WAR IN UKRAINE

six months After, LIFE goes on

YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP

Since February 24, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused more than five million Ukrainians to flee abroad. But for the millions who have remained in the country, life goes on, as best it can. Despite the bombings, the destruction, the separated or bereaved families, the fear, Ukrainians still in their home country need to eat, sleep, grocery shop, care for their children and themselves, plough the fields, but also try to find moments to relax, have fun, love... AFP's photographers capture this shaken daily life everyday through their lenses in all four corners of Ukraine. The following 60 photos are a sample of their work.

A municipal worker cuts roadside bushes near a burning house hit by shelling, on the outskirts of Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, on July 27, 2022. BULENT KILIC / AFP

A girl rides a swing on a playground in front of a destroyed residential building in the town of Borodyanka, on June 7, 2022. SERGEI CHUZAVKOV / AFP

Local residents look at the remains of an unexploded Smerch missile after a night strike on the outskirts of Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, on July 25, 2022. ANATOLII STEPANOV / AFP

Roman Kovalenko, 18, skates next to shops destroyed by a missile explosion in the morning. He always skates alone at Peace Square since all his friends have fled Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, on May 5, 2022. YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP

Communal workers clean outside a building destroyed as a result of shelling in Mykolaiv, on August 2, 2022. OLEKSANDR GIMANOV / AFP

Children play at the symbolic cemetery of cars shot by Russian troops, some painted by local artists, in Irpin, on August 9, 2022. SERGEI SUPINSKY / AFP

Elderly men play chess at a city market, empty due to the ongoing conflict, as they gather and play everyday for one hour, except Mondays, in Sloviansk, eastern Ukraine, on April 29, 2022. YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP

A man plays piano as people walk toward the railway station of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, on March 6, 2022. YURIY DYACHYSHYN / AFP

Elderly women leave after receiving their pension from a postal delivery van that reached the frontline despite the ongoing conflict, as the sound of mortar fire continues in Mayaky, eastern Ukraine, on May 6, 2022. YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP

Veronika, 8, milks a cow, a daily task her family carries out despite the lack of customers due to the ongoing conflict, in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, on May 12, 2022 . YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP

A man jogs at a stadium in the centre of the town of Slavutych, on May 28, 2022. DIMITAR DILKOFF / AFP

A woman gathers her belongings from a heavily damaged residential building in Saltivka, a northern district of the second largest Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, on July 31, 2022. GENYA SAVILOV / AFP

The newlyweds, medical volunteers, a nurse in an oncology clinic and a doctor before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Nastya Gracheva and Anton Sokolov, pose for a photograph in a ruined courtyard of shopping and office complex in central Kharkiv, on April 3, 2022. SERGEY BOBOK / AFP

A woman walks past a school partially destroyed as a result of a missile strike in the town of Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region, on July 25, 2022. ANATOLII STEPANOV / AFP

Natalia, 44, washes dishes in a basement where she lives to protect herself from shelling in Saltivka, a northern district of the second largest Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, on July 29, 2022. GENYA SAVILOV / AFP

Russian servicemen stand guard in a field as farmers harvest wheat near Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region, on July 14, 2022. ANDREY BORODULIN / AFP

Sasha (R), 9, a daughter of chaplain Oleg, is guided by her mother Evgenia as she attends online schooling with a smartphone at the charity centre managed by the pentecostal church Awakening, hosting evacuees from the surrounding areas near the frontline, in Pokrovske, eastern Ukraine, on May 4, 2022. YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP

A man walks in front of a residential building damaged in the eve's shelling in the city of Chernihiv, on March 4, 2022. DIMITAR DILKOFF / AFP

Discover