Photo Essay

Ukrainians have dug trenches along the crescent-shaped 1,000km-long front. The ditches are surrounding with barbed wire; sandbags and wooden planks are positioned along the muddy walls. © Oleh Arkhanhorodsky

Along the Frontline in Ukraine’s Unforgiving Winter

Fighting continues, but the gruelling cold takes a toll on soldiers in the trenches and civilians in destroyed villages.

15 Jan 24

Madlena Ghahiryan with two of her nine grandchildren. “The journey from our homeland was harrowing. We had no food, not even bread… We found wood along the way, lit a fire and managed to roast some potatoes.” © Siranush Sargsyan

Nagorny Karabakh’s Armenians Struggle to Cope with Displacement

Tens of thousands of refugees are sheltered in centres across Armenia and face economic and psychological hurdles.

8 Nov 23

Largely populated by ethnic Tajiks, Gelon sits at 2,336 metres, surrounded by the Hisar range, part of the Pamir-Alay mountain system. It can take up to three hours to cover the 70 kilometres from Uzbkistan’s southern city of Shakhrisabz to reach this high-altitude village. © Abdulhak Turgunov

The Tajik Community on Uzbekistan’s Highlands

Surrounded by the Pamir mountain range, a remote village keeps customs alive.

17 Oct 23

Women dance to mark Navruz in Baysun, a village in Uzbekistan’s south-eastern region of Surkhandarya. The village is known for its festival, the Baysun Bahori, meaning Spring of Baysun. © Abdulkhak Turgunov

Celebrating Navruz, the Spring Jubilee

Communities gather to prepare sweetmeats, spring clean their neighbourhoods and play equestrian games.

5 Apr 23

Demonstrators face Russian peacekeepers in Ivanyan, a town about 10 kilometres from Stepanakert, where Karabakh’s airport is located. The airfield was renovated in the late 2000s and due to open for commercial flights in 2012 but remained closed due to security reasons, as Azerbaijan has threatened to shoot down flights. As the blockade continued, on January 5 Karabakh authorities called for support for operations of an air bridge “to prevent an urgent humanitarian crisis”. © Siranush Sargsyan/IWPR

Supplies Dwindle as Karabakh Siege Continues

Since December 12, the sole road to Armenia has been closed off, leaving as many as 120,000 people living under blockade.

9 Jan 23

“Happy Chanukah” and a menorah stitched on cloth during a children’s gathering at the Mygdal Jewish Centre. © Zhenia Pedin / IWPR

Light Over Darkness: Hannukah in Odesa

As Russian shelling plunges Ukraine into blackout, the Jewish community celebrates a miracle that has particular resonance amid the war.

22 Dec 22

Simple wooden crosses with numbers mark graves in Pishchanske cemetery on Shakespeare Street in Izyum’s outskirts, where Russians buried most of the residents who died during the occupation. © Danil Pavlov

Ukraine: “I Want My Mother to Have a Grave”

Painful wait for Izyum residents as war crimes investigators collect evidence to identify the dead.

29 Nov 22

The Manasyan brothers - Vigen, 46, and Arthur, 38 - get ready for the harvest. Most of their arable lands fell under Azerbaijani control in 2020, but they retain a small wheatfield near their house and tend vineyards for an owner who too scared to go there due to the proximity of Azerbaijan’s military posts. © Siranush Sargsyan/IWPR

A Fearful Harvest in Karabakh’s Vineyards

Villagers in the Amaras valley vineyards pick grapes a few yards away from Azerbaijan’s military posts.

23 Nov 22

The sign of Isfara, a town in northern Tajikistan, on the border with Kyrgyzstan. The town lies in the homonymous valley which is crossed by the Isfara river. Media reported that the clashes in September broke out along the frontier between Tajikistan's Sughd and Kyrgyzstan's southern Batken provinces because of a dispute over a reservoir and pump, claimed by both sides, on the Isfara river. © IWPR

“We Don’t Want War,” Say Kyrgyz and Tajik Citizens

Over 100 people died in renewed violence along the border in September 2022 as long-standing issues remain unresolved.

24 Oct 22

A resident ventures out of his apartment block in north Saltivka. (April 2022)

Kharkiv’s Ghost District

Saltivka was home to a third of the city’s population; Russian attacks turned it into a wasteland.

11 Aug 22

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