A new photo exhibition of wartime life in Ukraine shows the work of Warren Buffett’s son, Howard

The Ukrainian National Museum in Chicago is showcasing more than 40 war images by American philanthropist, businessman, farmer, former politician and photographer Howard G. Buffett.

Meant to shed light on the war and death affecting Ukrainians as a result of the three-year Russia-Ukraine War, Buffett’s gallery “Courage of a Nation” debuted in the U.S. on Wednesday.

The photo exhibition at the Chicago museum, 2249 W. Superior St., features photographs taken by Buffett himself in Ukraine during his trips to the country between April 2022 and January 2025.

He started documenting the war after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops to invade Ukraine in February 2022.

Buffett, the middle son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, first visited Ukraine in 1991. Since then, he’s visited the country more than 20 times. He’s also provided aid to war-torn communities across Ukraine through his organization, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which aims to improve the quality of life for the world’s most marginalized populations.

Previously, Buffett’s photography was on display at a museum in Ukraine. They’re also a part of a mobile exhibition with Ukrainian Railways, so that Ukrainians in even the most remote parts of the country will be able to see the photos.

Buffett worked with world-renowned photographer, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and National Geographic explorer Muhammed Muheisen to put together the gallery, which includes two models built and designed by artist Thomas Doyle.

One miniature depicts Saint Michael’s Square in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. The other is of an apartment building in the town of Borodyanka. They were both created using Buffett’s photography as a reference.

While Buffett wasn’t in attendance for the U.S. opening of his exhibition, Muheisen spoke on his behalf during a press conference for media and community members on Wednesday.

“I’m a friend of Howard’s,” Muheisen said. “His heart is in Ukraine. In April 2022, Howard traveled to Ukraine to document the Russian full-scale invasion.”

Also in attendance were Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), whose ward includes the Ukrainian National Museum. Aistė Jakštienė, from the Consulate General of Lithuania in Chicago, and Koledov Serhiy, from the Consulate General of Ukraine in Chicago, attended the gallery’s opening, too.

“[Buffett] made it his mission to keep documenting the horror happening in Ukraine,” Muheisen said. The two decided to join forces after the death of mutual friend and Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus, he told the Sun-Times. Niedringhaus was killed in 2014 while reporting in Afghanistan.

“I always say this could be you,” he added. “Imagine you are that mother who is carrying her child and making her way across a railway in Europe just to find a safe home. Nobody leaves their home unless they are forced to.”

One image shows a young girl peering through a hole created by a Russian missile in the wall of her school in Irpin, Ukraine. Her eyes are locked on Buffett’s lens.

Another image features an elderly woman from the small village of Zolota Nyva, who burst into tears at the sight of humanitarian aid after many months without any.

There are scenes from the frontlines of the war, too: Ukrainian tanks and members of the military, civilians sustaining injuries from bomb fragments and even the prosthetic leg of a young woman, Ruslana Danilkina, who joined the Ukrainian military as a volunteer at 18.

The images are also in a book, available for purchase online, titled “Courage of a Nation: Three Years at War.” Muheisen said 2,000 copies of the book were sent to U.S. politicians and “decision-makers” to try to sway their stances on the war.

Buffett’s photo exhibition will move to a space in downtown Chicago after its time at the Ukrainian National Museum and will remain there for at least 10 months, Muheisen said.

Muheisen and Buffett sought out the Chicago museum for the U.S. premiere of the photo exhibition, said Zachary Dmyterko, the executive director of the museum.

“We’re trying to raise awareness, not only of the war, but of the cultural impacts of the refugees, of the art and culture that’s been preserved here in Chicago,” Dmyterko told the Sun-Times.

Just one day before the exhibition at the Ukrainian National Museum opened to the public, city and state officials gave the Ukrainian Village neighborhood a Cultural District designation — one of six in Chicago.

Chicago is home to one of the largest Ukrainian populations outside of Kyiv — with approximately 100,000 residents— outside of the capital.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Chicago has welcomed more than 30,000 Ukrainian refugees.