In photos: a unique look at life in Ukraine

Dimitri Lanctuit is a young photographer who calls Kyiv, Ukraine, his second home. He began taking pictures of the streets and urban life in Ukraine in 2020 and says he feels at home in Kyiv.

Pictured: A bombed out Russian tank in center of Kyiv is shown with messages of support for Ukraine written on it.

All photos are courtesy of Dimitri Lanctuit.

Until the war broke out in Ukraine, he travelled frequently between Paris and Kyiv and, in January 2024, decided to return to the city despite the dangers. Lanctuit says the city "stimulates my senses and my photographic sensibility."

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.

In an interview, Dimitri Lanctuit told The Daily Digest that even though Ukraine is in the middle of a tragic war with Russia, he will always continue to return to the city of Kyiv to show his friendship and support to the people there.

Dimitri says that photographing Kyiv is part of his "quest for meaning." Click on to discover his unique perspective of a city where life still goes on despite the turmoil that war brings.

Dimitri calls this photo 'Love Above All' and says that his photograph is very special to him, because "with or without war" love goes on.

Here we see a destroyed Russian tank with the Ukrainian flag on it.

Dmitri took this photo of this young woman wearing her homemade angel wings one afternoon in central Kyiv. He told The Daily Digest that "Angel wings have always been a kind of symbol of Kyiv's resistance for many years now."

A young man has a moment of escape, a brief return to childhood on a swing in Kyiv.

The fist, a symbol of resistance, goes hand in hand with the musical instrument. Dmitri says that he believes "producing music in times of war is a symbol of resistance and freedom."

A young man wearing an elegant suit is photographed in the Podil district of Kyiv, an area renowned for its underground culture which Dimitri says "belongs to Kyiv's youth."

Dimitri says he took this photograph of a piece of broken ice next to the Dnipro River because it makes him "think about lost Crimea."

This photo was taken in central Kyiv and Dmitri says this image provokes "a poetic reflection about war inside of him."

A picture of the entry to a bomb shelter where those who live in Kyiv must take shelter in case of missile or drone attack. Dimitri has noticed how during war his friends consider their environment far more than before.

Pictured is a young musician based in Kyiv named Sasha, the photo was taken at the end of a sunny day, near Maidan.

Saturday morning at the Petrivka market. Petrivka is a flea market that Dimitri frequented with friends prior to the war.

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.

A photo of Andriivska Church in Kyiv, a magnificent building that is still standing despite the bombs.

All photos are courtesy of Dimitri Lanctuit. Be sure to check out more his work on Instagram @dimitrilanctuit and his website dimitrilanctuit.com