Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, millions of Ukrainian refugees and Russians fleeing their country’s authoritarian government have fled to former Soviet countries in Europe and Central Asia. Freelance journalist Levi Bridges of Sedgwick, Maine, has been reporting on this migration for NPR and other news outlets from his base in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan. Bridges is currently visiting Maine and will give a presentation about life in Kyrgyzstan and how the Ukraine war has influenced the former Soviet countries near Russia’s border.
About the image shown here:
Boys in western Uzbekistan play on old Soviet ships in the dried-up Aral Sea, which began running out of water because of Moscow’s agriculture policies. The ongoing war in Ukraine has highlighted the region’s fraught historical relationship with Russia. The photograph of journalist Levi Bridges was taken in the field in northern Kyrgyzstan