Photojournalist Anatoliy Stepanov talks about his experience covering the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
'Anything Can Happen At Any Moment': Ukrainian War Photographer On Life In The Trenches
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A Ukrainian serviceman fires a machine gun toward Kremlin-backed separatists in an industrial area near Avdiyivka, just north of Donetsk, in November 2016.
This is one of thousands of images made by Ukrainian photojournalist Anatoliy Stepanov on the front lines of the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.
This is one of thousands of images made by Ukrainian photojournalist Anatoliy Stepanov on the front lines of the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.
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Photographer Anatoliy Stepanov.
RFE/RL's Russian Service spoke to the veteran combat photographer about his frontline experiences and his latest project dedicated to the upcoming 30th anniversary of Ukrainian independence.
RFE/RL's Russian Service spoke to the veteran combat photographer about his frontline experiences and his latest project dedicated to the upcoming 30th anniversary of Ukrainian independence.
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A Ukrainian serviceman carries a rocket-propelled grenade near Krasnohorivka in July 2021.
Stepanov, who freelances largely for the AFP news agency, has covered the conflict in eastern Ukraine since 2014, shortly after the Russian seizure of Crimea, when armed separatists in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv attempted to seize the eastern city's administration.
Stepanov, who freelances largely for the AFP news agency, has covered the conflict in eastern Ukraine since 2014, shortly after the Russian seizure of Crimea, when armed separatists in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv attempted to seize the eastern city's administration.
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Oleksandra, a 20-year-old soldier who told Stepanov that "since childhood, I wanted to join the army." The photo was taken near Novotoshkovskoye in September 2018.
The photographer's latest project, titled Independent, focuses on fighters like Oleksandra, whose youth means they have only ever known an independent Ukraine.
The photographer's latest project, titled Independent, focuses on fighters like Oleksandra, whose youth means they have only ever known an independent Ukraine.
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Vitaliy, a 25-year-old soldier photographed near Avdiyivka in 2018. The eastern Ukrainian native was born an orphan and raised by his grandmother.
Vitaliy told photographer Stepanov that his most vivid memory of the war was taking part in the assault on the Butovka mine, when he helped retrieve the mangled bodies of his killed comrades. After the battle, he says the Ukrainian military shelled the mine for two weeks to stop the separatists from collecting their dead.
Vitaliy told photographer Stepanov that his most vivid memory of the war was taking part in the assault on the Butovka mine, when he helped retrieve the mangled bodies of his killed comrades. After the battle, he says the Ukrainian military shelled the mine for two weeks to stop the separatists from collecting their dead.
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Olena, a 22-year-old fighter photographed in Marinka in January 2018. She began fighting as a volunteer aged just 17. When not on the front lines, she is studying theater directing at the Kyiv University of Culture and Arts.
According to Stepanov, more than one-quarter of Ukraine's combatants are younger than 30, a shift from the early days of the conflict in which older, sometimes pension-age volunteers bore more of the weight of the conflict for Ukraine.
According to Stepanov, more than one-quarter of Ukraine's combatants are younger than 30, a shift from the early days of the conflict in which older, sometimes pension-age volunteers bore more of the weight of the conflict for Ukraine.
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Vitaliy, a soldier who goes by the call sign "Hans," holds a cat in a trench near Zhelobok in January 2020. Vitaliy first attempted to join the army in 2014, when he was just 16. After the military rejected him, the teenager waited two years before finally signing a contract to fight in 2016.
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A Ukrainian serviceman fires his rifle during clashes along the front line near Volnovakha in June 2021.
Having witnessed years of conflict in Ukraine, Stepanov calls the current state of the war a somewhat farcical routine in which both sides mostly hold to a "cease-fire" until around 5 p.m. each day, when OSCE observers clock out, and then the shooting begins.
Having witnessed years of conflict in Ukraine, Stepanov calls the current state of the war a somewhat farcical routine in which both sides mostly hold to a "cease-fire" until around 5 p.m. each day, when OSCE observers clock out, and then the shooting begins.
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A Ukrainian serviceman fires toward the separatists near Horlivka in July 2020.
"In general, you can never relax on the front lines," Stepanov tells RFE/RL, "because you can catch a bullet, especially at night."
"In general, you can never relax on the front lines," Stepanov tells RFE/RL, "because you can catch a bullet, especially at night."
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Remnants of a rocket embedded in the pavement in Debaltseve in November 2014.
In seven years of covering the war, Stepanov has survived several close calls. Once, a tank took aim at the position he was sharing with several soldiers; after fleeing and taking cover, the group returned to find the position completely destroyed.
In seven years of covering the war, Stepanov has survived several close calls. Once, a tank took aim at the position he was sharing with several soldiers; after fleeing and taking cover, the group returned to find the position completely destroyed.
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The ravaged landscape of no-man's-land between positions held by the Ukrainian military and those of separatist forces in April 2017.
Stepanov says after dedicating much of his life to photographing the conflict in his native country, it is now impossible for him to stop.
Stepanov says after dedicating much of his life to photographing the conflict in his native country, it is now impossible for him to stop.
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A Ukrainian soldier plays a violin in a frontline position near Horlivka in December 2020.
Stepanov tells RFE/RL that photographing in such dangerous conditions is "like a civic duty or something. Perhaps that sounds overblown, but this is how I try to present it. People live in a country that seems to be peaceful but, in fact, the question of whether the front will move further or not move...is hanging in the balance. Anything can happen at any moment."
Stepanov tells RFE/RL that photographing in such dangerous conditions is "like a civic duty or something. Perhaps that sounds overblown, but this is how I try to present it. People live in a country that seems to be peaceful but, in fact, the question of whether the front will move further or not move...is hanging in the balance. Anything can happen at any moment."
