainian soldier at a front-line position on Saturday, January 22, 2022 in Pisky, Ukraine.

A view of positions of Russian-led forces from a Ukrainian bunker on the front line on Saturday, January 22, 2022 in Pisky, Ukraine.

Stray dogs lie on a steam vent outside the Church of St. Mary Magdalene on Sunday, January 23, 2022 in Avdiivka, Ukraine.

A Ukrainian soldier with the 24th brigade walks near a destroyed sign at the entrance to the front-line city on Monday, January 24, 2022 in Popasna, Ukraine.

Artillerists from the Ukrainian Army's 53rd Mechanized Brigade train with small arms at a military training site on Thursday, January 27, 2022 in Volnovakha district, Ukraine.

Lena Rusnak, center, celebrates her 11th birthday at the home for disadvantaged children where she lives, which is operated by the charity Christian Rescue Service, on Friday, January 28, 2022 in Pionerske, Ukraine.

Ruslan, a Ukrainian soldier with the 53rd Mechanized Brigade, at a house near the front-line on Saturday, January 29, 2022 in Chermalyk, Ukraine.

Artillerists from the Ukrainian Army's 53rd Mechanized Brigade train with small arms at a military training site on Thursday, January 27, 2022 in Volnovakha district, Ukraine.

Andriy, a Ukrainian soldier with the 53rd Mechanized Brigade, sits in a small shelter at a checkpoint on the road into town on Saturday, January 29, 2022 in Chermalyk, Ukraine.

Yevheniy, who did not want to provide his last name, performing as Bantik the Clown, puts on a show for children at the Mariupol Puppet Theater on Sunday, January 30, 2022 in Mariupol, Ukraine.

Olya Rud, Serhiy Chelkov, 32, a neighbor, and Vera Karpenko, 42, from left, in Karpenko's kitchen on Monday, January 31, 2022 in Hnutove, Ukraine. In 2015 Karpenko's husband was driving a tractor in a nearby field that he had been assured was clear of mines, but nonetheless his tractor hit one and he was killed.

Eduard, a Ukrainian soldier with the 53rd Mechanized Brigade, walks to at a front line on a slag heap position on Wednesday, February 2, 2022 in Novotroitske, Ukraine.

Taras, a Ukrainain Marine from the 503rd Marine Battalion, uses a red light to illuminate his way during a night watch at a front-line position on Monday, February 7, 2022 in Verkhnotoretske, Ukraine.

People dance at Cult nightclub on Saturday, February 5, 2022 in Mariupol, Ukraine.

Snow falls in the easternmost district of the city, closest to the front line, on Sunday, February 6, 2022 in Mariupol, Ukraine.

Ruslan, a Ukrainain Marine from the 503rd Marine Battalion, smokes a cigarette at a front-line position on Monday, February 7, 2022 in Verkhnotoretske, Ukraine.

Igor, a Ukrainain Marine from the 503rd Marine Battalion, at walks between front-line positions on Tuesday, February 8, 2022 in Verkhnotoretske, Ukraine.

A doll sits on a wooden gun outside a shop on Tuesday, February 8, 2022 in Verkhnotoretske, Ukraine.

The funeral for Captain Anton Sidorov, a 35-year-old Ukrainian intelligence officer killed three days earlier while serving on the front line in eastern Ukraine, is held at Lukyanivskyi Cemetery on Tuesday, February 22, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Maidan Nezalezhnosti, or Independence Square, at dusk on the day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, February 24, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The square was the center of the 2014 revolution that ousted Kremlin-aligned Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

Military volunteers at a weapons storage facility receive weapons after the Ukrainian government announced they would arm civilians to resist the Russian invasion on Friday, February 25, 2022 in Fastiv, Ukraine.

Worshippers at Sunday morning services at St. Paraskeva Orthodox Church on Sunday, February 27, 2022 in Kalynivka, Ukraine.

The Ukrainian flag is raised over a newly established checkpoint at the edge of a village on Sunday, February 27, 2022 in Hushchyntsi, Ukraine.

People board a bus arranged by volunteers to evacuate them from Ukraine to Moldova on Wednesday, March 2, 2022 in Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

Ukrainian soldiers hold a casket containing the remains of fellow soldier Viktor Dudar, who was killed on March 2 in the war against Russia, at Lychakiv Cemetery on Tuesday, March 8, 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine.

People who have evacuated various parts of Ukraine gather outside the central train station on Wednesday, March 9, 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine.

People sit on a bus leaving Ukraine for Poland from the central railway station on Thursday, March 10, 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine.

Mourners attend the funeral of two local Ukrainian soldiers, Vadym Hryniuk and Ivan Koshil, who were both killed in an attack on a military airfield in Lutsk early the previous morning at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity on Saturday, March 12, 2022 in Lutsk, Ukraine.

A man sits inside a gymnasium at School Number 1 that has been converted to a facility to house people displaced by the Russian invasion on Sunday, March 13, 2022 in Novoyavorivsk, Ukraine.

Mourners attend the funeral of Serhiy Kulyk, 54, a Ukrainian soldier who was killed in eastern Ukraine in the war with Russia, on Monday, March 14, 2022 in Starychi, Ukraine.

Volunteers unload fire wood from a van at the main train station on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine.

A displaced Ukrainian girl sleeps in a room reserved for women with small children near the main train station on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine.

Flower sellers do business on the sidewalk on Thursday, April 14, 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine.

The city center near the Gulliver shopping center on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Shoppers at a street market in the city center on Thursday, April 21, 2022 in Irpin, Ukraine.

A woman who gave her name only as Nadiya sweeps up around a destroyed Russian armored personnel carrier that has been converted into a dumpster on Thursday, April 21, 2022 in Irpin, Ukraine.

Cars destroyed during fighting between the Ukrianian and Russian militaries are heaped in a parking lot after being cleared from main roads on Thursday, April 21, 2022 in Irpin, Ukraine.

The bodies of civilians who died during the Russian occupation of the city are loaded into a trailer for storage until they can be identified and claimed by family members outside the morgue on Friday, April 22, 2022 in Bucha, Ukraine.

Flowers are left at the site of a former mass grave discovered after Russian troops left the city on Friday, April 22, 2022 in Bucha, Ukraine.

PROJECTS

Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

By Brendan Hoffman

After months of buildup and half-hearted attempts at diplomacy, Russia launched a full, unprovoked invasion of its neighbor Ukraine on February 24, 2022. On the false pretexts of safeguarding its own security from NATO expansion and countering Ukrainian radicals, Russia initiated the largest ground war in Europe in decades.

The initial phase of the war proved catastrophic. While large areas of southern and eastern Ukraine were quickly occupied by Russian soldiers, areas around Kyiv in particular proved harder to control. Russia withdrew from the Kyiv area at the end of March, revealing ghastly war crimes and the summary executions of hundreds of innocent civilians. Tens of thousands of civilians elsewhere, an equal number of Russian soldiers, and untold Ukrainian service members have died.

Despite worldwide condemnation of Russia’s actions and the country’s increasing isolation, the war carries on in the Donbas region.