Photographer Daniel Beltrá's first idea was to tell the ecocide that Ukraine is experiencing since the war began on February 24, 2022. He has been dedicated to the issues of climate change and the environment for years, working with organizations such as Greenpeace, Beltrá contacted the Ukrainian Ministry of the Environment with the help of the Spanish embassy in the country. I had everything prepared: the trip, the permits, and a series of drones with which I would fly over Ukraine, photograph from the air, and document the other scars of the war, which ranged from the destruction of wild habitats to the contamination of water. . Last November he arrived in Kiev and experienced a setback that thwarted his plans. “They told me I couldn’t fly a single civilian drone. I was a little confused about the environmental issue… he recalls now from his home in Seattle (USA).
During the five weeks that the photographer spent in the war-torn country, he traveled through cities that were in ruins, on the front lines of the front and places where the passage of the Axis powers can still be seen. Russian Rite. “I was very surprised by what I saw in Izium. Beyond the destruction, I was in looted houses where the soldiers even took the toilet bowl, and that made me think: Who are these people and where do they come from?” From those weeks he remembers that he had a feeling left behind “between horror and meaninglessness”. And also that he wants to return in the spring: “We live in a world where it is difficult to keep your head up and be optimistic, and I try to at least do that through work.”
Rusty remains of Russian military equipment used during the invasion were piled up at Hostomel airport near Kiev.Daniel Beltrá
The remains of an Antonov An-26 destroyed during the Russian invasion.Daniel Beltrá
Stuffed animals were piled up at a bus stop in Dnipro, in front of a destroyed residential building.Daniel Beltrá
Broken windows removed from buildings damaged by Russian air-launched X-59 missiles in Serhiivka on July 1, 2022. The attack claimed 21 lives.Daniel Beltrá
Buildings destroyed by the Russian invasion in Borodyanka.Daniel Beltrá
An apartment in Sumy was damaged by a Russian Shahed drone in July 2023.Daniel Beltrá
An unexploded rocket in the middle of the Pischanka forest, near Izium.Daniel Beltrá
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