Darkness Of The Donbas: Nighttime Satellite Images Capture Ukraine's Depopulation
Colorized images made by NASA satellites capable of capturing the light of human activity by night show swathes of Ukrainian territory in the country's east and south have fallen dark amid depopulation and wartime power outages.
Then
Now
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Night time views of southeastern Ukraine and western Russia seen on June 14, 2012 and April 27, 2026.
Today swathes of Ukraine's once bustling Donbas region are plunged into darkness after sunset due to a combination of wartime power outages and depopulation. The Donbas region has seen Millions of its residents flee conflict there since 2014.
Today swathes of Ukraine's once bustling Donbas region are plunged into darkness after sunset due to a combination of wartime power outages and depopulation. The Donbas region has seen Millions of its residents flee conflict there since 2014.
Then
Now
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The northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv (center of this image) is difficult to spot in a night time satellite image made on July 5, 2026.
Just to the northeast, Russia's Belgorod and its well-lit highways appear largely unchanged from the historic photo, made in August 17, 2021.
Just to the northeast, Russia's Belgorod and its well-lit highways appear largely unchanged from the historic photo, made in August 17, 2021.
Then
Now
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Ukraine's Donetsk Region, taking up roughly the left third of this image, and part of the Luhansk Region (upper center) are seen next to Russia's Rostov Region (right). The nighttime pictures were made on October 26, 2021, and July 1, 2026.
Several towns in the top left of the historic image, which lie in Ukraine's Donetsk Region, have fallen dark, while the bright lights of Russian-occupied Donetsk (upper left) remain largely unchanged. South of Donetsk, the now Russian-held city of Mariupol is visible at lower left of the image. Russia's Rostov-on-Don is the large city seen at lower right.
Several towns in the top left of the historic image, which lie in Ukraine's Donetsk Region, have fallen dark, while the bright lights of Russian-occupied Donetsk (upper left) remain largely unchanged. South of Donetsk, the now Russian-held city of Mariupol is visible at lower left of the image. Russia's Rostov-on-Don is the large city seen at lower right.
Then
Now
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South of the Donbas, on the Russian-held Crimean peninsula, darkness recently prevailed in many areas due to an ongoing Ukrainian drone campaign targeting Crimea's electricity network. These images were taken on July 3, 2026 and July 8, 2021.
