Maks Levin

Maks Levin, born in 1981, was a freelance photojournalist and documentary filmmaker based in Kyiv. He had worked for international outlets including Reuters, the BBC, and Associated Press, and was known for his long-term projects documenting life in eastern Ukraine since the conflict began in 2014. He was also a co-founder of the Lens Culture Lab, a platform for Ukrainian photographers.

Levin went missing on March 13, 2022, while reporting on the Russian invasion near the village of Huta Mezhyhirska, north of Kyiv. According to reports from the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine and the Committee to Protect Journalists, his body was found on April 1 in a forest near the village. An investigation by Ukrainian authorities concluded he had been shot twice by Russian military forces.

His death occurred during the first month of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, a period of intense fighting in the Kyiv region. The area where he was killed was a contested frontline at the time, with Ukrainian forces engaged in operations to defend the capital.

The United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe called for investigations into his killing. The Committee to Protect Journalists documented his case as part of its tally of media workers killed in the war. His colleagues and press freedom organizations widely condemned his death.

Levin's work, particularly his photography from the Donbas region, is held in collections at the Ukrainian National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. A posthumous exhibition of his final photographs was organized in Kyiv in 2022.

Maks Levin was killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine (concluded November -0001). See the full roster of those killed in this conflict.

Among those documented in the same conflict: Brent Renaud, Pierre Zakrzewski, Oleksandra Kuvshynova, Oksana Baulina.

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