About the project
Faces of Freedom is a project about people the war changed without taking from them their humanity, their dignity, or their capacity to love.
Behind every statistic, every news report, every headline about the war stands a particular person. A teacher, a doctor, an entrepreneur, a firefighter, a volunteer, a student, a mother, a father. People who had their own plans, professions, homes and dreams — and who were made to learn to live in extraordinarily hard conditions, to defend their lives, the people closest to them, and their right to be free.
Stories
All stories
Dmytro
A computer science teacher and IT specialist. Since 24 February 2022: a defender of Ukraine, a volunteer, and coordinator of the Spletinia volunteer centre in Prešov.
Rostyslav
A real estate expert who ran a travel agency. Since 24 February 2022: a defender of Ukraine and a fire platoon commander.
Roman
In 2014 he lost his home to the occupation and started over, working in construction. Since 24 February 2022: a defender of Ukraine and a unit commander.
Olena
A bank employee, then regional director of a brokerage company. Since 24 February 2022: a volunteer and cultural mediator for refugees from Ukraine.
Nataliia
A radiologist and mother of a three-year-old girl. Since 24 February 2022: a volunteer and staff member at the Migrant Support Client Centre.
Lukáš
A restaurant owner, fire safety technician and volunteer firefighter from Prešov. He regularly delivers aid to dangerous regions of Ukraine, founded „Prešov pomáha“ and is a civic activist.
Alina
An educator, speech therapist and special education teacher. Since 24 February 2022: a volunteer and curator of a responsible consumption project.
Edo
He lived an ordinary life — work, family, flying in his free time. Since the first days of the invasion: a volunteer delivering humanitarian aid to Ukraine, camouflage nets and logistics, vehicles for those defending it.
The war russia began changed more than Ukraine. Its consequences are felt by people far beyond Ukraine’s borders. It reminded us how fragile safety, peace and freedom can be — and, at the same time, how much rests on the daily choices each of us makes.
Faces of Freedom is not about the heroes of textbooks. It is about ordinary people who found themselves in extraordinarily hard circumstances.
This project sets out to show Ukraine, Europe and the world the real faces of Ukrainians — not as abstract refugees, migrants or soldiers, but as people with their own stories, professions, dreams, fears and large hearts.
People who are fighting today, each in their own way, for the right to live.
And at the same time, this project is not only about Ukraine.
It is about all of us.
About freedom not being something guaranteed for ever. About peace asking for responsibility. About everyone’s safety resting on the choices of many. And about how, even in the hardest circumstances, we can still choose — to stay human, to hold one another up, to defend freedom and to build a future.
These are stories of how the war changed people. And of how people go on changing the world.
Because freedom has a face. And today we can choose it — every day.