stories
One month later Twenty-eight snapshots that capture Russia’s destructive war against Ukraine
Source: Meduza
Today, March 24, 2022, marks one month since Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to undertake a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. These four weeks have changed the country beyond recognition: Ukrainian cities — from Kharkiv to Volnovakha, and Mariupol to Kherson — have suffered widespread damage and destruction from bombardments; more than 3.6 million people have been forced to flee abroad as refugees. The United Nations has recorded at least 2,685 civilian casualties, including 1,035 killed and 1,650 injured. The real toll is much higher — thousands have reportedly died in besieged Mariupol alone. The actual number of military casualties, both Russian and Ukrainian, also remains unknown as yet. To bear witness to this catastrophic month, Meduza shares one photo from each day of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Warning: Some of the images below contain scenes of violence and death that readers may find disturbing.
Day one
The city of Chuhuiv in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, under shelling by Russian forces on February 24, 2022.
Aris Messinis / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 2
The body of a Russian soldier on the outskirts of Kharkiv.
Vadim Ghirda / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 3
Territorial Defense volunteers inspecting weapons in Kyiv.
Chris McGrath / Getty Images
Day 4
A rare light in the windows of apartment buildings in Kyiv. According to the UN, roughly 370,000 refugees had fled Ukraine from February 24–28.
Chris McGrath / Getty Images
Day 5
Sunset in Kyiv, seen through an apartment window that had been taped to avoid shattering in case of an explosion.
Emilio Morenatti / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 6
Bodies of victims of the shelling of Freedom Square in Kharkiv. “A missile in Kharkiv’s central square – naked, undisguised terror,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said of the attack.
Pavel Dorogoy / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 7
A girl inside a bus that had crossed the checkpoint on the Moldovan-Ukrainian border. The bus was carrying refugees to Chisinau.
Nikolay Doychinov / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 8
The village of Borodyanka in the Kyiv region after shelling.
Maksim Levin / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Day 9
A home on fire in the city of Irpin, just outside Kyiv.
Aris Messinis / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 10
Ukrainian volunteers learn how to handle weapons in a movie theater in Lviv.
Felipe Dana / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 11
Irpin burns after bombardments.
Emilio Morenatti / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 12
Residents of Odesa fill sandbags.
Bulent Kilic / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 13
Before it was destroyed, the bridge from Irpin was the city’s only evacuation route.
Felipe Dana / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 14
Ukrainian rescue workers carry a wounded pregnant woman out of a maternity hospitals that came under shelling in Mariupol. The woman’s child did not survive and she died on March 14.
Evgeniy Maloletka / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 15
Russian tanks destroyed by Ukrainian troops along the main road leading from Brovary to Kyiv.
Felipe Dana / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 16
An explosion in a residential building during an air raid on Mariupol.
Evgeniy Maloletka / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 17
A woman with a child cries in the corridor of a hospital in Mariupol. Her second child died during the shelling of the city.
Evgeniy Maloletka / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 18
A man wounded during a missile strike on the Yaroviv military base, 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) from the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Day 19
A man holds his cat killed by shelling in Kyiv.
Aris Messinis / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 20
Trails from Ukrainian air defense systems trying to shoot down a Russian drone over Kyiv.
Gleb Garanich / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Day 21
Rescuers remove a body from the rubble of the Kharkiv Regional Administration building. According to Ukrainian media reports, Russian troops launched more than 50 air strikes on different Kharkiv neighborhoods on March 16.
Pavel Dorogoy
Day 22
A man mourns next to the body of his mother, who was killed as the result of rocket fragments hitting a residential building.
Thomas Peter / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Day 23
Medical staff at a children’s hospital in Zaporizhzhia treat patients seriously injured during shelling. The hospital’s windows are blocked with sandbags.
Dmytro Smolyenko / Укринформ / SIPA / Scanpix / LETA
Day 24
A satellite image shows the aftermath of an airstrike on a drama theater in Mariupol, where civilians were sheltering in the basement. The word “children” is written on the ground outside of the theater in Russian script.
Maxar Technologies / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 25
A mother at a railway station in Lviv hugs her son, who escaped from Mariupol.
Sergei Supinsky / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 26
Firefighters try to put out the flames that engulfed Retroville mall in Kyiv’s Podilsky district. The Russian Defense Ministry acknowleged that the shopping center war struck by Russian troops.
Felipe Dana / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Day 27
Dr. Anatoly Pavlov takes photos of bombed psychiatric hospital in Mykolayiv.
Nacho Doce / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Day 28
Graves outside of a residential building in Mariupol.
Mikhail Tereshchenko / Scanpix/ LETA
Meduza survived 2024 thanks to its readers!
Let’s stick together for 2025.
The world is at a crossroads today, and quality journalism will help shape the decades to come. Real stories must be told at any cost. Please support Meduza by signing up for a recurring donation.