For the last six years, some 30 students from western Ukraine travel 1300 km to the frontline of the conflict in the eastern part of the country, bringing the Christmas spirit to the soldiers stationed there.

This photostory is about the daily struggles of the Crimean Tatars in their new reality following the Russian annexation. This involves accusations of terrorism and legal battles with the new authorities that shake the core of the Crimean Tatar society.

In the south of Kyrgyzstan, locals work in old Soviet-era coal mines with horrific conditions and little hope of improvement.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the economies of many states of the former Eastern bloc found themselves in shatters. Soaring unemployment and poverty engulfed all the countries of Central Asia. In Kyrgyzstan, people lost their jobs overnight, while Russians hastily abandoned the former Soviet republics to return to the fallen mother Russia. As they fled, they left behind their homes, jobs and factories. What remained was soon looted, including the railway tracks which were sold to Chinese scrap metal dealers.

Photo report from Grodno in Belarus during Victory Day (May 9th) celebrating the end of the Great Patriotic War. Photos by Martyna Kwiatkowska and Jan Gebert.   All Photos by Martyna Kwiatkowska and Jan Gebert. More photos in this series can be found on the New Eastern Europe Flickr Site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neweasterneurope/sets/72157629783580878 Image for slideshow