Professional trauma leaves its mark because at times I no longer feel emotions from the tragic images I see.
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At the same time, I struggle to justify stepping back. Every day, I witness people fighting, risking their lives and health, and, tragically, dying to secure the right to speak their language, live freely, and feel safe with their families in their homes. They fight to live peacefully in a country that belongs to them and their children. I don't want my sons to fight in the future. I will not see my country enslaved by the ‘Russian world’. And I don't wish to hide in Europe, in America, or anywhere else. This is my home. This is my country.
Evacuation of civilian from Iprin.
the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
2022
Photo credit:
Andrii Dubchak
Photo credit:
Andrii Dubchak
And maybe that is even for my own good. My sense of risk has also changed dramatically. I always ask myself when planning the next report trip: "Why go? What content will I get? What will it impact? Is the risk worth it?"
Now, I struggle with burnout. It has been three years of full-scale war — facing death every day, witnessing hundreds of attacks, hundreds of dead bodies.
There, a Russian missile had killed an entire family — mother Tetiana and her children, 18-year-old Mykyta and 9-year-old Alisa. It is unbearable to remember a child’s skin turning yellow, blood running from their mouth, their eyes glazing over. I had to realise: this is it, they are dead. They were killed simply for trying to escape the death brought by the Russian army. Initially, I couldn't overcome my fear to return to that place. But two days later, I forced myself to go back. The photos and videos I captured were seen around the world, revealing the true face of the so-called ‘Russian world’ and its imperialist ambitions. It was one of the first documented Russian war crimes by journalists after the invasion. Then came Irpin, Bucha, and thousands more.
There, a Russian missile had killed an entire family — mother Tetiana and her children, 18-year-old Mykyta and 9-year-old Alisa. It is unbearable to remember a child’s skin turning yellow, blood running from their mouth, their eyes glazing over. I had to realise: this is it, they are dead. They were killed simply for trying to escape the death brought by the Russian army. Initially, I couldn't overcome my fear to return to that place. But two days later, I forced myself to go back. The photos and videos I captured were seen around the world, revealing the true face of the so-called ‘Russian world’ and its imperialist ambitions. It was one of the first documented Russian war crimes by journalists after the invasion. Then came Irpin, Bucha, and thousands more.
In 2003, I began my career in IT at the Ukrainian branch of Radio Free Europe. A decade later, I became the first live streamer of the Euromaidan Revolution. Shortly after that, Russia launched its war against my country. In 2014, I took up photography, followed by writing and filming. Since then, I’ve traveled to the frontlines as a war reporter. This wasn’t my dream job. War came uninvited to my country, to my home.
In 2003, I began my career in IT at the Ukrainian branch of Radio Free Europe. A decade later, I became the first live streamer of the Euromaidan Revolution. Shortly after that, Russia launched its war against my country. In 2014, I took up photography, followed by writing and filming. Since then, I’ve traveled to the frontlines as a war reporter. This wasn’t my dream job. War came uninvited to my country, to my home.
By 2020, I realised that the war was scarcely covered or discussed in Ukrainian media. This realization drove me to create Frontliner Media.
Since the onset of the full-scale war, our team has primarily focused on documenting Russian war crimes. We have reported on civilians fleeing frontline towns — children, women, and the elderly. We have covered deaths caused by bullets, mines, Grad rockets, airstrikes, and missiles. As a field reporter, I have been documenting and photographing people, sharing their stories, and presenting reality without distortion. That is the mission that I have committed myself to. One of the most difficult materials I've worked on came from the destroyed Romanivskyi Bridge in Irpin.
With the war raging in my country,
I fell compelled to document its brutal reality, focusing on the human cost
of the conflict rather than the everyday life I once dreamed of capturing.
Founder and editor-in-chief of the Frontliner. Originally from Kalynivka (Vinnytsia region). Lives and works in Kyiv.
In 2021, Andrii Dubchak, an acclaimed documentary photographer whose work has been featured by BBC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, founded the bilingual media outlet Frontliner. Its mission: to document Russian war crimes and report news from Donbas and deoccupied territories. As both a photographer and field reporter, Dubchak continues to spend most of his time on the frontlines and in frontline areas.
Andrii
Dubchak