Marcus Yam / Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Maksim Chepchenko near a burning home in in Irpin, Ukraine, after Russian bombings on Saturday.
For the past three weeks, Marcus Yam has been capturing harrowing images of the war in Ukraine, as he pulls long hours in the face of unpredictable and deadly attacks.
Yam, a photojournalist and foreign correspondent for The Los Angeles Times, is covering the conflict in the capital of Kyiv. The biggest challenge for photojournalists in the region, he said, are the military bombardments.
Local residents, recover, pack and clean out their damaged homes in a residential building caused by what authorities said is a Russian bombardment, in the Vynogradir district of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 15, 2022. / Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesA woman breaks down in tears as she realizes she is getting to board an evacuating train. Hundreds of civilians, mostly women and children rush to evacuate on one of the last trains out of town as the sounds of battle Ð gunfire and bombing Ð fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces draw closer to the city of Irpin, Ukraine, Friday, March 4, 2022. / Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
While out in the field, “We were just sitting ducks half the time, waiting for artillery to land around us,” he told NPR’s Scott Simon.
Heading into war zones “goes against every instinct we have,” he said, but that “we as photographers, as photojournalists, try our very, very best to capture human emotion.”
Firefighters investigate what Kyiv officials claim is a Russian bombardment on an apartment building in the Obolon neighborhood of Irpin, Ukraine, Monday, March 14, 2022. / Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesUkrainian soldiers cross the Irpin river, after it was destroyed to prevent Russian tanks from crossing it, in Irpin, Ukraine, Thursday, March 10, 2022. / Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Yam, who knew Zakrzewski, described him as a “very kind soul.”
“He looked out for all of a lot of people that he considered friends,” he said. “Going into Ukraine, he gave me advice on security issues, on evacuation routes and … resources that were available to him.”
A rocket hits a residential building as seen in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. Marcus Yam / Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesA woman bicycles past debris in a neighborhood that was bombarded by Russian forces in Irpin, Ukraine, Sunday, March 13, 2022. / Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesUkrainian soldiers smoke as they defend themselves against Russian forces, in Irpin, Ukraine, Sunday, March 6, 2022. / Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Ashley Lisenby and Matthew Schuerman produced and edited the audio version of this story for broadcast.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
9(MDM3NjYwMjA5MDE1MjA1MzQ1NDk1N2ZmZQ004) "A photojournalist in Ukraine heads toward deadly conflict to humanize war 8")
