23rd Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest People
Sascha. Borodianka

I met Sasha in Borodyanka while i was working on my other Ukrainian project on buildings destroyed by war. Sasha is a former military. he got injured. since he came back from war he is homeless and lives in the building you can see behind him, a destroyed place with no water or electricity... he reminded me of these GIs coming back from vietnam and left aside. In winter 25 i went back to see if Sasha was still there to check on him, i was concern about his safety due to the cold, itw as minus 11 almost eveyday and he was staying in a place without any heating or running water and couldn’t live in this conditions. He wasn’t there. I hope he was in some place warm.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 08.2024
Date Uploaded: 10.2025
Photo Location: Borodianka, Ukraine
Camera: GFX100S
Copyright: © yves lacroix