In war-torn areas of Ukraine, residents fled on footpaths and grief-stricken parents mourned dead children as Russian troops continued to shell encircled cities.
A promised cease-fire in the port city of Mariupol collapsed on Saturday amid scenes of terror in the besieged town, while in the outskirts of Kyiv, a stream of residents with pets and children crossed the Irpin River on an improvised path under a bridge destroyed by a Russian airstrike.
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In comments carried on Ukrainian television, Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko said thousands of residents had gathered for safe passage out of the city when shelling began that morning.
Ten days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 1.45 million people have fled the battered country, according to the UN-affiliated Organisation for Migration in Geneva.
The death toll of the conflict was difficult to measure but likely had surpassed 1,000.
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People lie on the floor of a hospital during shelling by Russian forces in Mariupol (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)
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Ukrainians crowd under a destroyed bridge as they try to flee across the Irpin River in the outskirts of Kyiv (Emilio Morenatti/AP)
The children of medical workers warm themselves in a blanket as they wait for their relatives in a hospital in Mariupol (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)
A Ukrainian soldier and a militia man help a fleeing family crossing the Irpin River in the outskirts of Kyiv (Emilio Morenatti/AP)
Smoke rises after shelling by Russian forces in Mariupol (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)
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Ukrainian servicemen carry a baby stroller (Vadim Ghirda/AP)
People cross on an improvised path under a bridge that was destroyed by a Russian airstrike (Vadim Ghirda/AP)
A woman traveling with others fleeing Ukraine, looks out of the window of a bus near the border crossing in Korczowa, Poland (Visar Kryeziu/AP)
Ukrainian citizens flee crossing the Irpin river in the outskirts of Kyiv (Emilio Morenatti/AP)
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Marina Yatsko, left, and her boyfriend Fedor mourn over her 18-month-old son Kirill’s lifeless body, killed in shelling, as he lie on a stretcher in a hospital in Mariupol (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)
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A woman holds a dog while crossing the Irpin River (Vadim Ghirda/AP)
Glass on a hospital window is shattered by shelling in Mariupol (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)
A woman weeps after finding a friend, who also fled Ukraine, at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland (Markus Schreiber/AP)
