The Orc: A Ukrainian accused of collaboration

Q&A with Misha Friedman about the impact of war photography

Welcome to Vignettes, our weekly cabinet of curiosities. Here you’ll find unexpected facts, intimate portraits of interesting people, interviews and more.

Vignettes is for paid subscribers—thank you for your support! If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, what are you waiting for?

---

This piece is part of our special series on the front lines of the war in Ukraine. These stories offer a window into how regular people are managing their daily lives as this conflict drags on. Read the rest of the series here and here.

Yuri with the ‘Orc’ tattoo. Photographed by Misha Friedman, 2023.

In 2022 a Ukrainian coal miner Yuri was arrested for treason and confessed to sharing Ukrainian military information publicly. While awaiting trial in jail, Yuri’s story circulated and his fellow inmates brutally attacked him for being a traitor and tattooed his forehead with the word “orc”—a derogative term for Russians, inspired by the goblin-like villains in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Yuri then received a 12-year sentence for having shared the military information.