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Maks Levin

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Ukrainian photographer (1981–2022)

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Yevhenovych and the family name is Levin.
Maks Levin
Максим Євгенович Левін
Colour press photo of smiling, clean-shaven man with wavy blond hair.Maks Levin, c. 2021
Born(1981-07-07)7 July 1981
Boyarka, Kyiv Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR
Diedc. 13 March 2022(2022-03-13) (aged 40)
Huta-Mezhyhirska, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine
Cause of deathGunshot wounds
Body discovered1 April 2022
Huta-Mezhyhirska, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine
EducationIgor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
OccupationPhotographer
Children4
Awards

Maksim Yevhenovych Levin (Ukrainian: Максим Євгенович Левін, romanized: Maksym Yevhenovych Levin; 7 July 1981 – c. 13 March 2022) was a Ukrainian photographer. He reported as a photojournalist from 2006, for LB.ua and Reuters among many others. He also provided photographs for international humanitarian organisations including UNICEF and World Health Organization.

During a mission to document the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Kyiv Oblast, Levin was detained, interrogated, possibly tortured, and executed by Russian soldiers. His friend Oleksiy Chernyshov, who was accompanying him, was likely burned alive.

Life and career

Levin was born on 7 July 1981 in Boyarka, Kyiv Oblast. He wanted to become a photographer already as a teenager, and attended a photography club while a school student. He first trained to be a computer systems engineer, as his father wished. He graduated from the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, and worked as a systems engineer. He and his wife had four sons.

Photographs by Levin shown in Boyarka as part of a project "After Ilovaisk"

Levin began working as a photojournalist in 2006. He was a staff photographer for LB.ua and a stringer for Reuters. He also worked for Associated Press, BBC, Hromadske and TRT World. His photographs were published by Elle, Korrespondent.net, Radio Bulgaria, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, The Moscow Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Ukraine Crisis Media Center, Vatican News, and World News Media, among others. He also took photographs and conducted video projects for humanitarian organisations, including HealthRight International, UNFPA, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), UNICEF, United Nations (UN), UN Women, and World Health Organization (WHO). He was the author of the documentary project about the military "Afterilovaisk" and the project about responsible fatherhood "Dads' Club".

He was present for a number of battles in the 2014 Russo-Ukrainian War, and was surrounded by Russian forces during the Battle of Ilovaisk. He escaped alive, and was honoured in 2015 by President Petro Poroshenko with the Order "For Merits" of the III degree.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Levin was quoted saying: "Every Ukrainian photographer dreams of taking a photo that will stop the war." One of his photographs, showing destroyed buildings in Kyiv, graced the cover of a March 2022 edition of the German magazine Der Spiegel.

Death

Levin went missing on 13 March 2022, when he left, together with Oleksiy Chernyshov, to photograph consequences of Russian aggression near Huta-Mezhyhirska in the Kyiv Oblast. Connection to them was interrupted that day. His body was found near the village on 1 April 2022. According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, he was fatally shot twice by Russian servicemen while unarmed and wearing a press jacket. According to a report published by Reporters Without Borders, he was executed by Russian soldiers, probably members of the 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade, possibly after being interrogated and tortured. Levin's friend who was with him at the time, Oleksiy Chernyshov, was likely burned alive by Russian soldiers.

Levin was posthumously awarded the Order for Courage. A funeral service was held in Kyiv's St. Michael's Cathedral. The head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epiphaniy, said that he was "one of the best photographers of modern Ukraine", who "served the truth". The funeral was at the new cemetery in Boyarka.

The killing of Maksim Levin was condemned by the Director-General of the UNESCO Audrey Azoulay in a press-release published on the 3rd of April. According to global monitoring on the safety of journalists by the UNESCO's Observatory of Killed Journalists, Levin was the sixth journalist killed in Ukraine in 2022.

Exhibitions

Levin's exhibitions include:

  • Maydan: Human Factor
  • Ukraine 24. War&Peace, Los Angeles
  • Conflict Zone: Ukraine, Chicago
  • Donbas War and Peace, European Parliament, Brussels
  • Donbas: War and Peace, Prague
  • Photo exhibition about the Battle of Ilovaisk, Kyiv

See also

References

  1. "Ukrainian photographer and friend were 'executed in cold blood' – report". The Guardian. 22 June 2022.
  2. "Ukrainian journalist Maks Levin 'executed by Russian troops,' RSF investigation finds". Yahoo News. 22 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Documentary photographer, photojournalist Maks Levin found dead in Kyiv region". Ukrinform. 2 April 2022. Archived from the original on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  4. Черничко, Артем (22 March 2022). "Під Києвом зник український фотожурналіст Макс Левін" [Ukrainian photojournalist Maks Levin has disappeared near Kyiv]. Bird in Flight (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 22 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  5. ^ "Photojournalist Maks Levin found dead". Ukrayinska Pravda. 2 April 2022. Archived from the original on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  6. "Mакс Левін / Кабинет автора на портале новостей" [Max Levin / Author's office on the news portal]. LB.ua (in Ukrainian). 28 October 2019. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  7. "Guerre en Ukraine: un photographe et documentaliste chevronné retrouvé mort près de Kiev" [War in Ukraine: veteran photographer and documentalist found dead near Kyiv]. Nice-Matin (in French). 2 April 2022. Archived from the original on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  8. ^ Levin, Maks. "Maks Levin". LensCulture. Archived from the original on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  9. "For many women in Ukraine, escape from conflict not an escape from violence". 9 June 2017. Archived from the original on 22 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  10. "AFTER ILOVAISK - документальний проект про людей, які пройшли пекло Іловайська". 27 September 2020. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  11. "Батькiвський клуб – Головна сторiнка - Fathers Club". 7 October 2022. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  12. "Krieg in der Ukraine / Bekannter ukrainischer Fotograf und Dokumentarfilmer getötet" [War in Ukraine / Well-known Ukrainian photographer and documentary filmmaker killed]. Der Spiegel (in German). 2 April 2022. Archived from the original on 4 April 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  13. "Missing Ukrainian Photojournalist Levin Found Dead Near Kyiv". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. 2 April 2022. Archived from the original on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  14. https://rsf.org/en/rsf-has-new-evidence-about-identity-russian-soldiers-area-where-ukrainian-journalist-was-killed
  15. "Ukrainian journalist 'coldly executed' by Russian forces: Report - Russia-Ukraine war News". Al Jazeera. 22 June 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  16. "Exclusive RSF investigation into the death of Maks Levin: "Information and evidence collected indicates this Ukrainian journalist was executed."". RSF. 29 May 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  17. "Fotojornalista Maks Levin foi "executado a sangue-frio" por tropas russas". CNN Portugal (in Portuguese). 22 June 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  18. Ukrainian photographer and friend were "executed in cold blood" – report The Guardian 22 June 2022
  19. Ukrainian journalist Maks Levin "executed by Russian troops", RSF investigation finds ca.news.yahoo.com 22 June 2022
  20. "Fotoreporter pośmiertnie odznaczony orderem. Zełenski podpisał dekret" [A photojournalist posthumously awarded the order. Zelensky signed the decree]. tvn24.pl (in Polish). 3 April 2022. Archived from the original on 3 April 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  21. ^ "Kyiv pays last respect to photojournalist Max Levin / His vocation to tell and show the truth meant more to him than danger. He served the truth". LB.ua. 4 April 2022. Archived from the original on 22 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  22. "CPJ 'deeply saddened' by death of Ukrainian photojournalist Maks Levin". UNESCO. 2 April 2022. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  23. "Director-General condemns killing of photographer Maksim Levin in Ukraine". UNESCO. 3 April 2022. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  24. "Observatory of Killed Journalists". UNESCO. Retrieved 17 June 2023.

Further reading

External links

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