A photographer has spent 9 months taking photos of athletes training in Ukraine's decimated boxing rings and bombed-out sports halls. Take a look.

Synelnykov's photos are bright and striking, full of bodies in action and primary colors.

His earlier work featured athletes in action at sports events, like a trio of young gymnasts in purple suits balancing on each other, a pair of para athletes playing basketball, and a cyclist zipping through a blurred background.

Now, as highlighted in a Ukraine war sports series, his photos have a new backdrop: the ruins of war.

His photos shows fencers training in rooms strewn with rubble, Judo athletes sparring in decimated sports halls, a childrens' football team training in a destroyed stadium.

Synelnykov, 41, told Insider that he wants his work to "show the world the monstrous crimes against civilians, athletes, and sports facilities inflicted by the Russian army during the war."

"It was only on my birthday in June that I managed to get to the locations for the first time," he told Insider. "It was such a gift to myself — to go and start filming this project."

Shooting in locations across Irpin and Chernikov, Synelnykov captured photos of athletes training in spaces that have been damaged — or in some cases, decimated — by Russian forces.

"Russian propaganda spends billions of dollars to create myths and cover up war crimes that are happening in Ukraine," Synelnykov said.

He hopes his work will help uncover the truth of what is going on in Ukraine, for people outside of the country.

He anticipates that he will get questions and accusations from Russia claiming that his photos are fake and photoshopped, and he has a handy solution for it.

"And so every time, I shoot a video of the backstage of training and just the destroyed buildings themselves," he said. He posts these on his Instagram.

Zelenskyy's Facebook post on January 28 featured five of Synelnykov's pictures, including the one above, which shows two boxers sparring in a boxing hall in Chernihiv. One of the walls of the hall has a gaping hole in it, after being hit by a missile.

The president's post criticized the Olympic Committee for allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in 2024 as neutrals, saying Olympic principles and war "fundamentally oppose each other."

To date, the post has gotten 25,000 likes and has been shared over 3,000 times.

Ukraine's sports minister Vadim Gutzeit reposted Zelenskyy's post, adding: "320 sports facilities have already been affected by the war in our state. Questions to the world: Are these equal conditions for fair fight at international competitions?"

The sports minister's post was in response to the International Olympic Committee's statement on January 25, which said that "no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport."

The photo series, taken mostly at eye level, puts the athletes in the center of the pictures and frames them with their damaged surroundings.

In some cases, he said he has waited near damaged sports facilities for athletes to show up and train.

In other cases, he's had to get permission to enter particularly damaged facilities, intentionally coordinating photoshoots with athletes who used to train there.

He has thus far spent nine months on the series, which consists of over 40 pictures that can be found on his Instagram and Facebook accounts. His work has been exhibited internationally in countries like Poland, Portugal, Denmark, and Mexico.

At least 7,155 civilians have died in the war as of February 5, said the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, or OHCHR. At least 438 of those are children.

Ukraine's minister of youth and sports, Vadym Gutzait, wrote in a Facebook post that as of August, 133 athletes and coaches had died in the war.

"Russia invaded Ukraine and took their lives. 133 athletes and coaches were killed on the battlefield and from enemy shells. We will never forget you and never forgive the enemy. We choose victories for the memory of our Angels," said Gutzait's post, translated from Ukrainian.