In Luhansk, one of the officials knew a guy who knew a guy who worked at a local photo studio. His name was Alexander Chekmenev.

Alexander Chekmenev began his mandatory military service in 1988 as a Russian citizen of the Soviet Union from eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region

This weekend, Ukrainians will head to the polls to elect a new president, a pivotal moment in the wake of the ouster of the country’s former Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovych.

The Ukrainian photographer Alexander Chekmenev spent most of August at the Main Military Clinical Hospital, in Kiev, where he photographed dozens of men who were injured during the protracted conflict between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian authorities