‘Fortitude, agony’: TIME’s cover photos from war-torn Ukraine

Russia-Ukraine war: The “resilience and agony” of Ukraine captured in TIME magazine covers. (Image credit: Twitter/@TIME)

The world has been watching images from war-torn Ukraine with horror. Thousands of civilians, including children, have been killed, families have been torn apart and cities are in ruins because of Russian attacks.

Ukrainian journalists and photographers are covering the conflict while grieving for their country. Photographer Maxim Dondyuk, the person behind one of TIME’s magazine’s covers on the Russia-Ukraine war, says “this is my pain”.

Dondyuk’s photo shows a woman and her baby being evacuated from Irpin city, situated right next to the Kyiv. The mother’s distraught face captures the suffering of the whole of Ukraine.

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"My city, where I lived for years, is being destroyed,” Dondyuk was quoted as saying by the magazine. “I’m not coming at this from afar. This is my pain. This is my country.”

Another TIME cover features a five-year-old Ukrainian child, who fled to Poland with her mother, while her father and brother stayed behind.

The picture of the child, named Valeriia, was taken by Artem Lurchenko. An artist, JR, created a 148-feet version of Valeriia’s photo, which was held up in the air by people in Lviv city. A drone camera captured this moment for TIME’s cover image.

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JR told TIME magazine that Valeriia is the “future, the hope, the joy, the beauty”.

“And, in this ugly war, she reminds us what our Ukrainian friends are
fighting for,” the artist added.

TIME magazine said that these two photographs express “both the fortitude and agony of Ukraine”.

Meanwhile, The Economist magazine, which previously had a bleeding Ukrainian flag on its cover, has featured overlapping images of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

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“The alternative world order,” the text on the cover reads. “Friendship between the two states has no limits.”

Also read: On powerful TIME, The Economist covers, bleeding Ukraine flag, Zelensky's moving words