Ukrainian children take part in a military war simulation exercise at RANGER camp. The patriotic military training program located in Volodymyr-Volynskiy close to the Polish border and designed by Ruslan Bormovoy, targets youth between the ages of twelve and seventeen.
Photograph by Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Mathew, 11, crawls under barbed wire during military exercises at LIDER camp. “I decided to join LIDER camp because we have to learn how to defend your country,” he says.
Photograph by Diego Ibarra Sánchez
A group of young Ukrainian boys are being taught how to put a gas mask on by Oleksiv Zabolotny, one of the instructors at LIDER.
Photograph by Diego Ibarra Sánchez
A volunteer instructor guides the youngest group of LIDER, a summer camp for children aged six to seventeen, to their daily activities which include strict discipline and familiarisation with the use of weapons.
Photograph by Diego Ibarra Sánchez
A young Ukrainian boy lies on the ground pretending to have been killed by “enemy fire” during military training at RANGER camp. More than 10,000 people have been killed since the Ukraine war began, but people on both sides are already training the next generation to fight.
Photograph by Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Students attend classes inside the school in Svetlodarskaya, Ukraine. Located on the frontline, it has been attacked several times.
Photograph by Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Mykhailo Deinikov, 8, a camper at LIDER camp writes: “I like the schedule, military discipline, military exercises and morning exercises. I believe it’s important to defend the homeland because it can be captured by the enemy very easily and we can be taken hostage and killed. I want to become a fish researcher. I do not want to become a soldier because it’s scary. I dream that there will be no more wars in the world.”
Photograph by Diego Ibarra Sánchez