Photos of intensifying Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities
On the morning of February 24, Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation,” saying its purpose was the liberation of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics and the “de-Nazification” and “demilitarization” of Ukraine. Russia then sent its troops into Ukraine. Fighting in the vicinity of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol, and other cities has continued for several days. People are hiding in shelters, subway stations, and underground parking garages. Others are fleeing to neighboring countries — the United Nations says more than 1 million refugees have now left Ukraine. These photos were taken during the seventh day of the war.
Warning: Some images below contain scenes of cruelty, violence, and death that may be unsuitable for children.
Aris Messinis / AFP / Scanpix / LETA Police cover the bodies of people who died the previous day in an airstrike on the main Kyiv television broadcast towerAris Messinis / AFP / Scanpix / LETA A street in Kyiv after artillery shellingZurab Kurtsikidze / EPA / Scanpix / LETA Anti-tank barricades in central KyivPavel Dorogoy Bombing in KharkivPavel Dorogoy Firefighters on the streets of KharkivAlexander Ermochenko / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA Windows taped in case of shelling, in separatist-controlled Horlivka in eastern UkraineVadim Ghirda / AP / Scanpix / LETA An overcrowded basement bomb shelter in the Kyiv regionVadim Ghirda / AP / Scanpix / LETA Andrei Goncharuk, a 68-year-old territorial defender, in the back yard of a bombed house in Gorenka, near Kyiv Aris Messinis / STF / AFP / Scanpix / LETA The Kyiv metroSergey Dolzhenko / EPA / Scanpix / LETA Children play in a subway station in Kyiv while an air-raid siren soundsGleb Garanich / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA People in Kyiv wait to board an evacuation train to LvivNikolay Doychinov / AFP / Scanpix / LETA A girl inside a bus that has crossed the checkpoint on the Moldovan-Ukrainian border. The bus is carrying refugees to ChisinauPavel Dorogoy A dormitory in Kharkiv after shellingEvgeniy Maloletka / AP / Scanpix / LETA The body of a victim of shelling in a residential area of Mariupol lies in the corridor of a maternity hospital that has been converted into a treatment ward.
