![A Ukrainian serviceman guards the positions near Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, June 6, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mal_36771.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
They are the scenes you rarely see splashed across the newspaper’s front page: a soldier lazily stretches in the shade beside an artillery tank; servicemen in T-shirts gamble for cigarettes; a man reads a book while guarding artillery poised to blast at the onset of a trigger. For photojournalist Evgeniy Maloletka, the fallout of the Ukrainian revolution hits close to home — Berdyansk city in southeast Ukraine, to be exact. As the war zone expands, inching closer to his hometown, he documenting not only the historical changes as they unfold — massive riot attacks and anti-government protests that have left disheveled city centers and countless deaths — but also the quiet moments of men who volunteered to be involved in the conflict.
“With every passing month, the war in the east has cast our country backward, brought sorrow to the families of dead soldiers and civilians, destroyed the economy and created conditions of social injustice,” Maloletka tells TIME. “Every Ukrainian now has a friend, relative, or relative of a friend that has fought in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It has been my goal as a photojournalist to document this conflict.”
Maloletka has been covering the Ukrainian revolution since its beginnings in November 2013. After graduating from the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in 2010 with an electronics degree, he started his career as a staff photographer for the local news agencies UNIAN and PHL. He was drawn to big news events, from the presidential elections in Belarus in 2010 to the Max Air Show in Moscow. He covered the KaZantip electronic music festival in Crimea and Georgia, the 2012 European Football Championship, in between trips to India, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Kenya. But he kept coming back to the situation in his own country.
His EuroMaidan series captured images of massive anti-government protests, student rallies and riots in the so-called Euromaidan Revolution, and violence in Kiev’s Independence Square. While he also covered the conflict in Crimea, he’s spent most of his time in eastern Ukraine working on small photography pieces and long-term documentary projects for the Associated Press, among other outlets.
As for his photographic style, Maloletka says he’s always experimenting. “I’m trying to shoot every new story with a different style,” he says. “I photograph digital, film, and I often use my cell phone. Recently I have produced a story with a Polaroid camera.”
Evgeniy Maloletka is a war photographer based in Kiev, Ukraine.
Rachel Lowry is a writer and contributor for TIME LightBox. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @rachelllowry.
![Ukrainian army officer Volodymyr Trush investigates a crater left by a Grad rocket in the village of Toshkivka, Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, June 15, 2015. Trush was killed by a mine explosion near Avdiivka, Oct. 31, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mal_63631.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A damaged water pipeline that distributes water for the Donetsk region runs at the frontline between positions of Donetsk peoples republic and Ukrainian forces near Horlivka and Dzerzhinsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, July 5, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mal_12941.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Ukrainian soldiers with an armoured personnel carrier (APC) are photographed through broken glass near the division line with separatists in Marinka, near Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, June 5, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mal_32531.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Ukrainian serviceman, surname Wolf of Kiev-2 volunteer battalion, stands in a trench at the frontline near Krymske village, Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, June 24, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mal_88351.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Ukrainian servicemen patrol the area near the division line with separatists in Marinka, near Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, June 5, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mal_34721.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Ukrainian servicemen speak with their commander near a military base in Raygorodka village, Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, June 13, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mal_55221.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Ukrainian serviceman rests after loading ammunition to an armoured personnel carrier (APC) in position in Krymske village, Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, June 20, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mal_72711.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Ukrainian government soldiers playing cards over cigarettes at the frontline in Krymske village, Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, June 20, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mal_74561.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Relatives and comrades say their last goodbye to Ukrainian serviceman Vitaliy Kravchenko, whose body is in the coffin. He was killed by a mine explosion near Avdiivka, during a commemoration ceremony in Rava-Russkya, western Ukraine, Nov. 5, 2016.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mal_76671.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Volodymyr Pukivskiy, a Ukrainian army soldier, reads a book on a piece of artillery from the World War II era at the frontline in Krymske village, Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, June 19, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mal_90341.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Ukrainian serviceman guards the positions near Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, June 6, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mal_36771.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Biden Drops Out of Presidential Race , Endorses Harris to Replace Him
- Why Biden Dropped Out
- The Chaos and Commotion of the RNC in Photos
- Why We All Have a Stake in Twisters’ Success
- 8 Eating Habits That Actually Improve Your Sleep
- Stop Feeling Bad About Sweating
- Welcome to the Noah Lyles Olympics
- Get Our Paris Olympics Newsletter in Your Inbox
Contact us at letters@time.com