The Carpathian Mountains were always an obstacle between the region of Zakarpattia and the rest of Ukraine, making it one of the poorest regions in the country, but after the Russian invasion became a natural protection.
Internally displaced people queue outside the municipality of Polyana, a small town famous for its health resorts where most were turned into shelters.
A common sight since the beginning of the war was to see lonely women walking around with their babies. Since men were required to join the military effort, mothers stayed behind taking care of their children.
Natalia Zabaukaya arranges the hair of her daughter Solomiya in the room where they now live at the Franciscan community house in Vynohradiv.
Natalia fled from Kyiv with her two daughters, leaving behind a mother that was too sick to travel and her husband that is currently serving on the territorial defence forces in the capital of Ukraine. She only left her beloved city to guarantee her daughter’s protection.
View of the city of Volovets with the Carpathian mountains behind it.
Natalie Bondareko closes the jacket of her son Miron before he goes to play outside, while Natalia’s mother and grandmother watch them in Koson.
One family, four generations of internally displaced Ukrainians had to leave their life behind due to the Russian invasion. Like most internally displaced they wait for the war to be over so they can return home.
Around 300 mattresses are spread over the floor inside the Yunist sports complex centre in Uzhhorod.
Uzhhorod, the capital of Zakarpattia is considered a safe haven for many refugees that come from other parts of the country fleeing the war. According to officials of the city from a town of 120,000 inhabitants, since the beginning of the war, more than 300,000 people are sheltered in the Uzhhorod.
The Bakaiev family hangs out in the dorm room that became their house at the Bethelen Gabor Hungarian Lyceum in Berehove.
The family fled from their home in Mykolaiv on the first day of the war. Due to health problems, Serhii can't join the army, but he is helping the country by working on his IT business and paying his taxes. Meanwhile, Anastasia reads a book but she spends most of her time volunteering and entertaining their daughters.
During a football practice in Berehove for internally displaced children, volunteer Alexander Silchenko send the children back to the building after the air raid siren warns of possible danger.
Zakarpattia has a long military story of harbouring people from war. This large bunker in the Volovetsky district was used during the Second World War as part of the Arpad Line, and it was built at one time by Hungarians to protect the Carpathians from the Soviet Army.
Art collective Shpor discusses the construction of a portable stove during a meeting in their workshop in Perechyn.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the collective turned their production from artistic sculptures to things that could be used on the front line by the army like body armour plates, hooks to uncover land mines, portable stoves and spikes that will damage the wheels of armoured vehicles.
One of the many hooks to uncover landmines that were produced by the art collective Shpor in their workshop in Perechyn.
Julia Malik, usually a history teacher in a local school, weaves a net that will later cover armoured trucks of the Ukrainian army in Berehove.
Not only internally displaced Ukrainians, but locals as well volunteer in many different roles to help their country to win the war. Might be making nets for the front lines or other tools, teaching languages or organising activities for children, washing dishes in a communal kitchen or taking supplies to the most affected areas but most of them want to contribute in the way they can to the war effort.
A billboard in Uzhhorod incites a Russian warship to keep sinking, as a celebration of the Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet that sank in April 2022.
Surrounded by an apocalyptic scenery, a brown bear lies down in the Synevyr National Park. The bear is the symbol of the Zakarpattia region.
An inactive production floor at the Eurocar Skoda auto plant was converted into a temporary shelter and aid distribution hub in Uzhhorod.
Marietta Szimku holds some flowers after a walk by the shores of the Salva river in the village of Shalanky.
Marietta has her life divided by the border between Hungary and Ukraine. On the Hungarian side, lives her husband and a son where they found opportunities and are also safe to not be sent to the front line. On the Ukrainian side, she lives with her two daughters and takes care of her parents and the family home.
People attend a Sunday mass at a church in Shalanky.
Flowers were laid on the tomb of a Ukraine soldier at a cemetery near Drahovo.
Memorial to the victims and fighters of the Second World War in the village of Nyzhnje Selyshche.
A Ukrainian athlete* looks one last time at his homeland before crossing the border to Hungary. He will keep travelling until Croatia, where he will resume his training.
*asked to not be identified
Anemone flowers blossom in a forest in Zakarpattia.
