War's Emotional Toll in Ukraine - Photojournalism Project

Project Focus

Russia’s war on Ukraine has had a profound impact on the mental health of a country that already owns one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Decades of Soviet weaponization of the mental health system as a means to imprison political dissidents has taken its toll on the long-term mental health outlook and treatment of the Ukrainian people.

In a pre-war healthcare analysis by the Lancet, Ukraine’s healthcare system ranks 40th out of 42 European countries with 33 percent of their people needing mental health services at some point during their lives. Then came war, the crudest weapon on the human psyche.

Ukrainians emerged from the isolation of the pandemic to the constant threat of attack. Children in cities such as Kharkiv now attend school in old subway tunnels. Soldiers recover from war injuries from the frontlines at homes and neighborhoods under threat of attack. There is no escaping. How does a country with such a need for mental health services survive a war and how do they treat those injuries and move forward as a nation?

This photography project is designed to bring a face to the numbers and analysis already reported about the impending mental health crisis in documentary photo story telling form. Using the power of the still picture and anecdotal stories, I will take a deep dive into two populations that define Ukraine’s present and Ukraine’s future: the children who are growing up in bomb shelters and soldiers who return from the trenches.

My name is Michael G. Seamans and I am an award-winning documentary photographer based in the United States. I have made two trips to Ukraine to photograph critical moments that capture the human condition in the midst of war and the impact it has had on people.

I’m currently working on a project documenting life in the cities of Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv and Mykolaiv with medical professionals tasked with delivering life-saving treatment and counseling to communities that have no hospital or services. It will also document daily life in schools that are now in bomb shelters underground.

I began reporting on the crisis in Ukraine in 2022 and need funding to continue this work. My purpose is to expose the reality of war's toll on people who don't have the means to escape and what recovery will look like after the war is over. Funding this project will allow me to commit every minute of my time over the next several months to reporting and documenting this issue for a world audience.

My 2022 trip, funded by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, resulted in several stories published in USA Today. I am hopeful that with additional funding I will again be able to publish the stories of Ukraine in major news outlets.

Here are some links to my past work:

Stories funded and Published by the Pulitzer Center in Crisis Reporting

1) Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Projects

2) From the Front Lines of the Ukraine Invasion A Mad Dash to Rescue Refugees

3) Historic Flood of Ukrainian Refugees Slows

4) Inside One Convoy's Frantic Trek to Save Refugees in Ukraine

5) Russia’s War Uproots Ukrainian Jews Amid False Nazi Claims

6) Some Ukrainian Refugees return home Despite Escalating Russian Attacks