Ukraine Before 2022 – A Reminder of What Ukrainians Are Fighting For

Leo Chiu | Feb. 24, 2025, 2:56 pm

Protestors. March 8, International Women’s Day Protest 2021

A female protestor holding a sign that says “We need a change” in central Kyiv during the March 8 International Women’s Day protest in Kyiv in 2021. Hundreds of protestors consisting of feminists and LGBT activists alike marched from the city’s Mykhailivska Square to Poshtova Square. Photo: Leo Chiu

Conservative protestors, March 8, International Women’s Day Protest 2021

During the same protest on March 8, 2021, another group of conservative protestors rallied against the LGBT movement. A man is depicted in the photo standing in front of a banner that says, “No legalization of prostitution,” while holding a plaque that mocks homosexuals. Photo: Leo Chiu

Lviv, October 2019

Two soldiers walking behind an old man in front of a graffiti that translates to “Peace to the huts, war to the palaces,” a quote that originates from French revolutionaries in the late 18th century, in Lviv on Oct. 3, 2019, two years before Russia’s full-scale invasion and five years after the 2014 invasion. Photo: Leo Chiu

Euromaidan memorial cross, Kyiv, March 2018

On March 5, 2018, a cross with wreaths commemorating the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 on the side of Khreshchatyk, the key road in central Kyiv that witnessed much of the deaths and chaos of the revolution that eventually ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Photo: Leo Chiu

Anti-oligarch encampments, March 2018

A banner that says “Ukraine without oligarchs” outside a barricade of anti-oligarch protesters, consisting mostly of former military personnel, encamped near Kyiv’s Presidential Palace in March 2018. Petro Poroshenko served as Ukraine’s president at the time. Photo: Leo Chiu

Football fans during 2018 UEFA Champions League Finals

Football fans celebrating before the 2018 UEFA Champions League finals in central Kyiv between Real Madrid and Liverpool on May 26, 2018. Photo: Leo Chiu

Public transportation prices in 2018

A bus in Kyiv with the price of Hr.6 (approximately $0.20 at the time) marked on the window on Jan. 23, 2018. Public transport costs Hr.8 ($0.20) as of February 2025 and has yet to increase since after Moscow’s 2022 invasion despite the rampant inflation. Photo: Leo Chiu

A man and his best friends, March 2018

A man playing on an outdoor piano outside the central Post Office in Kyiv with his dogs to his right beneath the piano on March 3, 2018. Photo: Leo Chiu

Fishing by Dnipro River, Summer 2019

A man fishing in the Dnipro River at Hydropark in Kyiv opposite a beach filled with sunbathing locals in July 2019. Photo: Leo Chiu

Thousand and One Nights in Kharkiv, March 2018

A worker cleaning the snow in front of a poster promoting a ballet performance of One Thousand and One Nights in Kharkiv in March 2018. Photo: Leo Chiu