“Some of us are just fighting for our ways of life,” an old acquaintance told me during a chance encounter on Saturday.
Over the last three years, thousands upon thousands have fought and died for Ukraine’s survival – but for some, it is simply defending a sense of familiarity, of a life robbed from them by a war they did not ask for.
As Russia’s full-scale invasion enters its fourth year and the future of foreign support for Kyiv – with it, the country’s survival – becomes uncertain, here is a collection of photos depicting life in Ukraine before 2022 that might serve as a reminder of why the country refuses to lay down its arms.
Protestors. March 8, International Women’s Day Protest 2021
A female protestor holding a sign that says “We need a change” in central Kyiv during the March 8 International Women’s Day protest in Kyiv in 2021. Hundreds of protestors consisting of feminists and LGBT activists alike marched from the city’s Mykhailivska Square to Poshtova Square. Photo: Leo Chiu
Conservative protestors, March 8, International Women’s Day Protest 2021
During the same protest on March 8, 2021, another group of conservative protestors rallied against the LGBT movement. A man is depicted in the photo standing in front of a banner that says, “No legalization of prostitution,” while holding a plaque that mocks homosexuals. Photo: Leo Chiu
Lviv, October 2019
Two soldiers walking behind an old man in front of a graffiti that translates to “Peace to the huts, war to the palaces,” a quote that originates from French revolutionaries in the late 18th century, in Lviv on Oct. 3, 2019, two years before Russia’s full-scale invasion and five years after the 2014 invasion. Photo: Leo Chiu
Euromaidan memorial cross, Kyiv, March 2018
On March 5, 2018, a cross with wreaths commemorating the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 on the side of Khreshchatyk, the key road in central Kyiv that witnessed much of the deaths and chaos of the revolution that eventually ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Photo: Leo Chiu
Anti-oligarch encampments, March 2018
A banner that says “Ukraine without oligarchs” outside a barricade of anti-oligarch protesters, consisting mostly of former military personnel, encamped near Kyiv’s Presidential Palace in March 2018. Petro Poroshenko served as Ukraine’s president at the time. Photo: Leo Chiu
Football fans during 2018 UEFA Champions League Finals
Football fans celebrating before the 2018 UEFA Champions League finals in central Kyiv between Real Madrid and Liverpool on May 26, 2018. Photo: Leo Chiu
Public transportation prices in 2018
A bus in Kyiv with the price of Hr.6 (approximately $0.20 at the time) marked on the window on Jan. 23, 2018. Public transport costs Hr.8 ($0.20) as of February 2025 and has yet to increase since after Moscow’s 2022 invasion despite the rampant inflation. Photo: Leo Chiu
A man and his best friends, March 2018
A man playing on an outdoor piano outside the central Post Office in Kyiv with his dogs to his right beneath the piano on March 3, 2018. Photo: Leo Chiu
Fishing by Dnipro River, Summer 2019
A man fishing in the Dnipro River at Hydropark in Kyiv opposite a beach filled with sunbathing locals in July 2019. Photo: Leo Chiu
Thousand and One Nights in Kharkiv, March 2018
A worker cleaning the snow in front of a poster promoting a ballet performance of One Thousand and One Nights in Kharkiv in March 2018. Photo: Leo Chiu