On April 14, 2014, armed men in camouflage, led by a retired Russian colonel, stormed the city hall, police headquarters and office of state security in the town of Sloviansk. The next day, skirmishes with Ukrainian forces began around the region. Thus began the war in the East, which continues to this day. The human toll of this war has not yet been properly calculated. Not only combatants on the two sides have lost their lives; the region’s civilians have been the primary victims of the Russian-backed hostilities. Chekmenev visited different towns and villages in the Donetsk region, photographing people in the ruins of their houses destroyed in the war.