When two years ago I started photographing in Kharkiv, East Ukraine, I realized how the Soviet past was still so visible; the Cold War, not so far away; those years, not completely overcome. Suspended in a timeless zone, where the present struggles to be shaped. This uncertain present, between strong Europe and authoritarian Russia, East and West again, makes people socially passive, apathetic. The revolution and its failure, together with the financial crisis, can be traced as some of the causes of today’s difficulties. In these premises lay the causes that will bring Ukraine near civil war, when the Euromaidan protests exploded in what is known as the 2014 Ukraine Revolution. Hrushevskyi Street in Kiev was turned into a battleground, with Molotov and grenades, and special units becoming armed forces of an authoritarian regime. I kept on following the Ukrainian crisis during the detachment of Crimea and its annexation to Russia, in particular in East Ukrainian Donbass. The region, located in the East of the country, on the border with Russia, has always been the flagship of the Ukrainian mining industry with its ***** plants. Already in 2004, the Donbass has opposed the Orange Revolution. Today, the Donbass is experiencing a serious crisis: armed man and militias are supporting those who want to leave the country. No one can say how things will evolve. One thing is certain, the political crisis is gradually sliding into war: those armed men who preside over the Donbass, together with the Ukrainian army, have launched a deadly anti-terrorism action. Day after day, Ukraine is crumbling little by little. Violence, death, grief have long been the daily lot of this territory. But the history is yet to be written.
