Photo: Church in western Ukraine
This image is part of NPR’s Far-Flung Postcards, a series sharing moments from the international team’s reporting.
I took the photo from a car window on the road back to Kyiv last month. My Ukrainian colleagues and I had just been reporting in Ternopil, which had been struck in an early-morning Russian missile attack. The blast blew the top off an apartment building, killing more than 35 people, including children; jagged bricks stood against the sky and clothes were scattered into nearby trees.
Around the same time, a U.S.-backed peace proposal that many observers see as favoring Russian interests came to light. The weight of those events lingered as we drove through the snowy countryside on a Sunday morning.
Despite the sorrow, I watched people walking toward church, likely following a practice that has endured for generations. The scene felt quietly beautiful and deeply sad at once. Yet it also suggested resilience: under immense pressure, Ukrainians were continuing their routines and holding on to ordinary moments.
See more photos from around the world:
– Greetings from Amman, Jordan, where history lends a colossal hand
– Greetings from Yimianpo, China, where artisans carve nesting dolls
– Greetings from the Arctic Circle, where an icebreaker drew polar bears’ attention
– Greetings from Johannesburg, South Africa, where spring bursts with jacaranda blooms
– Greetings from Colombia’s Andes, where ‘prairie-style meat’ is a local delicacy