100 photos of Ukraine is a major summary material that Ukraїner traditionally prepares at the end of each year starting 2017. These are the most powerful pictures that the project team has taken during the last 12 months. Ukrainian landscapes, local activists, social and cultural initiatives, etc. — all these are stories of Ukrainians and Ukraine, worth knowing and telling.
In fact, unlike previous such photo selections, this one contains almost no photos taken from a quadcopter because our drone operators have temporarily retrained — most of them serve in aerial reconnaissance.
With this publication, we are wrapping up the year 2022. It began with the filming of traditional winter holiday celebrations, which the Ukraїner team recorded simultaneously in different regions of Ukraine. Like most Ukrainians, we had many plans for 2022. We were preparing for new expeditions, but 24 February changed the lives of all of us. A full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
Then Ukraїner relaunched all our communication channels to start telling the truth about the Russian-Ukrainian war and the resilience of Ukrainians. We suspended the publication of stories filmed before the invasion, instead focusing on topics that show the unity, resistance, and spirit of Ukrainians in the new wartime reality, that expose the crimes of Russia and bring Ukraine’s victory closer.
Despite the war, this year we started many new projects. One of the most important projects for us this year is publishing a series of videos about cities and towns, liberated from Russian troops. (By the way, these materials will soon be published in English too!) As of the end of December, the Ukraїner team visited all the de-occupied settlements, often becoming the first media that dared to go there to talk to locals who lived under occupation. Expect translations of this series into your languages already in the new year.
We also shot a series of stories about women in the war who help the community as doctors, volunteers, and managers. We spoke about volunteer initiatives that appeared or were revived after the invasion to help the military and civilians. Of course, this is not a complete list, so we have collected these and other new projects of the great war on the website in the ‘War’ section.
While you are reading this, we have almost collected 3 million UAH, which we need to ensure the existence and development of the project throughout the year. We did not run a communication campaign in support of this collection, because we all donate money for the weapons and the army in the first place. But you can support Ukraїner on our website or Patreon.
Don’t forget to check what the 100 photos were from previous years: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 та 2017!
Cover: Consequence of the shelling of Ukrainian positions by Russian MLRS. One of the shells fell into a lake. Podniprovia and Zaporizhzhia. 8 December. Photo by Pavlo Pashko.
Death, a character in the nativity play called ‘Herod’. Komarove, Polissia. 7 January. Photo by Svitlana Churubrova.
Vertep (an informal nativity theatre) of the Ukrainian Youth Association walks along a city street. Kharkiv, Slobozhanshchyna. 7 January. Photo by Yevheniia Sednieva. Special project ‘Winter holidays’.
Parade of Christmas star carriers. Lviv, Halychyna. 8 January. Photo by Halyna Kuchmanych. Special project ‘Winter holidays’.
Folklorist and founder of the ‘Muravskyi Shliakh’ folk group Halyna Lukianets dresses up in a traditional Ukrainian costume to go carolling through the streets of the city. Kharkiv, Slobozhanshchyna. 8 January. Photo by Yevheniia Sednieva. Special project ‘Winter holidays’.
The Skoryk family celebrates Christmas. Shershentsi, Podillia. 10 January. Photo by Emma Soldatova. Special project ‘Winter holidays’.
Costumes of Bears, characters of the Malanka carnival, are made of twisted bundles of sedge. A costume of an adult character weighs 30–40 kg. Beleluia, Halychyna. 13 January. Photo by Artem Halkin. Special project ‘Winter holidays’.
Resident of the Pistyn village, Ukraїner volunteer Yurii Hanushchak takes part in the Malanka carnival every year, transforming into female characters — Malanka or Baba. Pistyn, Carpathians. 13 January. Photo by Khrystyna Kulakovska. Special project ‘Winter holidays’.
One of the traditional jokes played on the Malanka holiday is the custom of stopping the cars of local residents to banter with the drivers and ask them for some kind of reward. Popova Hreblia, Podillia. 13 January. Photo by Viacheslav Ratynski. Special project ‘Winter holidays’.
‘Borinka’, wrestling of characters from different Malanka groups for priority, is always the culmination of the Malanka celebration in Beleluia. The wrestler who makes the opponent fall to the ground wins. Beleluia, Halychyna. 14 January. Photo by Artem Halkin. Special project ‘Winter holidays’.
Malanka participant admires the night view of the village. Ispas, Bukovyna. 14 January. Photo by Yurii Stefanyak. Special project ‘Winter holidays’.
Wrestling between Malanka characters of different groups. The Malanka carnival in Popova Hreblia is called ‘Gypsies’, and the Malanka actor groups are called ‘Gypsy families’. Popova Hreblia, Podillia. 14 January. Photo by Viacheslav Ratynski. Special project ‘Winter holidays’.
Sunny day in a snowy mountain village. Pistyn, Carpathians. 12 January. Photo by Khrystyna Kulakovska. Special project ‘Winter holidays’.
The Pistynka mountain river has frozen over. Pistyn, Carpathians. 12 January. Photo by Khrystyna Kulakovska. Special project ‘Winter holidays’.
Traffic jam at the exit from the capital on the first day of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv. 24 February. Photo by Oleksandr Khomenko
Making Molotov cocktails in the backyard of a private house. Zapytiv, Halychyna. 26 February. Photo by Lina Chu.
Shelter for the internally displaced persons in the Les Kurbas Lviv Academic Theatre. Lviv, Halychyna. 27 February. Photo by Yurii Stefanyak.
Internally displaced persons with suitcases in the square near the railway station. Lviv, Halychyna. 27 February. Photo by Sofiia Soliar.
Everyday life of the humanitarian centre. Lviv, Halychyna. 28 February. Photo by Oleksandr Khomenko.
Andrii Khlyvniuk, frontman of the ‘Boombox’ music band, who joined a special patrol police unit in the centre of the capital. Kyiv. 4 March. Photo by Serhii Korovainyi.
Video (in Ukrainian)
Protected from enemy fire, the statue of Neptune in the central square. Lviv, Halychyna. 6 March. Photo by Yurii Stefanyak.
Theatre play in a bomb shelter. Ivano-Frankivsk, Halychyna. 7 March. Photo by Valentyn Kuzan.
Video (in Ukrainian)
Volunteer of the Territorial Defense Forces unit. Kyiv. 9 March. Photo by Serhii Korovainyi.
Volunteers weave camouflage nets for the military in the Powder Tower. Lviv, Halychyna. 10 March. Photo by Lina Chu.
Video (in Ukrainian)
Volunteer centre at the rectorate of Uzhhorod National University. Uzhhorod, Zakarpattia. 16 March. Photo by Valentyn Kuzan.
Video (in Ukrainian)
Halyna Balabanova was in the besieged Mariupol when she and her team coordinated a large volunteer hub based on the ‘Halabuda’ educational hub. Lviv, Halychyna. 20 March. Photo by Khrystyna Kulakovska. Special project: ‘Listen to the voice of Mariupol’.
Smoke from an oil terminal destroyed by an enemy missile can be seen in the city centre. Lviv, Halychyna. 26 March. Photo by Khrystyna Kulakovska.
Halyna Fedushka is a paediatric neurologist at the National Children's Specialised Hospital ‘Ohmatdyt’. On the day of the invasion, she remained on duty, and her colleagues followed her initiative. This is how the hospital continued to work during the war. Kyiv. 26 March. Photo by Serhii Korovainyi.
Car service worker and veteran of the anti-terrorist operation has been repairing cars for the military, as well as trophy weapons that Ukrainian fighters can use from the first day of the full-scale invasion. Kyiv. 27 March. Photo by Karina Piliugina.
Debris of a Russian rocket on a village street. Liutizh, Polissia. 31 March. Photo by Karina Piliugina.
Grandfather Valentyn with his granddaughter in the centre for internally displaced persons. Zaporizhzhia, Zaporizhzhia and Podniprovia. 4 April. Photo by Pavlo Pashko.
The aerial scout girl is taking home a cat found in Irpin. Irpin, Polissia. 2 April. Photo by Karina Piliugina.
Video (in Ukrainian)
The aerial scouts pilot a quadcopter. Chernihiv, Sivershchyna. 4 April. Photo by Dmytro Sanin.
Shooting training within the scope of the civilian training project. Lviv, Halychyna. 10 April. Photo by Lina Chu.
The Historical and Local History Museum with paintings by Maria Prymachenko destroyed by the Russians. Ivankiv, Polissia. 10 April. Photo by Roman Klymchuk.
Portrait of a child in the liberated territory. Ivankiv, Polissia. 10 April. Photo by Karina Piliugina.
Man travels by train from a zone near the hostilities to relatively safer regions of the country. Lozova, Slobozhanshchyna. 13 April. Photo by Karina Piliugina.
Service in the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church. Lviv, Halychyna. 17 April. Photo by Yurii Stefanyak.
Sunset. Okhtyrka, Sivershchyna. 21 April. Photo by Karina Piliugina.
Photographer Serhii Melnychenko shows printed versions of his photos. He sells the photos as non-fungible tokens (NFT) and gives the proceeds to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. So in the summer he managed to collect more than half a million hryvnias. Ivano-Frankivsk, Halychyna. 22 April. Photo by Anastasiia Kubert.
A local partisan, who helped defend his city from the invaders, shows the remains of a Russian convoy of heavy equipment. Trostianets, Slobozhanshchyna. 22 April. Photo by Kostiantyn Huzenko.
A local resident drives past a house that was fired upon by the Russian military. Trostianets, Slobozhanshchyna. 22 April. Photo by Kostyantyn Huzenko.
The destroyed self-propelled artillery (SAU) of the occupiers in the main square of the city. Trostianets, Slobozhanshchyna. 22 April. Photo by Kostyantyn Huzenko.
A projectile from an enemy multiple rocket launcher system (MRL) stuck in a tree. Koriukivka, Sivershchyna. 25 April. Photo by Kostyantyn Huzenko.
Video (in Ukrainian)
Ihor Biletskyi is a teacher who, with the beginning of the full-scale invasion, became a soldier of the Territorial Defence Forces. Chernihiv, Sivershchyna. 26 April. Photo by Kostyantyn Huzenko.
Volunteers who came to be selected for the 47th battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (from 15 November 2022 - a brigade), known as the "Marcus Battalion." Kyiv. 4 May. Photo by Yurii Stefanyak.
Remains of furniture in a city mutilated by the Russian military. Hostomel, Polissia. 5 May. Photo by Karina Piliugina.
The chef of the Wine love restaurant, Kateryna Tkachuk, who reformatted the restaurant into a volunteer kitchen, supporting the initiative of the Kyiv Volunteer Foundation. In February, about 900 dinners were prepared per day for civilians and military personnel. Kyiv. 9 May. Photo by Oleksandr Khomenko.
Roman Korobkin is a volunteer of the "Modul" art space, which repairs cars sent from Poland, Latvia and other countries for the front. Dnipro, Podniprovia and Zaporizhzhya. 20 May. Photo by Yurii Stefaniak.
A girl reads a book in Ukrainian in the library. Kolomyia, Halychyna. 21 May. Photo by Valentyn Kuzan.
Volunteers load the warehouse. Zaporizhzhia, Podniprovia and Zaporizhzhia. 22 May. Photo by Yurii Stefaniak.
Residents of Kherson who were forced to evacuate to a safer place. Zaporizhzhia. Podniprovia and Zaporizhzhia. 27 May. Photo by Yurii Stefanyak.
A shell hole from a drop bomb next to a farmstead. Kukhari, Polissia. 29 May. Photo by Roman Klymchuk.
Serhiy Prytula, a showman, politician, public figure and the head of one of the most powerful charity foundations to help the military. Kyiv. 29 May. Photo by Mykhailo Chubun.
Mykola Morhun, a resident of the de-occupied village, with a shell from a cluster bomb he has found in his garden. Kukhari, Polissia. 29 May. Photo by Yurii Stefaniak.
Video (in Ukrainian)
A girl playing with a cat in a centre for temporarily displaced persons. Zabolottsi, Halychyna. 3 June. Photo by Bohdan Grab.
A girl with a toy plane in a shelter for temporarily displaced persons. Zabolottsi, Halychyna. 3 June. Photo by Bohdan Grab.
Valentyna Dobrydina is helping a local young man. The woman is an activist, the head of the "Leader" Chernivtsi regional organisation of people with disabilities. Since the beginning of the full-scale war she has been helping people with disabilities evacuate and arrange their everyday lives. Chernivtsi, Bukovyna. 4 June. Photo by Vasyl Salyga.
A boy climbed up a Russian occupiers’ burned out tank. The road north of Kapitanivka, Polissia. 6 June. Photo credit: Yurii Stefaniak.
Kharkiv street artist Hamlet Zinkivskyi against the background of his work. Kharkiv, Slobozhanshchyna. 10 June. Photo credit: Oleksandr Sharma.
Video (in Ukrainian)
The building of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration destroyed as a result of a missile strike by the Russian military. Kharkiv, Slobozhanshchyna. 15 June. Photo by Oleh Solohub.
Video (in Ukrainian)
A member of the armed forces accompanies the volunteers of the "Vokzal" hub to the front-line settlement. Slobozhanshchyna. 14 May. Photo credit: Oleksandr Babych.
Ukrainian members of the armed forces treat themselves to cherries. Slatne, Slobozhanshchyna. 14 June. Photo by Karina Piliugina.
Mariia Nazarova, a combat medic (in the middle) holds a training on tactical medicine. The exact location is not specified for security reasons. 17 June. Photo by Nick Zavilinskyi.
The boy Nikita who has epilepsy and autism, is being taken for a checkup to brain surgeons who help Ukrainians within the framework of cooperation with the NGO Razom for Ukraine. Lviv, Halychyna. 22 June. Photo by Petro Chekal
Volunteers of Razom for Ukraine charity foundation — an association of activists from the USA, Canada, Poland, and Ukraine — are loading boxes with humanitarian aid. Lviv, Halychyna. 22 June. Photo by Petro Chekal.
A man crosses the street. Kharkiv, Slobozhanshchyna. 2 July. Photo by Kyrylo Honchar.
In the time of the major war, Ukrainian journalist Roman Vintoniv joined the ranks of the Armed Forces again. The location is not specified for security reasons. 12 July. Photo by Valentyn Kuzan.
The damaged engine of the Antonov AN-225 Mriia aircraft. Hostomel, Polissia. 13 July. Photo credit: Yurii Stefaniak.
Video (in Ukrainian)
A plane destroyed as a result of the Russian occupiers’ operations, at the airfield. Hostomel, Polissia. 13 July. Photo by Roman Klymchuk.
Actors of the Mariupol theatre that has resumed performances on the basis of the Uzhhorod theatre, before going on stage. Uzhhorod, Zakarpattia. 18 July. Photo by Bohdan Hrab.
Oleksandr Kuchynskyi, co-founder of Repair Together volunteer initiative, during a toloka (joint work) at the damaged Culture house. Yahidne, Sivershchyna. 23 July. Photo by Khrystyna Kulakovska.
Repair Together volunteers are resting after the removal of debris of the Culture house crippled by the occupiers. Iahidne, Sivershchyna. 23 July. Photo credit: Khrystyna Kulakovska.
Iov Olshanskyi, the priest who has joined OCU after leaving "UOC MP'', enters the church to hold a service. Lviv, Halychyna. 27 July. Photo credit: Petro Chekal.
Taras Kompanichenko, a bandura player, lyrist, and leader of the Chorea Kozacka band. In 2022, he joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Kyiv. 14 August. Photo by Valentyn Kuzan.
Ukraїner team at the annual summer camp. Bucha, not far from Kyiv. 27 August. Photo by Sofia Soliar.
Taras Chmut, a military analyst, participant of the Russian-Ukrainian war, head of the Come Back Alive charity foundation. Kyiv, 1 September. Photo by Valentyn Kuzan.
Nariman Aliiev, Ukrainian director and screenwriter of Crimean Tatar origin. Kyiv. 1 September. Photo by Valentyn Kuzan.
Yaroslava Kravchenko, Ukrainian TV host, producer and civil activist. Kyiv. 10 September. Photo by Valentyn Kuzan.
Self-portrait of a displaced woman who returns from abroad to her native Kharkiv for the time being. Slobozhanshchyna. 14 September. Photo by Angelina Bishep.
Vineyards. Husiatyn, Podillia. 17 September. Photo by Orest Ilchyshyn. Expedition for a book about wine.
Volunteers of the Vokzal Hub charity foundation distribute humanitarian aid in the de-occupied city. Kupiansk, Slobozhanshchyna. 15 September. Photo by Victoriia Yakymenko.
A train station in a city that has survived the Russian occupation. Kozacha Lopan, Slobozhanshchyna. 18 September. Photo by Victoriia Yakymenko.
Cell of the torture chamber in which the Russian occupiers kept Ukrainians. Izium, Slobozhanshchyna. 19 September. Photo by Victoriia Yakymenko. Special project ‘De-occupation’.
Member of the exhumation team at the mass burial site. Izium, Slobozhanshchyna. 19 September. Photo by Victoriia Yakymenko. Special project ‘De-occupation’.
Local resident at the mass burial site. Izium, Slobozhanshchyna. 19 September. Photo by Victoriia Yakymenko. Special project ‘De-occupation’.
Founder of Ukraїner Bogdan Logvynenko talks to a young resident of a liberated city. Izium, Slobozhanshchyna. 19 September. Photo by Victoriia Yakymenko. Special project ‘De-occupation’.
Local residents catch a mobile network signal at the highest point on the outskirts of the city. Izium, Slobozhanshchyna, 20 September. Photo by Victoriia Yakymenko.
Monument to Taras Shevchenko in the de-occupied city. Balaklia, Slobozhanshchyna. 21 September. Photo by Victoriia Yakymenko.
The winemaker tastes his own wine. Myla, Polissia. 24 September. Photo by Yurii Stefanyak. Expedition for a book about wine.
Sunset over the Dnister. Bakota, Podillia. 26 September. Photo by Orest Ilchyshyn.
Harvesting grapes at the Institute of Viticulture and Winemaking named after V. E. Tairov. Tairovo, Black Sea region. 30 September. Photo by Yurii Stefanyak. Expedition for a book about wine.
A woman walks past a house destroyed by the fighting. Lyman, Slobozhanshchyna. 6 October. Photo by Roman Klymchuk.
A couple admires the view of the evening city during an emergency blackout. Kyiv. 25 October. Photo by Yurii Stefanyak.
Corriere della Sera Corriere della Sera correspondent Lorenzo Cremonesi. Kyiv. 27 October. Photo by Artem Galkin. Special project "Ukraine through the eyes of international reporters".
Couple walks home. Kupiansk, Slobozhanshchyna. 1 November. Photo by Yana Sidash.
Burned out military equipment against the background of the shelled Sviato-uspenska Sviatohirska Lavra. Sviatohorsk, Slobozhanshchyna. 4 November. Photo by Yana Sidash.
Olena Honcharuk, who until November 2022 acted as the general director of the Dovzhenko Center. Kyiv. 16 November. Photo by Yurii Stefanyak.
Ukrainian military personnel greet the driver and passengers of the oncoming car. The location is not specified for security reasons. 17 November. Photo by Oleg Marchuk.
Residents of the liberated city collect water on the embankment. Kherson, Tavria. 24 November. Photo by Yurii Stefanyak.
