A Ukrainian man from the Luhansk region – conscripted to fight for Russian-backed separatist forces, which then merged with the Russian army – lies injured in a field hospital set up in an underground winery near Bakhmut, Donbas, Ukraine. His left leg and arm were later amputated.
This man was conscripted to fight for the Russian-backed, separatist “republic” of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine on 22 February 2022, two days before the full-scale Russian invasion of the country. Later, Russia unilaterally annexed the territory, and the militia that conscripted him was merged into a unit of the Russian army.
Separatist governments in the breakaway eastern territories launched major mobilization drives five days before the Russian invasion began. Men between 18 and 55 were no longer permitted to leave Donetsk and Luhansk. Those between 18 and 65 without military experience were called up to serve in the “people's militia”. Some joined voluntarily, some were taken from the streets, and others turned up only after being ordered to.
A UN report on human rights in Ukraine states that after the invasion, Russian military conscription efforts included the occupied regions, subjecting young men to armed service against their own country. The report documents instances of forced conscription with threats and pressure, including intimidation of family members. The Eastern Human Rights Group and Institute for Strategic Studies and Security reports that according to the available data, Russia had mobilized more than 300,000 people in the region by the summer of 2024.
By 2025, Russian troops occupied some 20 percent of Ukraine, as part of what is arguably the largest war of conquest in Europe since World War II. The city of Bakhmut, where this soldier was injured, has seen some of the bloodiest battles of the war.
President Vladimir Putin’s law introducing prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who publish what the government considers “knowingly false information” about the Russian military and its operations has led many media outlets in Russia to stop reporting on Ukraine, or to shut altogether. The photographer, who has covered Russia since 2018, remains one of the few Western photographers working there, and one of just a handful of professional photographers operating on the Russian side of the front line in eastern Ukraine.
This photograph is part of a larger project contrasting the brutal realities of the war in Ukraine with the distorted perceptions within Russian society, which you can view on the photographer's website.
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