Florian Rainer

In 2017, Austrian photographer Florian Rainer and Austrian reporter Jutta Sommerbauer traveled to Donbass, the region of eastern Ukraine that has been the scene of intense fighting since 2014. In 2014, pro-Russian forces in Donbass deposed the local authorities and declared the Donetsk People's Republic, named after the region's largest city. When Ukrainian government forces tried to retake the territory, they encountered armed opposition from local militants backed by an indeterminate number of Russian soldiers. The conflict eventually settled into a grim stalemate, with both sides digging trenches and launching sporadic raids across what became a World War I–style no man's land. In the midst of the civil war, ordinary life continues for Ukrainians who can't or won't evacuate from Donbass. Those who remain in Donbass must contend with shelled roads, military checkpoints, and nightly curfews. Life in Donbass proceeds against a background of conflict—distant gunfire is almost constant, growing heavier at night, when the warring sides send out scouting parties. Locals refer to the constant gunfire as "barking dogs" or "the fireworks." "Some people said they can't afford to move, because they have a house and a cow there, and they produce their own food," photographer Florian Rainer says. Neither side intentionally targets civilians, but mistakes are inevitable, such as soldiers shooting grenades in the wrong direction. Photographer Florian Rainer and and journalist Jutta Sommerbauer took their book title, The Gray Zone, from the name locals give to this battle-scarred landscape. Donbass is a gray zone both visually and morally, since it's often hard to tell who is fighting for each side. The conflict in Donbass has displaced an estimated 1.5 million Ukrainians. "We were really interested in how human nature deals with such a situation," photographer Florian Rainer says. "And what we learned is that you can't always be worried. It's just not how humans work."