KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Associated Press’ most powerful images from Ukraine in 2025 show a nation defined by both unending violence and determined survival.
Captured in cities, villages, front lines and shelters, the images document a year of turbulence — death-filled front lines, diplomatic uncertainty and the relentless pounding of the country’s infrastructure.
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A Ukrainian serviceman with the Safari Unit of the Liut Brigade launches a reconnaissance drone at the frontline in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Vasilisa Stepanenko, File)
Mykhailo Maistruk, 67, walks downstairs during an evacuation from Kostiantynivka, Ukraine, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Cadets listen to their teacher as they sit in a bomb shelter on the first day at school at a cadet lyceum in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
A woman in costume attends a Halloween rave in Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
Red Cross volunteers evacuate an injured person from a multi-storey residential house destroyed by a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Mourners say their last goodbyes to 12 Ukrainian soldiers who died in Russian captivity during a funeral ceremony in central Lviv, Ukraine, July 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mykola Tys, File)
Ukrainian war veteran Pavlo Tovstyk rests during a training for a 6.5km swimming race across the Bosporus Strait, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
A girl touches the water at Lanzheron beach in Odesa, Ukraine, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Police officers calm an injured dog while a dead body lies near a multi-story building damaged by a Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko, File)
Sofia Sisa, 17, does homework in an underground shelter during an air raid alarm in Shostka, Ukraine, Oct. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
Ukrainian soldier Denys Zalizko, 21, stands outside of a rehabilitation center in Kyiv region, Ukraine, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
An elderly woman leaves her damaged home after a missile attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko, File)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to journalists during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
A woman hugs a soldier who came back from Russian captivity while people show photos of missing soldiers during an exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine, in Chernyhiv region, Ukraine, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
Artem aka "Lisnyk", a Ukrainian soldier of the Da Vinci Wolves Battalion who was injured during fighting with Russian forces at the front line smokes a cigarette on Pokrovsk direction, Ukraine, Aug. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
A woman cries during a funeral ceremony for Tamara Martyniuk, 8, Stanislav Martyniuk, 12, and Roman Martyniuk, 17, killed in a Russian strike in Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region, Ukraine, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Police officers help an injured woman leave her house, which was damaged by a Russian airstrike in a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Ukrainian soldiers of the Da Vinci Wolves Battalion train not far from the frontline on Pokrovsk direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Cadets greet each other at the Lanzheron beach in Odesa, Ukraine, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Andrii Rubliuk, a senior sergeant with a Ukrainian intelligence unit who lost both arms and a leg in combat, holds a rifle during military training near Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Funeral workers carry the coffin of Olena Kohut, an orchestra musician who was killed in a deadly Palm Sunday Russian attack on Sumy on April 13, during a farewell ceremony in Sumy, Ukraine, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Residents react after a Russian missile hit an apartment building during Russia's combined missile and drone air attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
Rescue workers clear the rubble of a residential house destroyed by a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko, File)
A dead body lies on the ground after a Russian missile strike in Sumy, Ukraine, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Volodymyr Hordiienko, File)
Ukrainian servicemen of the 148th artillery brigade rest in a trench after firing towards Russian positions at the frontline's Velyka Novosilka direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Local people react after a residential building was destroyed by a Russian air strike in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, July 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Yevhen Titov, File)
Young women dressed in traditional Ukrainian clothing dance in circle during a traditional midsummer celebration in Pyrohiv, Ukraine, outside of Kyiv, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
Servicemen carry a portrait of volunteer soldier Volodymyr Rakov, 30, a well known dancer and choreographer, who was killed during the Russia Ukraine war, during the farewell ceremony at St.Michael Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike which destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, July 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Yevhen Titov, File)
Mothers cry over the coffins of their children Danylo Nikittskyi, 15, and Alina Kutsenko, 15, killed by a Russian missile, during a funeral ceremony in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Photographers witnessed profound loss: two mothers weeping over the coffins of their 15-year-old children. Survivors, dazed and dust-covered, led away from residential buildings torn open by airstrikes, their faces marked by shock, grief and exhaustion.
Young residents — one in black platform heels — step through the rubble-strewn remains of a gutted housing block and across a children’s playground, its slide and climbing frame improbably left intact.
On front lines and training grounds, soldiers bear the weight of a grinding war. A veteran missing both arms and a leg grips a rifle with prosthetics, his gaze unwavering in drills. In a freezing trench, soldiers rest among gear bags and equipment, scrolling through news on their phones.
Sacrifice was matched by defiance: The images reveal a landscape where mourning and persistence coexist.
Ukraine struck deeper into Russia and held back waves of attacks. Children studied in underground shelters and ordinary Ukrainians made the most of rare breaks from the war. Women in embroidered dresses dance in midsummer sunlight. Young people crowded into a Halloween party.
And in a moment of unguarded joy, a woman clutches a returning soldier in a flag-draped embrace following a prisoner exchange, in a crowd of women holding up photos of their loved ones.
Photo editing by Benjamin Snyder and Enric Marti.
A Ukrainian serviceman with the Safari Unit of the Liut Brigade launches a reconnaissance drone at the frontline in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Vasilisa Stepanenko, File)
Mykhailo Maistruk, 67, walks downstairs during an evacuation from Kostiantynivka, Ukraine, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Cadets listen to their teacher as they sit in a bomb shelter on the first day at school at a cadet lyceum in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
A woman in costume attends a Halloween rave in Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
Red Cross volunteers evacuate an injured person from a multi-storey residential house destroyed by a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Mourners say their last goodbyes to 12 Ukrainian soldiers who died in Russian captivity during a funeral ceremony in central Lviv, Ukraine, July 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mykola Tys, File)
Ukrainian war veteran Pavlo Tovstyk rests during a training for a 6.5km swimming race across the Bosporus Strait, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
A girl touches the water at Lanzheron beach in Odesa, Ukraine, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Police officers calm an injured dog while a dead body lies near a multi-story building damaged by a Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko, File)
Sofia Sisa, 17, does homework in an underground shelter during an air raid alarm in Shostka, Ukraine, Oct. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
Ukrainian soldier Denys Zalizko, 21, stands outside of a rehabilitation center in Kyiv region, Ukraine, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
An elderly woman leaves her damaged home after a missile attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko, File)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to journalists during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
A woman hugs a soldier who came back from Russian captivity while people show photos of missing soldiers during an exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine, in Chernyhiv region, Ukraine, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
Artem aka "Lisnyk", a Ukrainian soldier of the Da Vinci Wolves Battalion who was injured during fighting with Russian forces at the front line smokes a cigarette on Pokrovsk direction, Ukraine, Aug. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
A woman cries during a funeral ceremony for Tamara Martyniuk, 8, Stanislav Martyniuk, 12, and Roman Martyniuk, 17, killed in a Russian strike in Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region, Ukraine, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Police officers help an injured woman leave her house, which was damaged by a Russian airstrike in a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Ukrainian soldiers of the Da Vinci Wolves Battalion train not far from the frontline on Pokrovsk direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Cadets greet each other at the Lanzheron beach in Odesa, Ukraine, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Andrii Rubliuk, a senior sergeant with a Ukrainian intelligence unit who lost both arms and a leg in combat, holds a rifle during military training near Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Funeral workers carry the coffin of Olena Kohut, an orchestra musician who was killed in a deadly Palm Sunday Russian attack on Sumy on April 13, during a farewell ceremony in Sumy, Ukraine, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Residents react after a Russian missile hit an apartment building during Russia's combined missile and drone air attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
Rescue workers clear the rubble of a residential house destroyed by a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko, File)
A dead body lies on the ground after a Russian missile strike in Sumy, Ukraine, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Volodymyr Hordiienko, File)
Ukrainian servicemen of the 148th artillery brigade rest in a trench after firing towards Russian positions at the frontline's Velyka Novosilka direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
Local people react after a residential building was destroyed by a Russian air strike in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, July 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Yevhen Titov, File)
Young women dressed in traditional Ukrainian clothing dance in circle during a traditional midsummer celebration in Pyrohiv, Ukraine, outside of Kyiv, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
Servicemen carry a portrait of volunteer soldier Volodymyr Rakov, 30, a well known dancer and choreographer, who was killed during the Russia Ukraine war, during the farewell ceremony at St.Michael Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike which destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, July 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Yevhen Titov, File)
Mothers cry over the coffins of their children Danylo Nikittskyi, 15, and Alina Kutsenko, 15, killed by a Russian missile, during a funeral ceremony in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
