Russia Invades Ukraine
A Ukrainian photojournalist captured life near the front lines as the Russian invasion into eastern Ukraine persists despite Kyiv's successful drone strikes deep inside Russia.
Photojournalist Anatolii Stepanov was working in Druzhkivka, a town in eastern Ukraine, on June 22 when a first-person view (FPV) drone buzzed directly overhead and slammed into an apartment. The residence was engulfed in flames.“A guy living next door went out onto his balcony and just watched the apartment burn,” Stepanov told RFE/RL. “I asked whether he was leaving. He responded by saying: ‘Where would I go? What would I do there?’”
A man watches a neighbor's apartment burn after a drone strike in Druzhkivka on June 22.
The apartment drone strike is one of several incidents captured by Stepanov in recent days that highlight increasingly impossible conditions for residents of Druzhkivka. The town lies some 15 kilometers from the front lines, near the city of Kostyantynivka which Russia is currently attempting to surround.In March this year, Ukrainian President Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a short video address standing in the center of Druzhkivka. The daylight selfie video was viewed as risky at the time. Today, it might be unthinkable."Here, civilians are exposed every day to the risk of death," Stepanov said.
