This photo essay was taken between July 2022 and April 2023 in Bakhmut, Ukraine. The city became a fortress for Ukrainian troops resisting the constant attack of the Russian army. A look from the first Russian shelling, where hundreds of civilians were killed or wounded, to the last Ukrainian soldiers who held out until the last line of the city. The capture of the city by Russian troops took place on 21 May 2023, after almost 10 months of battle.
Ukrainian soldiers look at the flames in the city of Bakhmut Ukraine attacked by russian army from their fighting position 23 April 2023
Ukrainian soldiers fire soviet artillery D-30 at Russian enemy positions in Bakhmut Ukraine 13 April 2023
A Ukrainian soldier in shock after a russian shell hit very close to him in the town of Bakhmut Ukraine 12 April 2023
A Ukrainian emergency service worker in Bakhmut drives a fire truck in the direction of a fire in the city centre of Bakhmut 23 December 2022
Ukrainian soldiers arrive in the city of Bakhmut Ukraine in an armoured vehicle and get out of it to continue walking to their position 11 April 2023
Ukrainian army medics treat a soldier wounded in Bakhmut as he screams in pain at a field hospital on the outskirts of Bakhmut Ukraine 6 April 2023
Ukrainian soldiers try to unjam the M-777 artillery gun from the mud to change its orientation to another target in the direction of Bakhmut Ukraine on 5 April 2023
A mother and daughter wait for police in a basement to be evacuated from Bakhmut city where fierce fighting is already underway on 21 December 2022
A woman with a trolley carrying food crosses over a destroyed bridge to the other side of the city of Bakhmut Ukraine on 16 December 2022
Ukrainian emergency service workers in Bakhmut work on extinguishing a fire in a house after a russian shelling of Bakhmut 28 July 2022
Two neighbours mourn the death of a neighbour lying on the ground under a blanket killed after a russian shelling on the city of Bakhmut Ukraine on 10 August 2022
Two neighbours mourn the death of a neighbour lying on the ground under a blanket killed after a russian shelling on the city of Bakhmut Ukraine on 10 August 2022
