30 best photos of 2025 from Kharkiv and Kharkiv region

UKRAINE, KHARKIV, Jan. 2 — The beginning of a new year is a good time to look back at the past one. 2025 was challenging from the start, and perhaps there are more tough days ahead. A part of the Kharkiv region was occupied by Russia (some parts of it were occupied for the second time during Russia’s full-scale war). Moscow’s airstrikes killed many in Kharkiv, and its FPV drones became a menace in the areas close to the border and the frontline.

We wouldn’t want to say “it wasn’t all war” because it implies that there are moments when the war goes away. There have been none of those in 2025, as in the years before that. It’s just that the war is not the absence of life. So, our journalist and video editor, Polina Kulish, selected the 30 best photos from Kharkiv and the Kharkiv region from our newsroom in the city. On all of them, Russia’s war is at the forefront or in the background. On many, there’s life. On some, there’s life taken away.

A minute of silence honoring Ukraine’s defenders, killed in Russia’s war on Ukraine. Underground station “Maidan Konstytutsii” (The Square of Constitution) in Kharkiv. January, 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Ivan Samoilov 

A child is playing in front of a destroyed residential building in the background. Russian troops hit that building with a glide bomb. Zolochiv, January 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Liubov Yemets 

A fire started in the aftermath of a Russian drone strike on a civilian business in the Novobavarskyi district of Kharkiv. January 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Serhii Prokopenko 

A free concert of Serhii Zhadan and Yurii Hurzha at the “Peremoha” underground station in Kharkiv. They sang from the “Semaphory” album, dedicated to Ukrainians who lost their home or were forcefully displaced because of Russia’s war. February 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Anna Veklych 

Russian troops hit the center of Izium, Kharkiv region, with a ballistic missile, killing 5, injuring over 50 people, and damaging the building of the city council. February 2025 / Photo: Vladlen Nol for Gwara Media

Volunteers of the “Platsdarm” unit gather the remains of a Russian soldier, killed during fighting at the edge of Kharkiv and Donetsk oblasts in 2022. March 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Polina Kulish 

The first recruits who came to serve in Ukraine’s army under an 18-24 contract are undergoing basic training with the 92nd Assault Brigade. March 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Polina Kulish 

The Russian army launched 10 Shahed drones at a farm in Mokra Rokytna village in Kharkiv oblast. Over 100 cows died. April 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Serhii Prokopenko

Nearly 100 Kharkiv locals went through the city’s center with a 50-meter rushnyk, a symbol of unity and freedom, on Vyshyvanka day. May 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Anna Veklych

A tractor is fertilizing the field of Kharkiv oblast, two kilometers away from the Russian border. June 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Hnat Holyk

People are buying products at a farmer’s market in Kharkiv with the smoke rising above the buildings after overnight Russian airstrikes. June 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Liubov Yemets 

People dancing at the Scena 5’s party in Kharkiv. June 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Nazar Hlamazda

Former Kharkiv deputy mayor Andrii Rudenko charged with heading a criminal organization and embezzling funds allocated for defense fortifications. June 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Polina Kulish

Several hundred people gather in central Kharkiv to protest against Bill #12414, which limited the independence of anti-graft bodies, NABU and SAPO. July 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Liubov Yemets 

A pyrotechnician inspects a warehouse in Vasyshcheve in the Kharkiv region after a Russian attack. The fire covered an area of 20,000 square meters. One worker was killed, and four were injured. July 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Liubov Yemets

Soldiers from the 13th Khartiia Brigade practice tactical skills during paintball training. August 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Hnat Holyk

Damaged railway station building in Lozova, south of Kharkiv oblast, attacked by Russian Shahed drones. August 2025 /  Photo: Gwara Media, Polina Kulish

Kharkiv locals celebrate Ukraine’s Independence Day under a “starry sky” light installation on Sumska Street, the main street of the city. August 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Mykyta Kuznetsov

Funeral for the Serha-Morozovy family killed by Russian Shahed drones in the Industrialnyi district of Kharkiv. August 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Polina Kulish

“Rose on the Hand” volunteer team during evacuation in the Kupiansk district at the time of the escalation of the Russian offensive on the city. August 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Mykyta Kuznetsov

AutoPride rally moved through Kharkiv’s downtown within KharkivPride — the 7th annual human rights festival that draws attention to discrimination and violence against the LGBTQ+ community in Ukraine. September 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Polina Kulish

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov blows soap bubbles at the opening of the underground school in Saltivskyi district. September 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Liubov Yemets 

Residents of a modular town for internally displaced people, who have lived there since 2014. They are preparing to move because of the Kharkiv city council’s decision to demolish the modules. October 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Mykyta Kuznetsov 

People near a kindergarten that was burned in the aftermath of a Russian Shahed drone attack on Kharkiv. October 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Mykyta Kuznetsov 

Kharkiv locals move through the dark city streets during the blackout after Russian airstrikes at objects of energy infrastructure / Photo: Gwara Media, Mykyta Kuznetsov 

Red Cross workers are carrying the body of a woman who was killed in the Russian Shahed strike on Kharkiv. Kamikaze drones hit three districts of the city, killing four people and injuring at least 17. November 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Mykyta Kuznetsov

Employees of a special unit of the police are carrying a photo and the cross of Lieutenant Vladyslav Svyrydov, killed in the Kupiansk direction. November 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Mykyta Kuznetsov 

Funeral of Maryna Vorontsova, a soldier of the Peaky Blinders unit. She was killed in a Russian missile attack on the Pokrovsk axis. November 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Mykyta Kuznetsov 

Repetition of a ballet troupe of Kharkiv Theatre of Opera and Ballet before “Christmas Gala Ballet”. Ballet dancers in black and white suits are lined up one in front of the other, symbolizing chess. December 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Polina Kulish 

Cover photo: Koliada singers of “Sad Vertepiv” (“Garden of Vertepiv”) during Christmas celebrations in the villages of Kharkiv Oblast that were liberated from Russian occupation in 2022. December 2025 / Photo: Gwara Media, Viktoriia Mankovska 

Thank you for following what’s happening in Kharkiv and the Kharkiv region. If you want to support our newsroom, please consider supporting our newsroom with a one-time tip — or become a member of our community.

Read more

• “Everything darkened, and I didn’t know where to run.” Russian missile attack on central Kharkiv injures 30 people (Photo)
• “Russia turned Kupiansk into ruins, devastation” — 116th brigade shows what a war-torn city looks like in 2025