Ukraine Crisis

From the Archives: World Press Photo contest 2022

A decapitated statue of Lenin stands in Cheminots Park, Kotovsk, Ukraine, on 19 December 2013. The statue was destroyed by ultra-nationalists on the night of 8-9 December.

Photographed over 2013-2021, this project looks at the longer-term context leading to the 2022 war in Ukraine. Tensions between the east and west of Ukraine were exacerbated in 2014 when Kremlin-backed forces occupied the Crimean peninsula and separatists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk established self-proclaimed people's republics, a status not officially recognized by most of the international community.

Tensions continued and, in April 2021, Russia began increasing their military forces on Ukraine's borders. In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin laid out a set of security demands, including that Ukraine be permanently barred from joining NATO, and the already volatile situation intensified. On 21 February, President Putin formally recognized the independence of the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LNR). Three days later, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.