Pro Russia rebel soldiers bath in the waters of lake Sherbakova Park during the celebration of the Orthodox Epiphany in Donetsk.

Amnon Gutman

Ukraine Crisis – The East

[ EPF 2016 FINALIST ]

Since the September 5, 2014 ceasefire deal in Minsk Both Pro Russia rebels and the UA army used the relative lull to build up their forces and for months the rebels tried to seize Donetsk airport, a strategic and symbolic asset, from government forces. With the start of 2015, a new rebel push began and by 22 January the airport was in their hands. In February 12, 2015 a new ceasefire deal was reached through international mediation, in an attempt to stop the fighting spiraling out of control. The important logistic railway hub city of Debaltseve fell into rebels hands a few days after the deal was struck.

January-February 2015

A prolonged crisis in Ukraine began on 21 November 2013, when then-president Viktor Yanukovych suspended preparations for the implementation of an association agreement with the European Union. This decision resulted in mass protests by its opponents, known as the “Euromaidan”. After months of such protests, Yanukovych was ousted by the protesters on 22 February 2014, when he fled the Ukrainian capital city of Kiev. Following his ousting, unrest enveloped the largely Russophone eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, from where he had drawn most of his support. An ensuing political crisis in Ukrainian autonomous region of Crimea resulted in the annexation of Crimea by Russia on 18 March. Subsequently, unrest in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine evolved into a war between the post-revolutionary Ukrainian government and pro-Russian insurgents.

The conflict in the east has claimed the lives of more then 9000 people so far. (UN figures- December 2015), and left approximately 660,000 people displaced inside Ukraine (UNHCR- January 2016).

This is one part of a continuing ongoing project 2014-2016 documenting the conflict in East Ukraine between Pro Russia rebels and Ukraine: the way it affects the country within itself/ international relations between Ukraine-The West and Russia.

 

The aftermath of shelling in a residential area of Donetsk.
Residents of Petrovsiky district take refuge in the local hospital, after heavy shelling came near their houses which are closer to the frontline. Donetsk.
Remains of the old terminal of Donetsk airport. the airport has been the scene of heavy fighting between Pro Russia rebels and UA army for the past 8 months.
A patient of Donetsk hospital no. 3 sitting among glass debris , after the hospital was attacked by grad rockets.
The funeral proccesion of Artyom Boboshian, Age 4, who was killed in an artillery strike at his home in Donetsk.
Bodies are being pilled up in the a morgue van after a mortar attack on a trolley bus in the city of Donetsk, which has left 8 people dead and many wounded.
A mother holds her son’s hand while mourning his death by a grad rocket attack in a residential area of Donetsk.
A trench used by Pro Russia rebels frontline near Grolivka, E Ukraine.
A pro Russia rebel docking to the ground after an artillery barge hitting very close to his position on the frontline, near Gorlivka, E Ukraine.
Passengers killed when a trolley bus was attacked by a mortar shell. at least 8 civilians died in the attack and dozens were injured. Donetsk.
A Resident of Donetsk pleas before president Proshenko of UA to stop shelling Donetsk city, after shelling killed two civilians in her building block.
Residents of Debaltseve waiting in an underground shelter to get food from local NGO. Debaltseve was a scene of heavy fighting between UA army and Pro Russia rebels, eventually it fell to rebel hands.
The bodies of UA army soldiers laying outside the old Donetsk airport terminal. the airport has been the scene of heavy fighting between Pro Russia rebels and UA army for the past 8 months.
A UA army soldier takes rest in a house that was destroyed by shelling, at the frontline city of Shastyia. the meaning of the name is : happiness
A resident of Debaltseve holds on to her bible while taking shelter from shelling in the city center. Debaltseve was the scene of intense fighting and shelling between Pro Russia rebels and UA army, leaving many civilians stranded in between.
A woman who was displaced by fighting in E Ukraine, driving back to her new home- an IDP’s residential in the village of Svetagorsk, around 10km from the city of Slovyansk.

 

Short Bio

Growing up in a war conflicted region, Gutman has always been deeply aware of the possibility of loss. Photography empowers him to share this insight, demonstrating the horrible, equalizing moment of the possibility of loss, the universality of vulnerability. There is nothing clearer, nothing more precious than the preservation of the life force in the face of violence and disease. This is what Amnon am attempting to articulate with my images of the world. Gutman is also part of a group of international photojournalists committed to informing the public about the repercussions of environmental degradation on human life around the world: @everydayclimatechange.

As an independent photographer, he has covered the conflict in the East of Ukraine since its began in 2014.

 

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Amnon Gutman

3 thoughts on “Amnon Gutman – Ukraine Crisis – The East”

  1. Akaky

    I thought this was very good photojournalism, but Amnon, in your bio, stop referring to yourself in the third person. You’re not the Pope, the Queen of England, Charles de Gaulle, or Douglas MacArthur. This what you saw, not someone else. Eyewitness testimony loses something when the eyewitness acts as though what he saw was actually something somebody else saw.

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