A Ukrainian serviceman exercises with weights made from MORTARTS

I took this photograph at a Ukrainian army position. He’s an officer doing exercises using 120mm mortar shells; there’s lots of this kind of improvised gym at the front. I lived in Donetsk until the war started. One day pro-Russian separatists detained me and said they would pay me to work for their media channel. They said if I refused, I’d be forced to dig trenches without payment. I fled to Mariupol [controlled by the Ukrainian government] and I’ve lived there since. Almost every week I go to the frontline. I used to work on a local newspaper in Donetsk – I never expected to become a war photographer.