Hot-air balloons float over the Oka River during the Russian Sky International Balloon Festival in Ryazan Region, Russia on July 26, 2021. (Photo by Alexander Ryumin/TASS)

A man carries a child as he wades trough a flooded road following heavy rains in Strand, Western Cape, South Africa on September 25, 2023. (Photo by Esa Alexander/Reuters)

In 1994, after the fall of the Soviet Union, all Ukrainians had to get a new passport – and photographer Alexander Chekmenev was on hand to take their photos. The snatched extra shots he took are remarkable in their honesty and tenderness. (Photo by Alexander Chekmenev/The Guardian)

A young couple rest on a bench, as a street actor wearing an Angel costume speaks on the phone in Nikolskaya street near the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 31, 2021. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

A priest sprinkles holy water on a believer during the Orthodox Easter service in the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine on May 2, 2021. (Photo by Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

A woman carries a bag with a baby while being evacuated by local emergencies ministry members in Donetsk, Ukraine, February 2, 2017. (Photo by Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) is seen over the sky near the village of Pallas (Muonio region) of Lapland, Finland September 8, 2017. (Photo by Alexander Kuznetsov/Reuters)

Attendees walk on the illuminated runway following Alexander Wang's “AW Collection 1” presentation at the Rockefeller Center in New York, U.S., May 31, 2019. (Photo by /Andrew Kelly/Reuters)