Ukraine celebrated two public holidays in a row: 23 August — Flag Day; and 24 August — Independence Day. The latter this year coincided with a tragic date: half a year ago, on February 24, Russia launched a full-scale armed invasion of Ukraine. President of Poland Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister of Great Britain Boris Johnson visited Kyiv.
23-24 August in Ukraine
23.08 Kryvyi Rih, Podniprovia and Zaporizhzhia
Photo: Heidi Levine for The Washington Post
24.08 Kyiv
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi and his wife lay flowers at the Wall of Memory of those who died for Ukraine.
Photo: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service
23.08 Podniprovia and Zaporizhzhia
A soldier of the Territorial Defense forces signs the flag.
Photo: Dmitry Smolenko
24.08 Berlin, Germany
Parade in Berlin for the Independence Day of Ukraine.
Photo: Angelina Bishop
23.08 Kyiv
A girl, wrapped in a flag, inspects an exhibition of destroyed R*ssian military equipment on Khreschatyk.
Photo: Lynsey Addario
24.08 Kyiv
Volodymyr Zelenskyy shows Boris Johnson a memorial sign in his honor on the Alley of Courage.
Photo: Instagram page of Volodymyr Zelenskyi
23.08 Lviv, Halychyna
Luhansk Philharmonic Academic Symphony Orchestra during a charity concert in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Photo: Jeff Mitchell
24.08 Warsaw, Poland
Yellow-blue illumination of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw.
Photo: Natalia Panchenko
24.08 Kyiv
Ukrainians celebrate Independence Day of Ukraine on Independence Square.
Photo: Yevhenii Zavhorodnii
25-26 August in Ukraine
Russian troops continue to constantly shell civilian objects in Ukrainian cities. On the evening of August 24, Russia hit a passenger train and the Chaplyne railway station, killing 25 people. A “parade” of destroyed Russian equipment was held on Khreschatyk Street in Kyiv.
26.08
Photo: Katya Moskalyuk
25.08 Zaporizhzhia, Podniprovia and Zaporizhzhia
A family that left the temporarily occupied Nova Kakhovka.
Photo: Nick Tymchenko
26.08 Dnipro, Podniprovia and Zaporizhzhia
Girls draw inside the children’s room of the centre for internally displaced people in Dnipro.
Photo: Yana Sidash
25.08 Mykolaiv, Prychornomoria
Post office workers inside the shelter during missile fire in Mykolaiv.
Photo: Wojciech Grzedzinski for The Washington Post
26.08 Slobozhanshchyna
Fragments of projectiles.
Photo: Stas Yurchenko
25.08 Kyiv
Brothers in arms during the farewell ceremony of the Ukrainian defender Yuriy Karakay.
Photo: Mikhail Palinchak
25.08 Chaplyne, Podniprovia and Zaporizhzhia
A Ukrainian serviceman stands inside a crater made by a Russian shell next to a destroyed house.
Photo: Dmytro Smolienko
25.08 Slobozhanshchyna
A fighter of the special unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Da Vinci Wolves.
Photo: Stas Yurchenko
25.08 Kyiv
A woman on an electric scooter drives past an exhibition of destroyed Russian military equipment on Khreschatyk Street.
Photo: Sergiy Ilyashenko
25.08 Kyiv
The inscription on the destroyed R*ssian military vehicle “Crimea will be free!”
Photo: Yurii Stefanyak
27-28th August in Ukraine
The Armed Forces of Ukraine repelled Russian offensive attempts in several directions. On the evening of August 28, the occupiers hit the centre of Kharkiv with rockets. The administrative building was destroyed. For the first time, the Ukrainian band Antytila and British singer Ed Sheeran performed together a song, recorded it in support of Ukraine.
28.08 Kharkiv
Photo: Serhiy Zhadan
28.08 Borodianka, Polissia
A children’s playground in front of buildings destroyed as a result of the Russian shelling.
Photo: Nazar Furyk
28.08 Slobozhanshchyna
A column of smoke that arose after enemy shelling.
Photo: Ammar Awad
27.08 Slobozhanshchyna
Military equipment in the war zone.
Photo: Serhii Nuzhnenko
28.08 Slobozhanshchyna
A fighter of the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, Kholodnyi Yar.
Photo: Instagram page of the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, Kholodnyi Yar
27.08 Lviv, Halychyna
A woman is recovering in a rehabilitation center after injuries received during the Russian shelling.
Photo: Emile Ducke
27.08 Warsaw, Poland
Ukrainian band Antytila and British singer Ed Sheeran on the day of a joint performance at the main stadium of Poland.
Photo: UNITED24 Instagram page
28.08 Kyiv
The art demonstration “Ukraine is One,” during which Ukrainians symbolically connected the left and right banks of the Dnipro river with a flag.
Photo: Yurii Stefanyak
27.08 Lviv, Halychyna
Children play in the fountain. In the center of the photo, there is a girl who returned from a six-month evacuation from Poland.
Photo: Emilio Morenatti
27.08 Bucha, Polissia
The wedding of a Ukrainian defender and his bride in Bucha.
Photo: Alexey Furman