Thread by @EasyRid04682094

#LetsTalkDesign episode 36,5: 300
It's been 300, precisely 303 days. There weren't many professional photographers around for most of the time, though at certain moments there were too many of them around. So here's the selection. And a summary.

On 21st Feb 2022 Vladimir Putin recognised independence of the so called 'people's republics' in Donbas. In a bizarre, hour-long speech, he declared Ukraine to be both a fictitious and failed state, denying it any history or identity of its own.
Invasion started 3 days later.

First strikes were shocking. So one can be killed just like that. At his own home. Anywhere. Anytime

People rushed to shelters

While others began preparing for the fight to the bitter end

Ukrainian Army repelled the assault on Hostomel airport and halted the enemy at the capital's outskirts.
Kyiv was saved, for now.

Other cities, however, expected to fall at any moment. Hundreds of thousands of women and children were on the move, seeking safety from bombs, rockets and Russian soldiers.

And their number kept growing every day

But the Ukrainian Army fought back and turned Putin's plans into dust. This land was not going to be an easy prey

Russian offensive in the north stalled while their casualties were mountig

But Ukraine suffered terribly

It was not the soldiers who suffered the most.
Don't look away.

Five children are being killed or injured in Ukraine EVERY DAY since the start of the war.

None of the children pictured in these photos survived

The situation was particularly grim in Mariupol, which had been under siege since early March. Humanitarian corridors were rarely opened and frequently shelled or bombarded by Russian forces. 90% of the city was destroyed by the Russian army, with at least 25,000 civilians killed

Storming the city made no strategic sense. But the Russian authorities demanded it because the Azov battalion was fighting there. Its members retreated to the bunker-like Azovstal plant, their last stand.

They set an example. Heroism in Ukraine has many faces.

And it was the heroism of the Ukrainians that forced the Russian army to withdraw from Kiev, Chernihiv and Kharkiv, leaving their pride behind.

And exposing the atrocities they committed

Western support grew, and arms supplies began to take serious shape, including not only defensive weapons such as Javelins, but also artillery and the famous HIMARS

This allowed the Ukrainians to defend themselves against the summer Russian offensive in the Donbass and later gain the initiative, eventually liberating the entire Kharkiv region and entering Kherson

Furious Putin has launched an air campaign against Ukrainian cities

This war will take long. Bachmut front now resembles the trenches of World War I (all photos: Viktor Boryniets)

'Russkiy mir' still occupies 120,000 sq. km. of Ukrainian territory

These soldiers will not see their homes anytime soon

Their lives may seem almost normal in the western part of the country, but in reality all Ukrainians are struggling to survive.

Look at their faces. The faces of the 300.
EOT