Julia Kochetova’s photographs of war in Ukraine

Julia Kochetova lives and works in Kyiv. The photographer is Ukrainian and the war that began in 2014 and escalated in February 2022 has shaped her life choices, relationships and career. She moves easily between front lines, medical points and everyday moments; she can give battlefield first aid, washes and brushes out her waist‑length hair in surprising locations, and has organised more funerals than anyone should have to.

On 16 October 2022 she had just returned from the Donetsk frontline and photographed ballet dancers. The next morning Kyiv was attacked with Shahed drones; she pulled on a bulletproof vest, went outside and found people sheltering in an underground car park. One image from that moment — a frightened woman clutching the leg of a soldier who stands over her — became, for Kochetova, an image about love and the country’s indomitability.

Her ongoing body of work, War Is Personal, which began in 2022, won a World Press Photo award in 2024.

Ukraine, Kyiv

julia kochetova, kyiv, ukraine, donetsk, shahed drones, war photography, world press, ballet dancers, frontline, february 2022