The cadence of war and its human toll: A photojournalist's perspective
Marcus Yam
·4 min read
A firefighter waits for his engine truck to resume water pressure so that they can put out a house that caught fire after a bombardment landed in a residential neighborhood in Lysychansk, Ukraine. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
What's old is new again, and it's not pretty
After spending more than a month in Ukraine documenting the war earlier this year, Marcus Yam is back in the eastern part of the country where fighting remains fierce and residents continue to endure with no end in sight.
While taking time off from covering the conflict, Yam won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography for his “raw and urgent images of the U.S. departure from Afghanistan that capture the human cost of the historic change in the country.”
He's now back in Ukraine to document the conflict and its human toll.
Day 106: Lysychansk, Ukraine
Dogs of war.
These puppies did not flinch at the sound of artillery. They made no noise. Mother is nowhere to found.
They sat quietly, unaware of their surroundings. They huddled together under an old trailer to play.
A Ukrainian soldier runs outside from a makeshift military base in Lysychansk, Ukraine. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Rockets overhead. We went inside a building. Leaned into a dark room.
I inadvertently set off a booby trap. A fuse is lit. A moment of reckoning. A buddy next to me takes a knee.
A loud explosion. Alive. It was only a stun grenade. Fortunately. Learned a valuable lesson.
Supply crates sit in a depot at a makeshift military outpost in Lysychansk, Ukraine. (Marcus Yam/Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Residents sell their wares at a day time street market in Lysychansk, Ukraine. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Day 102: The path to Lysychansk.
People under the belly of a water truck. They have lived without water or electricity.
Liubov shrugs as she chops wood to cook. She invites help.
In Siversk, Ukraine, residents who've been without electricity and running water for a month fill bottles from a spout under a water delivery truck. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Liubov Vedeneeva, chops firewood in Lysychansk, Ukraine. "Time flies fast when you are having fun," she shrugs. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Armed men smoke cigarettes near the town center of Siversk, Ukraine. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A school burns in Lysychansk. Fighter jets roar above, then 'boom.'
Machine gun fire rattles down the road. The voices of men screaming instructions echo.
A woman sobs. 'I cannot live like this anymore. Nobody knows when this is going to end.'
A school is destroyed by bombardment in Lysychansk, Ukraine. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Day 101: Kilometers from the Russians, soldiers stay alert.
Locals surface for fresh air. One-hundred days of fear.
More dark days to come.
Natalia Tishenko comforts her son Yaroslav, 7, in the bomb shelter their family has called home for more than two months near Velyka Novosilka, Ukraine. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Valentyna Lazarevna, 80, kisses her granddaughter Nina Novokhatskaya, 20, while they and others enjoy some fresh air after emerging from their bomb shelter near Velyka Novosilka, Ukraine. "I want to go home, but it's broken. I'm afraid. The shelling is almost every day," said Lazarevna. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Nadia Schamal, cooking in an underground shelter near Velyka Novosilka, Ukraine, says she uses her candles as sparingly as possible to preserve them. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Day 99: The cadence of war.
Russia is laying down a barrage. Civilians ask, 'When will this end?'
A man waits to leave on an evacuation train from Pokrovsk, Ukraine. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A charred component of a rocket lies in the field outside Soledar, Ukraine. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Day 98: Slovyansk has a front row seat to Russian invasion.
Vitaliy's wife was killed in an attack. He grieves. Next door, a room splashed red.
A night gone wrong.
The splintered windshield of one car frames the view of a burned-out shell of another in Slovyansk, Ukraine (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Vitaliy Kryvorotenko shows pictures of himself and his wife, Nelia Kolisnichenko in an album, pausing from photo to photo: "Here she is, here she is, Here she is." Nelia was struck and killed by shrapnel as she rested beside a window when the bombardment began. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Local residents clear out debris after a bombardment destroyed a house in the outskirts of Slovyansk, Ukraine. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Affluent Americans may want to double-check how much of their bank deposits are protected by government-backed insurance. The rules governing trust accounts just changed.
Former NBA guard Darius Morris has died at the age of 33. He played for five teams during his four NBA seasons. Morris played college basketball at Michigan.
Ohtani tagged Braves ace Max Fried for a two-run shot in the first inning, then hit a solo shot in the eighth as the Dodgers prevailed in a battle of NL favorites.
Budgeting apps can help you keep track of your finances, stick to a spending plan and reach your money goals. These are the best budget-tracking apps available right now.
