A woman wearing traditional Ukrainian dress walking past Coca Cola concessions on Kiev Day, an annual event held to celebrate the heritage of Ukraine's capital.

The defaced statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky lies in the undergrowth behind Kiev History Museum. From 1917 until his death in 1926 'Iron Felix' established and led the first state security organisations, o...

Miners descend for their shift at the Gorky Mine in the middle of Donetsk, the industrial city which lies at the centre of Ukraine's mining industry.

Anna Kravchyshyn at her house in the Carpathian Mountains, formerly a safe house for the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). Formed in 1942 they fought a guerrilla war against the Nazis, and then the Sovi...

Children viewing the exhumation of a mass grave in the centre of Slavsko, until 1960 the district headquarters for the NKVD/KGB in the Carpathian mountains near Lviv. The dig is conducted by Memorial,...

Pupils singing the national anthem in School 62 in Lviv, the city at heartland of Ukrainian nationalism. This, together with any other Ukrainian music, was banned under the Soviet system. Having aband...

The library at School 62 in Lviv, the city at heartland of Ukrainian nationalism. Having abandoned the Communist curriculum in the run up to independence, text books were in short supply, partly throu...

A woman sets off to work a plot of land where she is growing vegetables. In the run up to independence the Soviet collective farming system collapsed which, when combined with runaway inflation, cause...

A Soviet-era star atop the winding gear of a coal mine in Donetsk in the Donbass, the industrial heartland of Ukraine. The industrial structure of the Soviet Union was very integrated and spread acros...

A Soviet-era relief above a subway outside the coal mining headquarters in Donetsk, the centre of Ukraine's coal ming industry in the Donbass.

Extracting the remains of a skull during the exhumation of a mass grave in the centre of Slavsko, until 1960 the district headquarters for the NKVD/KGB in the Carpathian mountains near Lviv. The dig i...

A mural of women in folk costume, erected in Soviet times to show the friendship between Ukrainians and Russians as common people of the USSR.

A teacher reads to pupils in a classroom at School 62 in Lviv. The portraits of Lenin that previously occupied the space above each blackboard have been replaced with those of Taras Shevchenko, Ukrain...

A mass baptism being held in the Church of the Transfiguration in Lviv during the run up to independence. Prior to this period the four million Catholics of the Ukraine formed the largest underground...

The funeral cortege of a young man, killed while riding a motorbike, in the countryside near Lviv. During Soviet times Ukrainian style funerals such as this were banned, but were often carried out in...

The funeral cortege of a young man, killed while riding a motorbike, outside his apartment before a procession on foot to the Ukrainian Catholic church on the outskirts of Lviv. During Soviet times Uk...

A woman in a market selling vegetables produced on a private farm. In the run up to independence the Soviet collective farming system collapsed which, when combined with runaway inflation, caused seve...

Queues for food at a state run shop. In the run up to independence the Soviet collective farming system collapsed which, when combined with runaway inflation, caused severe food shortages for the majo...

Wasyl Romaniuk, who spent over 20 years in a Siberian labour camps for his membership of the clergy, leading one of the first services in a newly re-opened church in Kiev, which had remained closed un...

Begging in Kiev under an advert for the launch issue of one of the many new glossy magazines being published in Ukraine. Since independence the living standards of some of the population has improved,...

A service held to consecrate the original site of St Michael's monastry in Kiev, demolished by Stalin during the 1930s. Attended by President Kuchma and his secret service agents, this event was seen...

A monument overlooking Donetsk which commemorates the victory of the Soviet Union in The Great Patriotic War (World War Two). The landscape of this industrial city is studded with coal mines.

A cow herder reading a Bible in the Carpathian Mountains north of Slavsko. During Stalin's rule possession of a Bible was punishable by deportation to the gulags. Until the approach of independence th...

Anna Kravchyshyn at her house in the Carpathian Mountains, formerly a safe house for the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). Formed in 1942 they fought a guerrilla war against the Nazis, and then the Sovi...

Girls comparing report cards at School 62 in Lviv. For the first time since 1944 the pupils were being streamed in different classes, sitting termly tests and graded by results. Having abandoned the C...

The Monument to Unification of Russia and Ukraine which dominates the main square in central Kiev. The arch was known by locals in Soviet times as 'The Russian Yoke'. At independence the pragmatic dec...

A man with pictures of his murdered family at the 50th commemoration of the mass execution of the city's Jewish population by the occupying Nazis at the Babi Yar ravine in Kiev in 1941. This was the f...

A man looks at the display at a public exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of the mass execution of the city's Jewish population by the occupying Nazis at the Babi Yar ravine. September 1991 marke...

Former Czech President Vaclav Havel during a ceremony at the Prague Goethe Institute receiving the "Dolf Sternberg" price on 23 October 2007. Havel died on the 18 December 2011 at the age of 75. Havel...

A woman holds a rose as she looks at tributes and candles left at bottom of a statue on Wenceslas Square in Prague where people gathered to pay their respects to Vaclav Havel. Havel was a playwright,...

Candles, flowers and tributes left where people gathered to pay their respects to Vaclav Havel on Wenceslas Square in central Prague. Havel was a playwright, essayist and poet who became active as a d...

A man leaves a candle at the bottom of a statue on Wenceslas Square in Prague where people gathered to pay their respects to Vaclav Havel. Havel was a playwright, essayist and poet who became active a...

A woman reads a copy of Mlada Fronta Dnes, one of the biggest Czech newspapers, whose front page reads 'Tears for Havel'. The newspaper published a special edition after it was announced that Vaclav H...

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel during an interview in his office in central Prague. Havel died on the 18 December 2011 at the age of 75. Havel was a playwright, essayist and poet who became activ...

A soldier stands guard in front of the coffin of Vaclav Havel in the Vladislave Hall of Prague Castle. Havel was a playwright, essayist and poet who became active as a dissident after the Soviet Invas...

A soldier stands guard in front of the coffin of Vaclav Havel in the Vladislave Hall of Prague Castle. Havel was a playwright, essayist and poet who became active as a dissident after the Soviet Invas...

Candles surround a portrait of Vaclav Havel in Prague. Havel was a playwright, essayist and poet who became active as a dissident after the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia and ended up being the las...

A man reads a special edition of Lidove Noviny, a Czech magazine with Vaclav Havel on the cover, while lining up to pay his respects in front of the coffin of Vaclav Havel in the Vladislave Hall of Pr...

Mourners line up to pay their respects in front of the coffin of Vaclav Havel in the Vladislave Hall of Prague Castle. Havel was a playwright, essayist and poet who became active as a dissident after...

People gather to light candles and leave tributes on Narodni Trida in central Prague upon hearing the news of the death of Vaclav Havel. Narodni Trida became famous in 1989 when a peaceful demonstrati...

Mourners line up to pay their respects in front of the coffin of Vaclav Havel at the 'Prague Crossroads', a former church which was turned into a cultural centre by Havel. Havel was a playwright, essa...

A man pays his respects in front of the coffin of Vaclav Havel in the 'Prague Crossroads', a former church which was turned into a cultural centre by Havel. Havel was a playwright, essayist and poet w...

Thousands of people gather on Wenceslas Square in central Prague upon hearing the news of the death of Vaclav Havel. Havel was a playwright, essayist and poet who became active as a dissident after th...