Stephan Goss
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Photography / Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine · 2022–2026

Stephan Goss covered major battles throughout the war. He covered the aftermath of the Russian offensive on Kyiv, the Ukrainian counter offensive in Kharkiv, the liberation of Kherson, the Battles for Bakhmut, Siversk, Soledar and the Southern Axis. The work includes soldiers fighting for freedom and civilians living among the damage left by the war.

The photographs document military life, civilian routines and communities affected by the fighting.

Snapshots of Valor: On the Front Lines of Ukraine's Struggle

A Ukrainian soldier walks alone down a slush-covered road between burnt-out apartment blocks, his rifle at his side, under bare winter trees.
Plate 01 Eastern Ukraine, April 2023 Stephan Goss A soldier patrols through a residential street of “the citadel” in Bakhmut during the end of the fight for the city. At the time, the city was surrounded on three sides by Russian forces and destroyed by months of shelling. The same day this photo was taken, a sniper missed Goss’ head by inches.
A man on a motorcycle rides along a wet, muddy road past the burnt-out wreck of a military truck outside a village house.
Plate 02 Petropavlivka, Ukraine, October 2022 Stephan Goss Life persists against the surreal backdrop of war. A local resident carries on with his daily routine, seemingly indifferent to the nearby shelling and the constant dangers.
A man stands in the wrecked interior of a public building, the corridor ahead of him filled with rubble, the walls pocked by shrapnel and the doors blown off their frames.
Plate 03 Eastern Ukraine, October 2022 Stephan Goss Inside a public building stripped by blast. Goss photographed in towns retaken during the autumn 2022 counter-offensive, where schools, clinics and administrative buildings had been left in this state.
A girl in a white padded coat and red trousers dances with a ribbon in falling snow in front of a Banksy stencil of a gymnast painted on a fire-blackened wall.
Plate 04 Bucha, Ukraine, November 2022 Stephan Goss A Ukrainian girl dances before a Banksy mural on a charred building in Bucha, bombed by Russian forces. Her joyous movement stands against the grim backdrop of the destruction they left.
An elderly man carrying a white sack and a woman pulling a shopping trolley walk away from the camera past a shell-damaged building with every window blown out.
Plate 05 Bakhmut, Ukraine, December 2022 Stephan Goss An elderly couple brave the constant Russian shelling to receive humanitarian aid.
A firefighter directs a hose into a burning shopfront behind iron railings; on the scorched wall beside him someone has painted БАХМУТ ЛЮБЕ УКРАЇНУ in white.
Plate 06 Bakhmut, Ukraine, December 2022 Stephan Goss A firefighter works on a building set alight by shelling. The graffiti on the wall beside him reads “Bakhmut loves Ukraine”.
Ukrainian soldiers sit crowded in the dark interior of an armoured vehicle, rifles upright between their knees, one of them reaching for a handhold in the roof.
Plate 07 Eastern Ukraine, April 2023 Stephan Goss Soldiers ride forward in an armoured vehicle. Goss travelled with Ukrainian units in the east through the winter and spring of 2022 and 2023.
Two soldiers in camouflage with green identification armbands move towards a damaged apartment block across ground carpeted with shattered glass.
Plate 08 Eastern Ukraine, April 2023 Stephan Goss Soldiers cross an open yard in “the Alley of Roses” in Bakhmut to get to a Zero Line position for an overnight watch. The green armbands identify Ukrainian troops to each other.
Seen from a high window at dusk, a town of roofless, burnt-out apartment blocks stretches away under a deep blue sky, an orange fire burning in the middle distance.
Plate 09 Eastern Ukraine, April 2023 Stephan Goss Bakhmut burns at dusk after getting shelled by 300mm rockets, photographed from an upper floor. By this stage of the fighting the whole city had been reduced to shells.
Two soldiers in the cab of a vehicle; the one in the passenger seat turns to the camera with his hand raised, a soft toy sitting on the dashboard behind a cracked windscreen.
Plate 10 Eastern Ukraine, April 2023 Stephan Goss A moment between runs. The windscreen is starred with cracks and a soft toy has been propped on the dashboard, one of the small mascots and jokes that units carry with them.
A BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher fires from a dirt track at the edge of a field, flame and black smoke pouring from the tubes as a rocket clears the barrels.
Plate 11 Eastern Ukraine, July 2023 Stephan Goss A Grad multiple rocket launcher fires a salvo from a track at the edge of a field near Orikhiv.
Two soldiers walk up a sandy track through dense pine forest, cut branches and camouflage netting piled along the roadside.
Plate 12 Eastern Ukraine, July 2023 Stephan Goss Soldiers move up a track through pine forest. Much of the fighting in the north-east was conducted from tree lines and forest positions like this one.
An elderly woman in a headscarf lifts a floral quilt from the grass outside a damaged house, bedding and debris scattered around her and a firefighter at the edge of the frame.
Plate 13 Eastern Ukraine, August 2023 Stephan Goss A women covers the body of her deceased neighbor with blankets after a direct artillery strike on her home, while emergency crews work behind her.
Volunteers and neighbours lift a woman in a wheelchair down the steps of a village house, one in a helmet and red vest, another in body armour watching the road.
Plate 14 Near Kupiansk, Ukraine, August 2023 Stephan Goss Ukrainian volunteers evacuate a disabled woman near Kupiansk, less than 200m from the Zero Line.

Publications and archives

Awards

Snapshots of Valor was named Professional Editorial Photography Category Winner of the Year at the 2024 MUSE Photography Awards.

Distributed through Shutterstock Editorial, Sipa, Profimedia and AOP, and published by newspapers and broadcasters across Europe.

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