Powerful exhibition with photos from the Ukraine front line to be displayed in Leeds

Through Their Eyes: The Lives of Ukrainian Defenders is a free photo exhibition which will take place from 4pm at the Leeds Ukrainian Community Centre, 5 Back Newton Grove.

Organised by the Leeds Ukrainian Community Association (LUCA), the event aims to give audiences an insight into the lived experiences of Ukrainian soldiers.

In 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion into Ukraine, escalating the Russo-Ukrainian War which first began in 2014.

It is the largest war in Europe since World War II.

Through Their Eyes will display images from the past three years of the conflict which have been taken by Ukrainian soldiers themselves.

LUCA has been supporting Ukrainians by working with external organisations to provide aid and resources. The organisation often receives photographs showing how the support is used and it was seeing some of these photos that inspired Dariia Kovnatska to curate the exhibition.

Dariia said: “We stay in touch with the soldiers who get support from us. Sometimes they send us pictures - how they are cooking in the fields, surviving winter conditions, how they are living their life.

“The idea came into my mind, why couldn’t we show this for the public, because some places and some moments are not in the news.”

Dariia herself moved from Ukraine to the UK with her young daughter when the conflict began.

She sees the exhibition as a chance to encourage people to remember that three years on, the war is still ongoing.

Dariia said: “There is less news about Ukraine these days so it's important to remind people that the world is ongoing and our Ukrainian soldiers are heroes. They are making history today for the world.”

Through Their Eyes will be a tribute to Ukrainian soldiers and a silence will be held at the event to remember those who have fallen in the conflict.

Tragically, some of the pictures featured in the exhibition are taken by soldiers who have lost their lives in the war.

Dariia said: “(The pictures) touch something from inside.

“It’s not easy to see pictures where you know some soldiers are so young, the same age as me, and they’re not alive anymore.”

Terry Grayshon, Vice-Chairman of LUCA, believes the exhibition will be a chance to raise awareness of the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine.

Terry said: “They are genuine images from the front. None of them are staged. They are the actual factual situation of war. Some of them may be distressing for some people but that’s the situation that’s going on in Ukraine and we really want to tell the story of the work that we have done to support those people.

“These photographs will enable people to understand that and in doing so, that will remember the fallen of Ukraine and those families whose lives have been torn apart.”

Through Their Eyes: The Lives of Ukrainian Defenders will be on display at 5 Back Newton Grove, Leeds, on October 4 at 4pm.