In February of 2022 Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the unprovoked and brutal invasion of Ukraine. For Putin, the breakup of the Soviet Union was the worst event in the country’s history and he still doesn't see Ukraine as a sovereign nation. The Kremlin sees it as part of a greater Russian empire, one they will bring back in the fold no matter how many lives it takes, how much misery it brings.

For the past 3 years, Ukrainians have been under merciless artillery, drone and missile attacks. Civilians are frequently targeted and killed. The scenes are bleak: black smoke rising above Odesa, once a playground for Russian oligarchs, families burying their dead, internally displaced people receiving food handouts as others board buses for destinations many miles from their homes.

Along the country’s coal corridor, miners work in perilous conditions to keep the energy sector functioning and overburdened cars venture down lonely highways, heading west and away from the fighting.

Now that a pro-Russian administration is in the White House, Ukrainians fear all that they will have to give up to have peace, or at least a cease fire. The images of the missing and imprisoned are on display across the nation, a reminder of what is at stake for a country that has seemingly been fighting for its survival since day one.