In March 2022, at the height of the Russian invasion, RFE/RL's Serhiy Nuzhnenko was one of the first photojournalists to enter the still-contested town of Bucha. More than one year on, the photographer revisited the sites of some of his photographs of devastation to find a town transformed.
A main street in Bucha photographed on March 1, 2022 during a pause in fighting. The city, just northwest of Kyiv, was the site of fierce battles from February 27 through to the end of March, as Russian ground forces began to abandon their assault on the Ukrainian capital.
The same Bucha street during roadworks in May 2023
A Bucha resident stands in the courtyard of a charred apartment block on March 1, 2022.
The same courtyard in February 2023
Bucha resident Olha, who told RFE/RL, "When my father built our house, he made a basement underneath and told us, 'If anything happens, this is your bomb shelter,'" she recalled. "When [the invasion] happened we looked outside and saw tanks already in our yard shooting. We rushed to that basement and sat tight for seven hours. The tank tracks screeched and there was a terrible battle." After two tanks hid behind her house, Olha says, "we had already said goodbye to life.... Then we came out and saw this terrifying picture. Like some kind of Armageddon."
In May 2023, Olha stands at the scene of the March 2022 photo.
Wreckage on Bucha's Vokzalna Street, where some of the heaviest fighting took place
Vokzalna Street in May 2023. Global Empowerment Mission, a U.S. disaster relief charity, was instrumental in restoring much of Bucha and rebuilt several houses from scratch.
Destroyed Russian military hardware photographed on Vokzalna Street on March 1, 2022
A rebuilt house on Vokzalna Street in May 2023
Bucha residents Natalya and Rustem on March 1, 2022. "It was very difficult, very scary to sit in the basement as battles roared outside," the couple said. "We thought we were in a safe zone, but you can see how it turned out."
Natalya and Rustem photographed as their property was in the process of being rebuilt in February 2023
A bus stop photographed among devastation on Vokzalna Street on March 1, 2022
The Vokzalna Street bus stop in May 2023
A charred apartment building in March 2022
Spring trees surround a fully restored apartment building, seen in May 2023.
Jars of picked food and an abandoned armored vehicle in March 2022
Reconstruction work was ongoing at the Bucha property in May 2023.