A LIMERICK amateur photographer has shared images of displaced people in a camp in the Ukraine, as Russian troops prepared for all-out invasion.
David Hayes (44) from Kileely is a carer in a nursing home by profession, but after taking a course in photography with Limerick College of Further Education, he began traveling to areas where there is conflict during his holiday breaks.
One of those areas was the Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, which saw heavy fighting between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army.
Sloviansk is in the Donetsk region, which has been the focus of Russian military activity in recent days.
While there in 2019, David met with displaced people living in a camp and took photographs.
“They were very friendly and welcoming, although no-one spoke a word of English,” David told the Limerick Post.
David has also spent time and photographed people in Syrian refugee camps and he spent three months taking photographs on the Palestinian controlled West Bank.
“I’m interested in documenting current events and meeting the people at the core of those events,” he said.
“In the Ukraine I was impressed with how resourceful the people in the camps are,” he said.
While he continues to be interested in the developing situation in the Ukraine, David says he won’t be returning there at present as he is planning to travel to Thailand.
See some of David’s images from his recent visit to Sloviansk:
