Peter Jordan

Photojournalist Peter Jordan brought to life the horrors of the conflict in Ukraine, documenting the war from the front line with Sun’s defence correspondent Jerome Starkey.

His photos have brought to light war crimes, the heartbreaking new lives of those left behind, the human consequences of war, and the destruction of a country by Putin’s forces. His images include that of an elderly couple trapped and living in her bathroom near Ukraine’s front line, and document the sad horror of those left behind to hide when rockets, missiles and tanks bombarded their home, bringing to life the people at the heart of the conflict. The exhausted couple told The Sun they had slept on wooden stools in a cramped, candlelit bathroom since Putin’s troops had invaded, unable to even lie in their bath which was kept full of water for drinking, cooking and washing as the taps rarely work. At considerable personal risk, Peter raced to the scene of a rocket strike in the devastated northern city of Kharkiv, at a time when it faced regular, deadly attacks. The photograph, published across two pages in The Sun, shows a family's 10th storey flat engulfed by flames moments after a multiple rocket blitz in the city's devastated Saltivka district, the heroic Ukrainian civilian putting out 20 foot flames with a pail of water captures the extraordinary spirit of Ukraine's resistance in the face of overwhelming odds and daily, indiscriminate bombardments. But the picture shows more than just wrong-doing. It documents a war crime. This picture is part of a body of work which evidences Russia's daily, deadly and indiscriminate artillery attacks on civilians and their homes. Moments after this picture was taken a second wave of rockets tore into the same location in a trademark "second strike" tactic designed to target first responders. Peter and others nearby were forced to dive for cover. Able to gain unique access to prisoners of war, he captured Russian soldiers in a Dnipro holding cell. An amazing scoop for The Sun, but also a minefield of sensitivity in terms of needs to secure their safety, Peter photographed them from the back showing the arrest without faces. Peter gained access to a Ukrainian tank crew in a terrifying ‘Shoot-and-Scoot’ operation, a lightning raid alongside a concealed tank going into no-man’s land to fire. Seconds after his pictures were taken, high explosive shells smashed into farmland around them. An incredibly dangerous position to be in, as Ukraine’s forces have to use tanks as mobile artillery with a range of just three miles, compared to Russian artillery that can shoot from 18 miles away. There are few purer cases of public interest journalism than risking one's life to expose the war crimes of a malign state when truth itself is under attack. Peter's calm professionalism amid life threatening chaos allows just that. By drawing attention to these bombardments Peter becomes the voice of the innocent victims of the conflict. He champions their rights.