Maks Levin

Maksym Yevhenovych Levin (; 7 July 1981 – ) was a Ukrainian photographer. He reported as a photojournalist from 2006, for LB.ua and Reuters among many others. He also provided photographs for international humanitarian organisations including UNICEF and World Health Organization.

During a mission to document the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Kyiv Oblast, Levin was detained, interrogated, possibly tortured, and executed by Russian soldiers. His friend Oleksiy Chernyshov, who was accompanying him, was likely burned alive.

Life and career Levin was born on 7 July 1981 in Boyarka, Kyiv Oblast. He wanted to become a photographer already as a teenager, and attended a photography club while a school student. He first trained to be a computer systems engineer, as his father wished. He and his wife had four sons.

Photographs by Levin shown in Boyarka as part of a project "After Ilovaisk"

Levin began working as a photojournalist in 2006. He was the author of the documentary project about the military "Afterilovaisk" and the project about responsible fatherhood "Dads' Club".

He was present for a number of battles in the 2014 Russo-Ukrainian War, and was surrounded by Russian forces during the Battle of Ilovaisk. He escaped alive, and was honoured in 2015 by President Petro Poroshenko with the Order "For Merits" of the III degree.

Death Levin went missing on 13 March 2022, when he left, together with Oleksiy Chernyshov, to photograph consequences of Russian aggression near Huta-Mezhyhirska in the Kyiv Oblast. Connection to them was interrupted that day. According to a report published by Reporters Without Borders, he was executed by Russian soldiers, probably members of the 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade, possibly after being interrogated and tortured. Levin's friend who was with him at the time, Oleksiy Chernyshov, was likely burned alive by Russian soldiers.

Levin was posthumously awarded the Order for Courage. The funeral was at the new cemetery in Boyarka. was condemned by the Director-General of the UNESCO Audrey Azoulay in a press-release published on 3 April. According to global monitoring on the safety of journalists by the UNESCO's Observatory of Killed Journalists, Levin was the sixth journalist killed in Ukraine in 2022.

Exhibitions Levin's exhibitions include: Maydan: Human Factor Ukraine 24. War&Peace, Los Angeles Conflict Zone: Ukraine, Chicago Donbas War and Peace, European Parliament, Brussels Donbas: War and Peace, Prague Photo exhibition about the Battle of Ilovaisk, Kyiv