Aspiring war photographer from Hampshire shares haunting pictures of Ukraine

After finishing his studies at UCA Farnham this summer, Oliver Woolford revisited the country in July to continue his efforts in documenting the destruction caused by Putin’s ongoing invasion.

During his last two-and-a-half-day tour in April, the 22-year-old, from Bordon, visited the mass graves in Bucha and spent time in Kyiv and Makariv.

This time shadowing soldiers in the Ukrainian military, he has shared his thoughts in the wake of his arrival back in the UK.

He said: “Working on the front line in Ukraine can be a considerably dangerous thing to do for more than a thousand reasons - friendly fire and artillery to name a couple. Understanding the dangers is the first aspect.

"You must accept the risks and be ready physically and mentally for any situation that might unfold. Feelings like anxiety and fear vanish when you have a goal to work towards, you are no longer analysing the way you feel but instead taking in every detail of what is happening around you as it may change in an instant.

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“The initial thing which hits you when you get out on to the front line is the smell. In Kharkiv in the northeast side of the country, I remember the smell of burnt metal and a chemical lingering in the air from the discharge of the weapons.

“It overwhelms you when it hits you for the first time, the smell of destruction. Twisted metal bent out of recognition, shattered concrete thrown from buildings and scorch marks from fires that have engulfed entire buildings litter the landscape left behind by near constant shelling.

“Witnessing the destruction and being able to be absorbed into it and interact with it is a very sobering feeling. You can almost feel the fear which would have been running through people’s minds as the shells fell around them.

“Talking to the locals gives you a first-person account of what it was like during the initial invasion as they describe the horror and ferocity of the attacks. Hiding in basements and boiler rooms with children and elderly grandparents hoping for an end to the hell that they were living.

“To come back up and find their worlds annihilated must be a horrific experience. Documenting the horror and destruction this conflict has caused is an important task and one I hope to accomplish through my images.

“Undertaking this task was a huge decision and one I did not take lightly, but after reporting on the Bucha Massacre I decided it was too important to stop. The looming thunder of shells landing no more the two kilometres away interrupting the quiet beautiful landscape is a stone-cold reminder of how close the combat is.

“Even when we were confronted with air raid sirens and shells landing near our position it never stopped me from thinking about covering more of this destructive war.

“The front lines are very different to how you would picture them. They are not empty abandoned cities void of all civilian life. They are filled with civilians who have nowhere else to go and can’t get out of the line of fire.

“This brings a whole new aspect into the dangers of covering this conflict as Russia relies on information from civilian spies to target press with artillery. Bearing this in mind there have been a few moments where we have made the right decisions and avoided ambushes and Russian artillery.

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“Standing on a checkpoint can be a very intense situation as the Ukrainian army has to be sure you are not a Russian spy trying to get information for an air strike or artillery. Documents are checked like your press card, passport, what you are working on and your accreditation to work alongside the army.

"This process can take a long. These checks bring the most anxiety because you never know what they are going to say. Whether or not they will let you pass. Putting this aside, the Ukrainian army has been so helpful in letting us document the destruction of the civilian infrastructure on the front lines.

“Summarising what it has been like so far, I would say it has been an eye-opening experience and I feel very humbled to be one of the few allowed to report on it. To capture the suffering of others sounds like a horrific job title, but those unaware or oblivious to the destructiveness of war must be informed.

“I hope my images can bring to light the indiscriminate nature of war and the weapons used. I may have only just started my career as a photojournalist and have less experience than others, but this will not deter me from improving my skills and trying to get the images out there for the world to see.”