bodies are covered with yellow-blue flags. violent death looks and smells awful. the protesters are covered with flags, we don't know yet that the revolution has won. my Crimean driver is laughing a little hysterically. in the glove box of our car – both yellow-blue and black-orange ribbons. the second one – I remember from school – was a central symbol for Soviet myth about WW2. in 2014 it became a part of the separatism movement, Russians will put the St. Georgian ribbons on occupied territories. the driver carefully changes the ribbon depending on which checkpoint we pass by. I feel bad at any of them, you can't see the flags from afar. then the news will appear: for a tattoo with Ukrainian flag or a trident – Russians cut off hands and pieces of skin. I will change my mind to get tattoed. half a year after the revolution – people were stopping me in airports, because of the ribbon on my backpack. "Glory to Ukraine! You are so strong!" the revolution is like a TV show, this fame and support lasts exactly six months, then everyone forgets. but then the occupation and the war exploded, and it lasts. and in this second too. Volodymyr Balukh raised the Ukrainian flag over his house in the annexed Crimea and was imprisoned in Russia because of that. in 3 years we released him. now he is carrying humanitarian aid for soldiers in the south and east, a badge with our flag is on his shoulder. Olena Stiazhkina, a historian, carries in her bag the keys to her apartment in Donetsk and a flag. "I wore it in March in Kyiv like a scarf, when Russian troops were standing around the city. it was a sign – you tie it around your neck, it's me." the teen is putting our flag on the stick. "that's my checkpoint", he says. we are on the edge of Kharkiv and Donetsk region. "I need this flag because half of my village are orcs (meaning - pro-Russian)". my flag is in blood, cause my flag has blood. and I need it. celebrating The Day of the Ukrainian flag, photos made for @spiegelmagazin @bloomberg @zeit #ukraine #ukrainenow #ukrainewar #ukrainianflag #standwithukraine #russiainvadedukraine