After the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, Crimean Tatars (a Turkic group of Sunni Muslims) were forced to leave their homes and relocate to the predominantly Christian Western Ukraine. The mayor of Lviv was the first to invite the Tatars to his city; local families hosted refugees and provided the Crimeans with food and clothing. Despite pervasive prejudice throughout the country, the Tatars have been able to build community and integrate peacefully.

Anastasia Vlasova is a Ukrainian photojournalist based in Kiev, Ukraine. She is a staff photographer at the Kyiv Post and a stringer for the European Pressphoto Agency in Kiev. She has covered the Ukraine EuroMaidan revolution, Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula, and the crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 near Donetsk, Ukraine. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev. Her work has been published in The New York Times Lens Blog, TIME LightBox, The Guardian, NBC, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, among other media outlets.