Pictures that show how ordinary Ukrainians have been shaped by war

The Russian bombs that began falling on Ukraine on February 24, 2022 transformed tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians into soldiers overnight.

Many who had never held a weapon before rushed to take up arms. Over the next four years, as the war dragged on and the initial patriotic fervor subsided, thousands more were drafted. For men, the service is unlimited and applies to ages 25-65. Women can serve on a contract basis.

Speaking from mud-soaked shelters, drone command centers, frontline observation posts and rehabilitation centers, nine Ukrainian soldiers told the BBC about the civilians they once were, the soldiers they have become – and the toll the war has taken on them.

Olena, 26 years old: “My place is here as long as the enemy is in my house”

Not so long ago, Olena worked as a nightclub administrator in Prague. “I felt like everything was in front of me – and I had plenty of time,” she says. Then she realized that if she didn’t protect her future, she would stay stuck in the past.

In December 2024, she returned to Ukraine, joined the army and became a pilot.

“I look at the ‘before’ photo and I see myself calmer,” says Olena. “More naive. Everything has become different. I have become different.”

“My ‘past’ life was filled with a constant quest: to arrive on time, to succeed, to build, to win, to prove. Now everything is simpler: what matters is that my brothers in arms are alive after enemy strikes.”

The difficult moments, says Olena, are not the explosions or the danger: “Sometimes the hardest thing is the silence after the losses are announced.”

She finds strength in thinking of her family, far from the front, who “survives a week without light or heat, but does not lose hope for a better future”.

As the fighting continues, she cannot imagine another life: “My place is here as long as the enemy is in my house.”

Oleh, 37 years old: “I’m not a soldier, I never saw myself like that”

Like the majority of Ukrainians, on February 24, 2022, Oleh was “confused and scared.”

Some ran towards the borders; others, at the enlistment offices. “I froze, trying to control my fear,” says Oleh, a publishing graduate and former NGO worker. “I am not a military man, I never saw myself like that and I did not understand how ordinary people could stand in the way of such a powerful enemy as Russia.”

But the following month, Oleh – who loved board games and wrote fiction – joined the army.

As a soldier, he says, “you’re constantly in a small room in your head, the space of which gets smaller each time. Others live in front of the window… while there’s no handle on the door on your side to get out.”

The war shook him. “Before, it was important for me to help others find their way, to become strong, self-confident. Now I understand that the technique of positive thinking does not save armed thugs.”

Getting rid of it, Oleh says, is a way to help not with words but with actions.

“You can’t save everyone. But even your failed attempts will count.”

Anastasiia, 19 years old: “Before, I did not have a clear conception of the values ​​of life”

When she finished school, Anastasia didn’t know what she wanted to do, so she took a job as a barista. Then she became fascinated with drones – the agile and deadly aircraft that have become the centerpiece of the war in Ukraine – and joined the army in March 2025.

“I first served as an unmanned systems duty officer, then became an FPV (first-person view) operator,” she explains. Since then, she has noted that being a woman in the armed forces “was and remains the most difficult thing”.

“You have to constantly prove that you are worthy of doing this job and that you are on an equal footing with others.”

In the 11 months since enrolling, Anastasia says she has learned what happiness is. “Time with those we love, love, delicious food,” she lists. “Being close to your family. Not being afraid of not waking up tomorrow.”

“Before, I didn’t have a clear concept of values ​​in this life because of my age,” she says. “Now I feel completely different.”

Roman, 42 years old: “I try not to think about the future”

Before the full-scale invasion began, Roman was one of Ukraine’s top bioengineers, trained to create 3D models for facial reconstruction surgeries. After 2022, he volunteered as a doctor, then was drafted. “If the war hadn’t broken out, I might have moved to Copenhagen. I worked a lot there, with the best surgeons,” he says.

Instead, he spent the last few years in shelters in Ukraine. Today, from his position in the north of the country, he tries “not to think about the future: I live here and now”. He operates drones and makes his medical skills available wherever possible. In a sense, he says, his life is his work – just as it was before he joined the military.

For now, there is no end in sight.

“I’ll rest after the war,” he laughs. Then he takes a break. “No, there will be a lot of reconstruction surgeries to do then. So, maybe, after that.”

Viktor, 28: “I look at these photos and he’s like a different person”

The photo on the left was taken in early 2022, a few weeks before Viktor made what he considers the most important decision of his life.

He had already served four years in the army and settled in Poland, but on the afternoon the Russian invasion began, he returned to Ukraine: “Not because I wasn’t afraid, but because I had no choice.”

“In these photos, I am young. A little boy,” he says now. “I barely remember myself like that. But I remember very clearly who I became and who the war transformed me.”

When he shared these photos on social media, thousands of Ukrainian soldiers followed suit: “Our eyes say it all. There is no need to even spell out what we saw or did.”

Almost all the friends he joined have died.

“I look at these photos and it’s like a different person, but at the same time I’m still me – just someone who didn’t know what was in store for them. It’s probably good that I don’t know.”

Serhii, 42 years old: two years as a prisoner of war

On the day of the Russian invasion, Serhii – a civilian employed by the government – ​​joined the army. In the spring, he was among thousands of Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russia during the siege of the Azovstal steel plant in the coastal city of Mariupol.

He was detained for more than two years and captivity remains the most painful experience of his life. “That feeling of being doomed… Out of everything I’ve done in the military and in life in general, that was the worst. Not having a clue what the future might bring or what was coming next.”

During the long days under siege, he speaks of a “profound reassessment of my values ​​– it was like suddenly rushing to live.” He reflected on his life before and after the war and set goals for how he would live if he managed to survive. He is now in rehabilitation and lives with his wife and two children.

“If I look at my photo from before the full-scale invasion, I can only say one thing: ‘Oh, kid, you have no idea what else awaits you.’

Kyrylo, 35 years old: “I had plans, the war took them all away”

Before 2022, Kyrilo’s life was good.

“I had a wife, two children, a house – everything I needed. I had plans.”

The war, he said, took everything away.

Kyrylo was held captive in Russia for several weeks in 2022 and watched his comrades be mistreated. “It was hard,” he said, “when you can’t even stand up to defend them.”

The return to freedom in Ukraine was no less difficult. “Very often you realize that you are nobody. And for soldiers, this happens a lot: while you are fighting, you are something, somebody. As soon as you stop, that’s it, you are nobody.”