The Donbas landscape near the front line radiates tranquility. It would be easy to succumb to its lulling beauty, if not for the constant echoes of aerial bomb explosions, drone strikes and artillery fire. Sometimes the blasts are so close you can feel the ground shake. Other times you hear the whistle of a ricocheting bullet nearby.

Occasionally the scenery is marred by the scar of a trench or the remains of an abandoned firing range. Yet it still beckons with an illusion of peace. It feels as though the war is not here but just beyond the horizon, a few miles away. War seems impossible in this place, a bizarre intrusion into the modern world and into human nature.

Now in its fourth year, Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine remains brutal and uncertain. Facing shortages of ammunition and personnel along with mounting casualties, exhausted Ukrainian troops are forced to retreat under relentless enemy pressure.

Artist Bio:

Oleksandr Rupeta is a Ukrainian photographer whose work spans political, cultural and social issues across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He has documented the Russo-Ukrainian War, the Afghan Red Crescent Society, the Iranian Jewish community, the Sufi community in Northern Cyprus, people with disabilities in southern Africa and ethnic minorities in Azerbaijan.

Since Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, Rupeta has focused on documenting the situation within the country.