In the forest between Moshchun and Huta-Mezhyhirska in Vyshhorod Raion, there is a memorial plaque dedicated to photo documentarian Maks Levin. Here, on March 13, 2022, Russian military personnel killed him and his friend, former photographer and soldier Oleksii Chernyshov. The plaque was installed by friends and colleagues on July 7, 2024 — on the day Maks would have turned 43.
Who was Maks Levin
Maksym Levin was born on July 7, 1981, in Boiarka in Kyiv Oblast, and graduated from the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute with a degree as a computer systems engineer. For over ten years, he worked as a photojournalist for LB.ua, shooting for Reuters, BBC, Associated Press, TRT World, and hromadske. Since the beginning of the war in Donbas, he documented it as a photographer; he was near Ilovaisk in 2014 and created the project about soldiers "AfterIlovaisk", as well as the project on responsible fatherhood "Father's Club". He had four sons.
From the first days of the full-scale invasion, Maks photographed the war: in just five days, he published reports from at least seven hot spots — from Kharkiv to Vasylkiv and the Irpin direction.
March 13, 2022
On that day, Maks Levin and Oleksii Chernyshov went to the area of Huta-Mezhyhirska to document the consequences of Russian aggression, and contact with them was lost. Maks's body was found on April 1, 2022. According to the prosecutor's office, he was killed by servicemen of the armed forces of Russia with two shots. The organization Reporters Without Borders, which conducted its own investigation, concluded that Levin and Chernyshov were execution-style murdered. The case is being investigated as a war crime.
Memory
Maks Levin was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit, 3rd Class, and the Georgiy Gongadze Prize. Streets in Boiarka and Kyiv are named after him, and the children's art school in Borodianka was named in his honor. Friends and colleagues created the public organization "Maks Levin Memorial Fund", which initiated the plaque at the site of his death.
How to find it
The location is in the forest near the village of Huta-Mezhyhirska, not far from Moshchun, about 25 km north of Kyiv. Access is by car via Vyshhorod or Demydiv, then along a forest road. Clarify the location on the map before your trip.
Tip
The forests around Moshchun were an area of heavy fighting in March 2022. Sappers have checked them, but do not stray from the roads and do not pick up unfamiliar objects. This is a place of memory — you can bring flowers. More about the region can be found in the article about Kyiv Polissia.
