20 x 28" (52 x 70cm)
Alexander Chekmenev (Luhansk-Kyiv), 1969-present
Citizens of Kyiv. Color photography, February–March 2022
Liubov Tymchenko, 17, moved into an underground subway station with her boyfriend, Maksym Pavliuk, 20, and her cat, Murysia (“the purrer”), after the attacks on Kyiv started. A student in a school for hairstylists, Tymchenko spent about 18 hours a day on the platform, returning outside about six hours a day to check on her home and charge her mobile phone. She and Pavliuk were sustained by volunteers — “today they fed us hot dogs,” she said — and took turns using the station’s small bathrooms. About 60 people lived underground in this station full time, she said, roughly half on the platform and the remainder in subway cars. When shelling or air-raid warnings sounded, the station often filled up, she said, and could become standing room only. Her fear was acute and disorienting; she was traumatized. “I am afraid of the shooting,” Tymchenko said. “I am a sensitive person, and I become hysterical.” (Tymchenko relocated to Poland on March 17.)