Yulia Surkova

When Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka Dam on June 6, 2022, thousands of people and dozens of towns were affected. The vast reservoir that once stretched across southern Ukraine turned into a graveyard—fish rotting in the sun, the air thick with decay. Two years later, a sprawling willow forest now rises where water once shimmered.

Amid the wreckage of war, some fight each day to reclaim their lives and land. In one of the world’s most heavily mined villages—located in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region—a house stands amid the ruins left by Russia’s invasion: a house Ihor built. This is the story of a farmer who chose to return home and rebuild, despite everything Russia has taken.