As the world faces the geopolitical and economic consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, previously shortlisted Prix Pictet photographer Maxim Dondyuk has documented the devastating  destruction of his home country.

This summer, under special permission from the Ukranian government, Maxim left the country for the first time in over a year and a half to travel to France during the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival, where he delivered a powerful presentation and urgent appeal in the town’s Antique Theatre. We caught him at the Van Gogh Foundation in Arles, where he told us about photographing a war-torn Ukraine.