Happy Days by Igor Chekachkov @ Digital Window Gallery

Igor Chekachkov reflects on his work as a linguist and, later, a photographer on a military base where Ukrainian soldiers were training with the British army.

One year ago, I worked on a military base as a linguist, translating for Ukrainian soldiers during their training with the British army. It was the closest I had ever been to military life — living in the barracks, shadowing the soldiers through their drills — and it prompted me to reflect on militarism and the duty of Ukrainian men to defend their country.

What struck was the contrast between two mindsets: the British soldiers, professionals, but who had never experienced the reality of war, training Ukrainians — civilians who had taken up arms in the face of aggression, some of whom had already been to the frontlines and lost friends in battle.

Now, I am returning to these training grounds, not as a linguist but as a photographer. My aim is to capture the transition from civilian to soldier, to explore the weight of warfare, and to document the (covered) faces of those preparing to head to the frontlines to protect Ukraine.

The series is titled Happy Days, borrowing the phrase British soldiers often use when Ukrainian trainees master an exercise or follow a command. Like Samuel Beckett’s play, it hints at the uneasy balance between routine and dread — a fragile cheerfulness that veils the looming reality of war.

Text and image by Igor Chekachkov.