I discovered Ukraine for the first time on February 19, 2014, a first brutal encounter as the demonstrations on Maidan Square (Independence Square) started to look like civil war. Four days and dozens of casualties later, under pressure from pro-European protesters, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was forced to step down and flee to his allies in Moscow.

I returned to France marked by the intensity of the moments experienced on Maidan Square, and with the feeling that a new chapter in Ukrainian history had begun. Going back to Ukraine became a necessity for me, with the desire to photograph...