Locals in the town of New York, in eastern Ukraine, describe living with war on their doorstep.
Matvey, 17
The phenol factory here had a major customer in Crimea and when Russia annexed the peninsula the New York economy was hit very hard. Now the plant is only working at a reduced rate and finding employment is the biggest issue in the town.
I was only young when the conflict started so I don't remember much about life before. It's hard to imagine that you can get used to living with war, but that's what has happened here.
The scariest moment was when mortars hit my street. I heard the pop of the mortars, but it just sounded like this shelling you can hear now. Then around five seconds later the shells started exploding all around. The lights were flickering, everything was shaking and my mum and sister were crying. My dad was at work at the time. The mortars hit my grandma's house and blew out the windows and a neighbor was killed. He was sitting outside in the garden and started running for the house but a mortar blew him apart.
I plan to go to Kharkiv to get my higher education, then I want to come back here to help develop the town. I love this region and I want to make it better. I know politics is a dirty business, but that's one of the reasons I want to get involved -- to make a difference. There will be some bad actors who try to stop me but I'm ready for it.
Kristyna, 28
In September, the separatists attacked the town with a drone. I was sitting at home and heard a buzzing in the sky. I didn't pay much attention at first because there are often drones flying around, but it was a new, very loud sound. Later, a military girl came to the beauty salon where I was working and told us it was an octocopter that dropped a bomb.
One impact of the war is that there are many more animals in the village because hunting with guns is banned in the region. In this park we are standing you can see rabbits and squirrels running around, and in the forests near the village you can even see deer. Some of the forests are off-limits because of booby traps, but others are safe.
Occasionally the Russia-backed separatists use radio-jamming devices to disrupt Ukrainian military communications. It also affects people's cell phones here, so some days you can't message or even call people even though your phone is saying you have full connection.
In the early days of the war it was very difficult to move around. I was studying in Horlivka, which is now held by the separatists. When I took the bus there were checkpoints sometimes manned by drunk, shirtless guys with huge bellies. They were flagging down vehicles with rolling pins painted like a traffic police baton. it was a very chaotic period.
Now some people are nervous about the talk of an invasion and are stocking up on buckwheat, bread, and canned meat. For now though I think this is just (Russian President Vladimir) Putin playing games, trying to get concessions.
Oleg, 53
Who is going to attack us? No one needs Ukraine.
My brother lives in Donetsk and now because of the war we can't see each other. Everyone is leaving this town. What is there to do for young people? The cafés are all closed. Here was a café, there was another -- all shut down. I used to work in a mine nearby but I was injured on the job and lost sight in one eye. Now I'm getting a pension but it's only 3,000 hryvnyas ($111) a month. We were told we would get an extra 80 hryvnyas. What good is that? One loaf of bread costs 23 hryvnyas!
The soldiers stationed here aren’t allowed to buy booze so sometimes they slip locals a bit of extra money to buy them some.
In the early days of the conflict I had one close call when I was working in the mine and me and a young worker were walking outside for a smoke. A shell hit right by the door and glass came raining down. If we had left for that smoke a few seconds earlier that would have been it. I know of one old lady here who was out in her garden picking some herbs for borscht. A faulty shell came screaming in, hit her directly in the head and killed her without exploding.
This town was originally called New York, then they changed the name, now they’ve changed it back to New York, and for what? Nothing has changed, we're still walking around, drinking samagon. We thought maybe (U.S. President Joe) Biden might help, but no one is interested in us.
Editor's Note: Many of the photos in this story were shot using a large-format FKD camera made in the Ukrainian S.S.R. in 1972. The camera gives the images an increased sense of depth and, in some cases, visual imperfections.
