A giant fireball exploding from the side of an apartment building in the hard-hit port of Mariupol was just one of the many disturbing signs of ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine on Friday.
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_71509 An explosion is seen in an apartment building after Russian's army tank fires in Mariupol, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_76117 Mariana Vishegirskaya lies in a hospital bed after giving birth to her daughter Veronika, in Mariupol, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022. Vishegirskaya survived the Russian airstrike on a children's and maternity hospital in Mariupol last Wednesday. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_01417 An elderly resident hides in a basement for shelter with no electricity, water or food in the center of the town of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_70643 A woman who was evacuated from Irpin cries kissing a cat wrapped in a blanket at a triage point in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_30571 A Ukrainian woman stands as other refugees arrive from Lviv to Przemysl train station, southeastern Poland, on Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
AP Photo/Daniel Cole
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_23332 A local citizen rests in a basement for shelter in the center of the town of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_04815 A Ukrainian soldier rests in a basement for shelter in the center of the town of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_61003 Volunteers pass an improvised path under a destroyed bridge as they evacuate an elderly resident in Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_68328 Refugee children look out from a bus leaving to Romania after fleeing the war from neighboring Ukraine, at the border crossing in Palanca, Moldova, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
AP Photo/Sergei Grits
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_06547 Volunteers pass an improvised path under a destroyed bridge as they evacuate an elderly resident in Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_66634 Ukrainian servicemen gesture during a training session outside Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Marienko)
AP Photo/Andrew Marienko
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_65321 A Ukrainian sitting man in a wheel chair, waits with other refugees at Przemysl train station, southeastern Poland, on Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
AP Photo/Daniel Cole
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_90965 Galina helps clean the house of a neighbor that was damaged by a Russian bombing in Baryshivka, east of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
AP Photo/Felipe Dana
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_13322 Ukrainian refugee Elena, left, hugs her five-year old granddaughter Christina, as they wait the train to Warsaw, at the Przemysl train station, southeastern Poland, on Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_24193 A volunteer of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces walks on the debris of a car wash destroyed by a Russian bombing in Baryshivka, east of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
AP Photo/Felipe Dana
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_51875 Ukrainians soldiers pass an improvised path under a destroyed bridge as they evacuate an elderly resident in Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
Russia_Ukraine_War_Day_In_Photos_26834 Antonina, 84, sits in a wheelchair after being evacuated along with her twelve dogs from Irpin, at a triage point in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
A giant fireball exploding from the side of an apartment building in the hard-hit port of Mariupol was just one of the many disturbing signs of ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine on Friday.
The unceasing violence in cities throughout Ukraine prompted yet more residents to join the 2.5 million who are estimated to already have left the country. In the besieged town of Irpin, a suburb of the capital of Kyiv, two men held tight to the arms of an elderly woman fleeing her home Friday. Wearing a white headscarf with orange and yellow flowers and a flowered blue skirt that was visible under her brown winter coat, she edged forward slowly past an overturned car and destroyed bridge, wielding a cane in her right hand.
Some Ukrainians have either decided to stay put or haven’t yet been able to leave. One such elderly woman took shelter in a basement of a home in Irpin that had no heat or running water. She sat on the edge of a bed bundled in a big winter coat and stared out forlornly through the opening of a large gray, woolen scarf wrapped around her head.
In another basement-turned shelter, a man wearing a blue down coat and winter wool hat bided his time on his cellphone as he lay on a bench next to a table covered with first-aid medicines, tissues and empty paper cups.
Amid the scenes of death and devastation there were hopeful signs of life. A young pregnant woman captured by Associated Press photographers fleeing down a stairwell of a damaged maternity hospital Wednesday gave birth to her baby. On Friday, she lay on a hospital gurney dressed in polka-dotted pajamas with the newborn cradled in the crook of her arm.
Those who fled their hometowns had to leave most of their belongings behind, but many refused to abandon their pets. A young woman fleeing her home in Irpin cried on Friday as she kissed the head of a cat she had wrapped in a blanket. Meanwhile, 84-year-old Irpin resident Antonina could be seen holding tight to the leashes of her 12 dogs after being evacuated from her home in a wheelchair.
In two poignant images, AP photographers captured innocent children as they accompanied their frightened relatives on journeys to safety. In one, a toddler with pigtails, a pink winter coat and matching pacifier places her hands on the window and peers out from the bus taking her family to neighboring Romania. In another, 5-year-old Ukrainian refugee Christina, dressed in a cheery purple winter coat, hugs her grandmother Elena as they wait with others for a train that will take them from one area of Poland to another.
