UKRAINE: ONE YEAR AFTER THE INVASION

In a nondescript building in the northwest of Kyiv, men and women of all ages are learning to walk again. The Without Limits Clinic, which specializes in prosthetics and rehabilitation, is bustling with activity. In one room, specialists are crafting and adjusting prosthetic arms and legs to the owners' specifications. Across the hall, a physical therapist is working with patients who are learning to walk again. In another room, a consultant is discussing with a patient his wish to return to the front to continue fighting the Russians.

A year earlier, this entire neighborhood was one of the most dangerous places in the world. The main road nearby leads directly to Irpin and Bucha, which experienced untold violence only a year prior as Russian troops occupied the suburbs surrounding Kyiv in their failed attempt to capture the capital in a matter of days. Now, one year later, children play in the park, friends have picnics, traffic is normal, and the roadway that was once the lifeline to Irpin and Bucha is open. Only a few concrete blocks remain of what was once a heavily guarded checkpoint manned by the Ukrainian Army. Like much of Kyiv, the scars of war are present, but life goes on even in times of darkness.

In the early days of the full-scale invasion by Russia, Kyiv was a ghost town, reminiscent of scenes from "28 Days Later" or, for a more apt comparison, New York in March of 2020. However, the distant boom of artillery and rattle of machine gun fire have been replaced by the sounds of city life—music, laughter, and traffic. A year into the war and after the failed attempt to capture Kyiv, life has seemingly returned to normal.

However, a closer look reveals the scars that the horrors of war continue to imprint on the nation and its people. In Kyoto Park on the outskirts of the city center, a man on a park bench turns the pages of a book beneath the colorful flowers of magnolia trees, surrounded by the earthworks of a trench system and barricades reminiscent of World War II. In Irpin, a young girl skips past a row of buildings that were bombed during some of the heaviest fighting of the battle of Kyiv. At night, the city lights up as air raid sirens sound and US-supplied Patriot Air-Defense systems shoot down Russian drones. At the rail station, a woman weeps as she welcomes her boyfriend back from the frontline. The war is still very much present, but it has become a part of life, and the citizens of Kyiv and the rest of Ukraine have learned to live with it.

Following the failed assault on Ukraine's capital and the outpouring of Western military aid that flooded into the country in the months following Putin's invasion, Russia's military began concentrating on capturing territory in the South and the East. Kherson, a city along the Dnipro River near where it empties into the Black Sea, continues to see heavy fighting daily. The mornings are punctuated by artillery duels and firefights across the Dnipro, lunchtime is unpredictable, and from evening to the wee hours of the morning, shelling, missile strikes, snipers, and drone attacks continue to keep Ukrainians in basements and shelters.

"When every day you wake up to war and at night you go to sleep to war, it becomes your life," a woman in Kherson says as she waits for one of the functioning supermarkets to open. Neither she nor the others waiting nearby flinch when the sound of artillery echoes through the street. "This is outgoing fire, not Russian guns."

Life can still be interrupted, especially in places like Kherson. On June 6, 2023, Russian forces destroyed the Kharkovka Dam, located miles up the Dnipro River, which fueled the Zhaporizhia Nuclear Plant and held back millions of gallons of water. The destruction of the dam, labeled by many as 'environmental terrorism,' caused catastrophic flooding in all communities along the Dnipro River. In Kherson, a raging river inundated communities whose residents had endured the hardships of the war until now.

"I've lost it all—my home, my photographs, my clothes, everything! Those creatures, those beasts!" a woman shouts from the edge of the floodwaters. A hundred yards away, brown debris-strewn water reveals only the tops of the windows and the roof of her home.

During rescue operations to save those stranded in their homes by the floods, Russian artillery also targeted them.

In 2023, walking on Ukrainian soil means risking one's life. Missiles, drones, snipers, land mines, or an unfathomable number of unexploded ordnance can strike anytime, anywhere, without differentiation between civilians or soldiers. Life continues, however, for those who call Ukraine home, and hope remains for those who wish to continue calling it home.

In the Without Limits Clinic in Kyiv, soldiers and civilians alike are learning to reclaim their mobility. A doctor is making final adjustments to a prosthetic arm worn by a man in military fatigues, his gray hair and white beard reflecting the hardships of the war.

“He lost his arm in Bakhmut last winter, but he is going back to the front next week.” The doctor proudly explains, then turns to the man who laughs.

"Slava Ukraini," he says.

The doctor stops his work and looks up at the soldier then to me, and smiles,"Hoirem Slava."

A Ukrainian man looks out over his street where a Russian missile struck a clinic and killed 6 in the morning in Dnipro, Ukraine on May 26, 2023. In Dnipro, multiple clinics and residential areas have continued to be targeted by Russian drones and missiles.

A grave is constructed in a military graveyard in Dnipro, Ukraine on May 27, 2023. A year into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine every community in Ukraine has experienced the pain of loss and war, both Russia and Ukraine keep their casualty figures secret, however it is expected the war has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

Emergency personnel investigate the remains of a destroyed car in a field in Dnipro, Ukraine on May 24, 2023. A Russian missile struck an emergency response center in Dnipro, destroying a number of ambulances and reserve medical equipment.

A firefighter runs with a hose towards the scene where a Russian missile struck a clinic in Dnipro killing 6 on May 26, 2023. Cities like Dnipro continue to be a prime target for the Russian military despite being far from the frontlines.

A woman embraces her pet cat as rescue workers and residents work to save belonging and look for survivors after flood waters inundated neighborhoods along the Dnipro River in Kherson, Ukraine on June 7, 2023. On June 6, 2023, Russian forces destroyed the Kharkovka Dam which quickly released flood waters that overtook villages along both sides of the Dnipro.

Volunteers with Territorial Defense rush supplies towards the frontlines in Kherson, Ukraine on June 8, 2023. Kherson, a city located in the south along the Dnipro River, sees frequent fighting between the Ukrainian forces on one side of the river and the Russians on the other.

A woman grabs important belongings as she is forced to abandoned her flooding home in Kherson, Ukraine on June 7, 2023. The previous day Russian forces destroyed the Kharkovka Dam near Zaporizhia, which unleashed flood waters down the Dnipro river, flooding villages and towns.

Emergency workers carry plants out of the Dnipro Regional Emergency Services Office after a Russian Missile struck the building and destroyed numerous emergency vehicles and equipment on May 24, 2023.

A woman ducks under a doorway as she wades through floodwaters in her neighborhood near the Dnipro River in Kherson, Ukraine on June 7, 2023. Russian forces destroyed the Kharkovka Dam which flooded communities along the Dnipro River.

A woman holding bottled water and food listens to the sound of artillery fire as Ukrainians line up to collect aid in Kherson, Ukraine on June 8, 2023. Kherson continues to see intense fighting as Ukrainian forces and Russian troops battle each other across the Dnipro River.

A Ukrainian volunteer collects aid to take to the frontline in Kherson, Ukraine on June 9, 2023 at a church on the front. Heavy fighting continues in Kherson between Ukrainian forces and Russian troops causing civilian casualties and catastrophic damage to infrastructure.

A man overlooks Kyiv along the Dnipro River from a park in Kyiv on May 20, 2023. One year earlier Kyiv was the target of the invading Russian troops.

Yehor, a resident of Irpin, poses for a portrait in the yard of his destroyed home on May 18, 2023. Irpin and other suburbs of Ukraine were the scenes of heavy fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops in 2022, one year later much of the damage remains.

A young girl talks on her cell phone as she walks past a row of buildings bearing the scars of the heavy fighting that occured one year earlier in Irpin, Ukraine on May 18, 2023.

Newly bloomed flowers seen through a bullet hole in a wall in Irpin, Ukraine, on May 18, 2023. Irpin and other suburbs saw some of the heaviest fighting in the early days of Russia’s invasion one year earlier.

A man reaads a book in Kyoto Park in Kyiv while surrounded by anti-tank barricades and trench earthworks left over from Russia’s attempted capture of the capital in 2022. While life in Kyiv has seemingly returned to normal the scars of the ongoing war remain visible.

Two men arm wrestle in Hydropark during a day at the amusement park and beach on June 12, 2023. Hydropark is a popular amusement park for soldiers on leave from the frontlines of the war.

Residents of Kyiv dance during an outdoor dancing event along the Dnipro River on June 12, 2023. Ukrainians have begun to resume normal life a year after Russia’s full scale invasion despite the constant reminders of war all around.

A street scene in Podil on a summer evening as residents of Kyiv enjoy the lights and sounds of a city come back to life.

A young soldier returning to Kyiv from the frontline near Bakhmut kisses his girlfriend at the railway station on June 3, 2023. Across the country ordinary civilians find themselves caught up in the war.

A young boy climbs atop the remains of a destroyed Russian tank on display in Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv, Ukraine on June 18, 2023. Captured and destroyed pieces of Russian military equipment are put on display in Kyiv for civilians to come and examine.

A girl walks past captured and destroyed Russian tanks in Mykhailivska Square in an area that has become an open-air museum for war machines that Ukrainian civilians can visit.

A woman places her hand over the muzzle of a mobile artillery piece on display at an open-air museum of Russian military equipment in Kyiv, Ukraine. Pieces in the display come from battlefields all over Russia and include tanks, APCs, drones, grenades, and many more meant to inspire hope as well as educate Ukrainians.

Military recruitment posters in Kyiv, Ukraine on May 18, 2023. As Russia begins to utilize human wave attacks on battlefields throughout Ukraine the need for new recruits for Ukraine’s armed forces continues to rise as soldiers are killed or injured and taken from the frontlines.

Rehabilitation at the Without Limits Clinic for soldiers and civilians who have lost their limbs during the war on June 20, 2023. The rate of amputation is staggering as landmines, fpv drones, and constant fighting continue to define the frontlines of the war.

Ukrainian servicemen learn to walk again with the use of prosthetic limbs at the Without Limits Clinic in Kyiv, Ukraine on June 20, 2023. The clinic one of many that relies on donations and makes its own prosthetic limbs and teaches patients how to function with them.

A soldier looks at himself in the mirror with his newly fitted prosthetic limb at the Without Limits Clinic in Kyiv, Ukraine on June 20, 2023. Experts are still collecting data on how soldiers returning from the frontlines of the war will adapt to society.