MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian airstrike devastated a maternity hospital Wednesday in the besieged port city of Mariupol amid growing warnings from the West that Moscow’s invasion is about to take a more brutal and indiscriminate turn. Ukrainian officials said the attack wounded at least 17 people.
The ground shook more than a mile away when the Mariupol complex was hit by a series of blasts that blew out windows and ripped away much of the front of one building. Police and soldiers rushed to the scene to evacuate victims, carrying out a heavily pregnant and bleeding woman on a stretcher as light snow fell on burning and mangled cars and trees shattered by the blast.
Another woman wailed as she clutched her child. In the courtyard, a blast crater extended at least two stories deep.
“Today Russia committed a huge crime,” said Volodymir Nikulin, a top regional police official, standing in the ruins. “It is a war crime without any justification.”
In Zhytomyr, a city of 260,000 to the west of Kyiv, bombs fell on two hospitals, one of them a children’s hospital, Mayor Serhii Sukhomlyn said on Facebook. No one was wounded, he said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Mariupol strike trapped children and others under the rubble.
“A children’s hospital. A maternity hospital. How did they threaten the Russian Federation?” Zelenskyy asked in his nightly video address, switching to Russian to express his horror at the airstrike. “What kind of country is this, the Russian Federation, which is afraid of hospitals, afraid of maternity hospitals, and destroys them?”
He urged the West to impose even tougher sanctions, so Russia “no longer has any possibility to continue this genocide.”
Video shared by Zelenskyy showed cheerfully painted hallways strewn with twisted metal.
“There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenseless,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be held “to account for his terrible crimes.”
The World Health Organization said it has confirmed 18 attacks on health facilities and ambulances since the fighting began, killing 10 people. It was not clear if that number included the assault on the maternity hospital.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken condemned Russia’s “unconscionable attacks” in a call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, the State Department said.
Two weeks into Russia’s assault on Ukraine, its military is struggling more than expected, but Putin’s invading force of more than 150,000 troops retains possibly insurmountable advantages in firepower as it bears down on key cities.
Despite often heavy shelling on populated areas, American military officials reported little change on the ground over the past 24 hours, other than Russian progress on the cities of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to assess the larger military situation.
Authorities announced new cease-fires to allow thousands of civilians to escape bombarded towns. Zelenskyy said three humanitarian corridors operated on Wednesday, from Sumy in the northeast near the Russian border, from suburbs of Kyiv and from Enerhodar, the southern town where Russian forces took over a large nuclear plant.
In all, he said, about 35,000 people got out. More evacuations were planned for Thursday.
People streamed out of Kyiv’s suburbs, many headed for the city center, as explosions were heard in the capital and air raid sirens sounded repeatedly. From there, the evacuees planned to board trains bound for western Ukrainian regions not under attack.
Civilians leaving the Kyiv suburb of Irpin were forced to make their way across the slippery wooden planks of a makeshift bridge, because the Ukrainians blew up the concrete span leading to Kyiv days ago to slow the Russian advance.
With sporadic gunfire echoing behind them, firefighters dragged an elderly man to safety in a wheelbarrow, a child gripped the hand of a helping soldier, and a woman inched her way along, cradling a fluffy cat inside her winter coat. They trudged past a crashed van with the words “Our Ukraine” written in the dust coating its windows.
“We have a short window of time at the moment,’’ said Yevhen Nyshchuk, a member of Ukraine’s territorial defense forces. “Even if there is a cease-fire right now, there is a high risk of shells falling at any moment.”
Previous attempts to establish safe evacuation corridors over the past few days largely failed because of what the Ukrainians said were Russian attacks. But Putin, in a telephone call with Germany’s chancellor, accused militant Ukrainian nationalists of hampering the evacuations.
In Mariupol, a strategic city of 430,000 people on the Sea of Azov, local authorities hurried to bury the dead from the past two weeks of fighting in a mass grave. City workers dug a trench some 25 meters (yards) long at one of the city’s old cemeteries and made the sign of the cross as they pushed bodies wrapped in carpets or bags over the edge.
About 1,200 people have died in the nine-day siege of the city, Zelenskyy’s office said.
Nationwide, thousands are thought to have been killed, both civilians and soldiers, since Putin’s forces invaded. The U.N. estimates more than 2 million people have fled the country, the biggest exodus of refugees in Europe since the end of World War II.
The fighting knocked out power to the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant, raising fears about the spent radioactive fuel that is stored at the site and must be kept cool. But the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said it saw “no critical impact on safety” from the loss of power.
The crisis is likely to get worse as Moscow’s forces step up their bombardment of cities in response to what appear to be stronger Ukrainian resistance and heavier Russian losses than anticipated.
Echoing remarks from the director of the CIA a day earlier, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Russia’s assault will get “more brutal and more indiscriminate” as Putin tries to regain momentum.
The Biden administration warned that Russia might seek to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, rejecting Russian claims of illegal chemical weapons development in the country it has invaded.
Melania rests as she works clearing the rubble of a temple that was destroyed during attacks in Gorenka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, June 6, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) A man stands looking at a building destroyed during attacks, in Borodyanka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, June 4, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) A man walks next to heavily damaged buildings and destroyed cars following Russian attacks in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. The region, along with neighbouring Luhansk, is part of the Donbas, where Russian forces have focused their offensive.(Source: AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Ukrainian servicemen sit in a bus after they were evacuated from the besieged Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant, near a prison in Olyonivka, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said.(Source: AP Photo) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a video address marking the day of the Allied victory in Europe 77 years ago. The black-and-white footage showed him in front of a ruined apartment block in Borodyanka, a Kyiv suburb.(Source: Facebook/Volodymyr Zelenskyy via CNN) People walk in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, May 4, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov) Anna Shevchenko, 35, reacts next to her home in Irpin, near Kyiv, Tuesday, May 3, 2022. The house, built by Shevchenko's grandparents, was nearly completely destroyed by bombing in late March during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In her beloved flowerbed, some roses, lilies, peonies and daffodils survived. "It is new life. So I tried to save my flowers," she said.(Source: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Video posted online Sunday by Ukrainian forces showed elderly women and mothers with small children climbing over a steep pile of rubble from the sprawling Azovstal steel plant and eventually boarding a bus.(Source: Azov Regiment via CNN) Ukrainian officials have said that up to 1,000 civilians are living with soldiers beneath a sprawling steel plant that is Mariupol's last defensive holdout.(Source: Azov Regiment via CNN) Tetyana Boikiv, 52, center, walks with family members and neighbours during a funeral service for her husband, Mykola Moroz, 47, at the Ozera village, near Bucha, Ukraine on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. Mykola was captured by Russian army from his house in the Ozera village on March 13, taken for several weeks in an unknown location and finally found killed with gunshots about 15 kilometres from his house.(Source: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) There is not much left of Novotoshkivka, a small village in eastern Ukraine, new drone video published by the Russian-backed separatist government Luhansk People's Republic shows.(Source: Luhansk People's Republic via CNN) A number of homes have been destroyed in Moschun, Ukraine, a small village to the north of Kyiv and near the Hostomel Air Base, new drone video taken on Friday and obtained by CNN shows.(Source: Ihor Zakharenko via CNN) A firefighter sits on a swing next to a building destroyed by a Russian bomb in Chernihiv on Friday, April 22, 2022.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Alla Prohonenko, 53, touches a photo of her father Volodymyr Prohonenko during his funeral in Irpin, cemetery on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Thursday, April 21, 2022. Proponenko died during the Russian occupation.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Trenches and firing positions sit in the highly radioactive soil adjacent to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near Chernobyl, Ukraine, Saturday, April 16, 2022. Thousands of tanks and troops rumbled into the forested exclusion zone around the shuttered plant in the earliest hours of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, churning up highly contaminated soil from the site of the 1986 accident that was the world's worst nuclear disaster.(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) Local civilians walk past a tank destroyed during heavy fighting in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 19, 2022. Taking Mariupol would deprive Ukraine of a vital port and complete a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, seized from Ukraine from 2014.(Source: AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov) Yehor, 7, stands holding a wooden toy rifle next to destroyed Russian military vehicles near Chernihiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 17, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Dozens of bodies have been recovered in Borodianka, Ukraine, after apartment complexes and other buildings were destroyed by Russian shelling.(Source: CNN) People settle in a basement of an apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 10, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Andrew Marienko) Ukrainian servicemen attend a training session on the Kharkiv outskirts, Ukraine, Thursday, April 7, 2022.(AP) A still from a video shared by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shows a missile on the ground after a strike of a crowded train station in Kramatorsk that killed at least 50 people April 8, 2022. It has "For the children" written on it in Russian.(Zelenskyy official/Telegram via CNN Newsource) In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, walks before a meeting with President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 1, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)(Associated Press) A Ukrainian serviceman walks by an Antonov An-225 Mriya aircraft destroyed during fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces on the Antonov airport in Hostomel, Ukraine, Saturday, April 2, 2022. At the entrance to Antonov Airport in Hostomel Ukrainian troops manned their positions, a sign they are in full control of the runway that Russia tried to storm in the first days of the war.(AP PHOTO/Vadim Ghirda) A resident looks for belongings in an apartment building destroyed during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in Borodyanka, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 5, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, said that the cities northwest of the capital, such as Borodyanka, were being targeted after Ukrainian fighters moved back Russian troops.(Source: CNN) Tanya Nedashkivs'ka, 57, mourns the death of her husband, killed in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 4, 2022. Russia is facing a fresh wave of condemnation after evidence emerged of what appeared to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine.(Source: AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) A woman walks amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 3, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) Ukrainian soldiers walk next to destroyed Russians armored vehicles in Bucha, Ukraine, Saturday, April 2, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) Ukrainian soldiers carry a body of a civilian killed by the Russian forces over the destroyed bridge in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country.(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) The regional government headquarters of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, following a Russian attack, on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says seven people were killed in a missile strike on the regional government headquarters in the southern city of Mykolayiv.(Source: AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) A soldier stands on a bridge destroyed by the Ukrainian army to prevent the passage of Russian tanks near Brovary, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 28, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) A man holds fragments of a rocket launched by the Russian forces at night, a rocket crater behind him, in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) A graffiti artist known as Mr. Dheo painted a large mural called "The Freedom Fighter" honoring the people of Ukraine in Matosinhos, Portugal.(Source: CNN Portugal) An attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, claimed about 300 lives. Ukraine said they destroyed a large Russian warship at the Berdyansk port. Ukrainian cellist Denys Karachevtsev played among the debris and rubble in the city of Kharkiv. He hopes to raise money to help restore the city through music.(Source: Oleksandr Osipov via CNN) A mural protesting the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been painted on a wall in Prague, Czech Republic.(Source: CNN Prima) A woman measures a window before covering it with plastic sheets in a building damaged by a bombing the previous day in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) The aftermath of bombing is seen at a mall parking lot in Kyiv on March 21.(Source: CNN) Effects of Russian shelling on residences in Kyiv seen on March 21.(Source: STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE/CNN) Ukrainian forces are using every available weapon to strike back against Russian attacks. People gather in a basement, used as a bomb shelter, during an air raid in Lviv, Western Ukraine, Saturday, March 19, 2022. Lviv has been a refuge since the war began nearly a month ago, the last outpost before Poland and host to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians streaming through or staying on.(Source: AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) In Lviv, a strollers memorial took shape Friday to pay tribute to the children killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Each stroller represents a young life lost.(Source: Twitter @scottmclean/CNN) Smoke is seen in the sky in Lviv, Ukraine, Friday after a Russian missile strike.(Source: CNN) An American citizen has been killed by a Russian artillery attack on civilians in Ukraine. A theater and swimming facility in Mariupol where hundreds of people were taking refuge was bombed in Russian airstrikes. A volunteer of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces assists a woman to cross the street in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 16, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Andrew Marienko) More Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, saw shells hit several residential buildings March 15. At least two high-rise buildings in the capital's Svyatoshyn district were heavily damaged and set ablaze, according to journalists with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.(Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty via CNN) A local resident searches for his belongings in an apartment building after it was hit by artillery shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 14, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy places his hand on his chest as he listens to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau deliver opening remarks before addressing the Canadian parliament, Tuesday, March 15, 2022, in Ottawa.(Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP) Western Mariupol, Ukraine, is in shambles after sustained Russian strikes, with many buildings, including an apartment complex, destroyed and a number of thick plumes of smoke rising in the distance.(Source: Azov Battalion via CNN) The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko visited the site of an airstrike in a suburb of the city on Monday, March 14.(Source: @Klitschko/Twitter via CNN) A man walks past a shelter covering the exploded reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, Thursday, April 15, 2021. When fighting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine resulted in power cuts to the critical cooling system at the closed Chernobyl nuclear power plant, some feared that spent nuclear fuel would overheat. But nuclear experts say there’s no imminent danger because time and physics are on safety's side.(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) A Ukrainian serviceman guards his position in Mariupol, Ukraine, Saturday, March 12, 2022. Ukrainian military says Russian forces have captured the eastern outskirts of the besieged city of Mariupol. In a Facebook update Saturday, the military said the capture of Mariupol and Severodonetsk in the east were a priority for Russian forces. Mariupol has been under siege for over a week, with no electricity, gas or water.(Source: AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov) Ukrainian emergency employees and volunteers carry an injured pregnant woman from a maternity hospital that was damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022. The woman and her baby died after Russia bombed the maternity hospital where she was meant to give birth.(Source: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File) Thousands of civilians flee the city Irpin in Ukraine. Around 2.7 million people have fled the country since the fighting began, the United Nations says.(Source: CNN TURK) Police say journalist Brent Renaud was killed after Russian troops opened fire on his car in Ukraine. The 50-year-old Little Rock, Arkansas, native was gathering material for a report about refugees when his vehicle was hit at a checkpoint in Irpin, just outside the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.(Todd Williamson/Invision/AP) A woman carries her cat near a destroyed bridge as she flees from her hometown on the road towards Kyiv, in the town of Irpin, some 25 km (16 miles) northwest of Kyiv, Saturday, March 12, 2022. Kyiv northwest suburbs such as Irpin and Bucha have been enduring Russian shellfire and bombardments for over a week prompting residents to leave their home.(Source: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) An explosion is seen in an apartment building after a Russian army tank fires in Mariupol, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A Russian attack happened in Dnipro, Ukraine, a long way from the nearest Russian ground troops. Ukrainian troops continue to fight against Russian troops as they inch
closer to the capital of Kyiv. This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows a closeup view of fires in an industrial area and nearby fields in southern Chernihiv, Ukraine, during the Russian invasion, Thursday, March 10, 2022.(Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP) A Ukrainian serviceman takes a photograph of a damaged church after shelling in a residential district in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 10, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File) Dead bodies are placed into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 as people cannot bury their dead because of the heavy shelling by Russian forces.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Major General Borys Kremenetskyi, Defense Attache with the Embassy of Ukraine, listens to Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova as she speaks during a news conference at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, on Feb. 24, 2022. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given the smaller nation’s embassy in Washington an unexpected role: recruitment center for Americans who want to join the fight. Diplomats working out of the embassy, in a townhouse in the Georgetown section of the city, are fielding thousands of offers from volunteers seeking to fight for Ukraine.(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) A woman holds a dog while crossing the Irpin River on an improvised path under a bridge as people flee the town of Irpin, Ukraine, Saturday, March 5, 2022.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) A Ukrainian girl pets her cat in her coat inside Lviv railway station, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, in Lviv, west Ukraine.(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) A woman walks outside a maternity hospital that was damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) An injured pregnant woman walks downstairs in the damaged by shelling maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. A Russian attack has severely damaged a maternity hospital in the besieged port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials say.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) The death toll from an overnight Russian airstrike in Sumy, Ukraine, has risen to 21 civilians, local authorities say. The western Ukrainian city of Lviv is struggling to cope with the influx of new residents fleeing from Russian shelling. Many people have become trapped inside Ukrainian cities bombarded and encircled by Russian forces.(Source: CNN) People help an elderly woman to walk in a street with an apartment building hit by shelling in the background in Mariupol, Ukraine, Monday, March 7, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls on world leaders for help. (UKRAINE'S PRESIDENCY) Thousands are fleeing for safety every day as Russian forces ramp up their attacks on innocent civilians in Ukraine. (CNN) In this image provided by the White House, President Joe Biden listens during a secure video call with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the Situation Room at the White House Monday, March 7, 2022, in Washington.(Adam Schultz | Adam Schultz/The White House via AP) For days, attempts to create corridors to safely evacuate civilians have stumbled amid continuing fighting and objections to the proposed routes.(Source: CNN) About 100 volunteers work around the clock preparing supplies, making camouflage for Ukraine's defenders. The U.S. weighs options to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine. (CNN, POOL, Ukraine Gov, Russia 24, Twitter/@fbkinfo, FB/Ukraine Presidency, Kyiv police) Ukrainian refugees flee to borders as the war between Russia and Ukraine intensify. A Ukrainian volunteer Oleksandr Osetynskyi, 44, holds a Ukrainian flag and directs refugees after fleeing from Ukraine and arriving at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, Monday, March 7, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu) People near the nuclear power facility in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, evacuate. Western officials expect Russia will increase its strikes, putting the lives of more civilians at risk. Photos from Ukraine emergency officials show the aftermath of Russian shelling on March 7 in a residential area in Mykolaiv, Ukraine.(Source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine via CNN) Loved ones say several people, including children, died in a suspected Russian airstrike March 4 on the Ukrainian village of Markhalivka.(Source: Expressen via CNN) An elderly lady is assisted while crossing the Irpin river, under a bridge that was destroyed by a Russian airstrike, as civilians flee the town of Irpin, Ukraine, Saturday, March 5, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Aerial video of the main street of Borodyanka, Ukraine, which came under Russian shelling. Odessa residents fill up sandbags to prepare for a potential invasion by sea. Volunteers work to reopen an Soviet-era bunker in Lviv, Ukraine. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO will not be moving into Ukraine amid the war there.(Source: CNN) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of the dangers of war near nuclear plants. Flares light up Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant amid a Russian attack. Even though the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is of a different design than Chernobyl and is protected from fire, nuclear safety experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency warn that waging war in and around such facilities presents extreme risks.(Source: CNN) As Russia continues to invade Ukraine, Biden is pondering on tougher sanctions. Russian President Vladimir Putin says the Russian military has offered safe corridors to civilians to allow them to leave areas of fighting in Ukraine. Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron that he was determined to press on with his attack 'until the end,' according to Macron's office.(Source: Russia 24/CNN) Negotiators for Ukraine, left, and Russia, right, meet in Belarus on Thursday.(Source: UKRAINE'S PRESIDENCY/CNN) On Tuesday, Russian bombing of Kyiv's TV tower also damaged the Holocaust memorial at the Babi Yar, where more than 30,000 people were murdered in 1941. Satellite images show damage from Russian airstrikes in Ukraine on Feb. 28.(Source: Maxar Technologies/CNN) Children Vlada, left, Katrin and Danilo look out from a window of an unheated train carriage of an emergency evacuation train which is travelling from Kharkov to Lviv, as it stopped in the Kyiv railway station in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 3, 2022.(AP Photo/Andriy Dubchak) A woman runs as she flees with her family across a destroyed bridge in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2. 2022.(Emilio Morenatti | AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Andrey Goncharuk, 68, a member of territorial defense wipes his face in the backyard of a house that was damaged by a Russian airstrike, according to locals, in Gorenka, outside the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022.(VADIM GHIRDA | AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) People gather in the Kyiv subway, using it as a bomb shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022.(Efrem Lukatsky | AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) Residents of Lviv are making spike strips, flak jackets and camouflage. Crowds gather at a train station in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Thursday as the Russian attack continues.(Source: John Kluver/CNN) The Russian invaders are shelling homes, hospitals and schools in Ukraine. A Russian shell hits a large oil depot in Chernhiv, north of Kyiv, on Thursday. Since the conflict began, Ukraine is asking for all the help it can get.
Many countries, including the U.S. have responded by sending weapons. Some of those weapons are made in Alabama.(DVIDS) FILE - The Monastery of the Caves, also known as Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, one of the holiest sites of Eastern Orthodox Christians, is seen in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007. As the capital braces for a Russian attack in 2022, the spiritual heart of Ukraine could be at risk.(EFREM LUKATSKY | AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) The regional police department and Kharkiv National University have been targeted in a military strike Wednesday morning, according to Ukraine. Some are fleeing as Russian troops are advancing toward the strategically significant city of Odessa in southern Ukraine on Wednesday. People from other nationalities trying to leave Ukraine are having a hard time on the border with Poland. They say they aren't being allowed to cross. People look at the gutted remains of Russian military vehicles on a road in the town of Bucha, close to the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Russia on Tuesday stepped up shelling of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, pounding civilian targets there. Casualties mounted and reports emerged that more than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed after Russian artillery recently hit a military base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv, the capital.(AP Photo/Serhii Nuzhnenko) Ukraine's capital of Kyiv prepares to defend itself from the Russian attack. (CNN, EBS, INSTAGRAM, LIANA KOPERNAK, TELEGRAM, MAXAR, UNTV) The TV tower strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, killed five, according to a report. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is urging a ceasefire to show Russia's seriousness in negotiations. (Source: CNN) An Uragan multiple rocket launcher is being moved south of Belgorod, Russia, near the border with Ukraine, on Tuesday.(Source: CNN) The destruction in Kharkiv is seen after Tuesday's bombing. Six people were injured after the bombing of Kharkiv on Tuesday. People sleep in the improvised bomb shelter in a sports center, which can accommodate up to 2000 people, in Mariupol, Ukraine, late Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Medics perform CPR on a girl at the city hospital of Mariupol, who was injured during shelling in a residential area in eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. The girl did not survive.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Passengers wait for a train to Poland, inside Lviv railway station, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022, in Lviv, west Ukraine. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(Bernat Armangue | AP) A number of governors across the nation have instructed state-run liquor stores to stop selling vodka and other alcoholic beverages that are made in Russia.(WAFB) An explosion massively damaged Kharkiv's city center on Tuesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack on Kharkiv's main square 'frank, undisguised terror,' blaming a Russian missile and calling it a war crime.(Source: STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE/CNN) Ecuadorian citizens who left Ukraine take shelter in Prznemyl, Poland.(Source: CNN) Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is applying for his country to join the European Union.(Source: Ukraine's Presidency/CNN) People gathered in Madrid on Sunday to protest the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.(Source: CNN Madrid) Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, is bracing for the worst as the Russian invasion continues. (Source: CNN) Ukrainian refugees arrive in Poland, where volunteers offer food, rides and shelter. Since Russia launched its offensive on Ukraine, more than 368,000 people, mostly women and children, have been forced to flee, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency.(Source: TVN Poland via CNN) The Ukrainian Cultural Center held a demonstration on Sunday supporting the families and soldiers dealing with the Russian invasion.(Arizona's Family) Since Russia launched its offensive on Ukraine, more than 368,000 people, mostly women and children, have been forced to flee the country to bordering nations like Poland, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency.(Source: CNN) The Empire State Building in New York City was lit up in the Ukrainian flag colors of blue and yellow on Feb. 25.(Source: Twitter/@nycgov via CNN) An employee from the Emergency Situation Inspectorate soothes the crying baby of a family fleeing the conflict from neighbouring Ukraine at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. Romania, which shares around 600 kilometres (372 miles) of borders with Ukraine to the north, is seeing an influx of refugees from the country as many flee Russia's attacks.(AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru) Russian armored convoys are seen moving toward Karkiv, Ukraine. (CNN) Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: "This is our land, our country, our children, and we will defend all of this." (TWITTER/@ZELENSKYYUA) In this handout photo taken from video released by Ukrainian Police Department Press Service released on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, firefighters hose down burning burning debris in front of a damaged building following a rocket attack on the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. Russia is pressing its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital. That comes a day after it unleashed airstrikes on cities and military bases and sent in troops and tanks from three sides.(Ukrainian Police Department Press Service via AP) Crowds are waiting to depart from Lviv train station in Ukraine on Friday. Thousands of Ukrainians have already crossed into Poland amid the unfolding Ukraine-Russia crisis. The aftermath is shown after Ukrainian forces pushed back Russians on a bridge to Kherson, Ukraine. (CNN) FILE - A Soviet-era top secret object Duga, an over-the-horizon radar system once used as part of the Soviet missile defense early-warning radar network, seen behind a radioactivity sign in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on Nov. 22, 2018. Among the most worrying developments on an already shocking day, as Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, was warfare at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, where radioactivity is still leaking from history's worst nuclear disaster 36 years ago. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(Efrem Lukatsky | AP) Oslo City Hall was illuminated with the colors of the Ukrainian flag, in Oslo, Norway, Thursday night, Feb. 24, 2022. The celebration is intended as a symbolic act in solidarity with Ukraine.(Javad Parsa | Javad Parsa/NTB via AP) People run to take shelter while the sirens sound announcing new attacks in the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022.(AP) Ukrainian servicemen sit atop armored personnel carriers driving on a road in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a military operation in Ukraine and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to "consequences you have never seen."(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this image made from video released by the Russian Presidential Press Service, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressees the nation in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian troops launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine on Thursday, as Putin cast aside international condemnation and sanctions and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to "consequences you have never seen."(Russian Presidential Press Service via AP) Abandoned tanks and military vehicles are seen in Kherson, Ukraine, on Friday.(Source: CNN) Damage from bombing is seen in Luhansk, Ukraine, on Friday.(Source: TATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE/CNN) A man looks at fragments of military equipment on the street in the aftermath of an apparent Russian strike in Kharkiv in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian troops have launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine. Big explosions were heard before dawn in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa as world leaders decried the start of an Russian invasion that could cause massive casualties and topple Ukraine's democratically elected government.(AP Photo/Andrew Marienko) A damaged Ukrainian military facility in the aftermath of Russian shelling outside Mariupol, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russia has launched a barrage of air and missile strikes on Ukraine early Thursday and Ukrainian officials said that Russian troops have rolled into the country from the north, east and south. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)(Evgeniy Maloletka | AP / Evgeniy Maloletka) A subway station in Kharkiv, Ukraine, turned into a bomb shelter on Thursday.(Source: CNN) President Joe Biden, center, meets in the Situation Room with top administration officials Thursday in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Among those shown are , from left, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Vice President Kamala Harris and, second from right, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.(Source: White House/Twitter/CNN) An apartment in Kharkiv, Ukraine, shows damage after Russian attacks there on Thursday.(Source: Justin Yau/CNN) Protesters gather in front of the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., Thursday, after Russia attacked Ukraine.(Source: WJLA/CNN) Troops and military vehicles were seen entering Ukraine from Belarus on Thursday.(Source: Ukrainian Border Guard/CNN) Residents of Lviv in western Ukraine line up to withdraw cash Thursday amid a Russian invasion of their country.(Source: CNN) Wreckage is seen in Ukraine after Russia launched missile attacks on Thursday.(Source: Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs/CNN) People in Kharkiv, Ukraine, pray at the main square Thursday amid the Russian invasion of their country.(Source: CNN) 'Putin began war against Ukraine, against the entire democratic world,' said Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine.(Source: FACEBOOK/ ZELENSKY OFFICIAL PAGE/CNN) Russian troops launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine on Thursday, as President Vladimir Putin cast aside international condemnation and sanctions. As Russian troops launched a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine, big explosions were heard before dawn in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. Big explosions were heard before dawn Thursday in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, as world leaders decried the start of a Russian invasion that could cause massive casualties and topple Ukraine's democratically elected government.(Source: Ukrainian President’s office via CNN) This week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova — without evidence — accused Ukraine of running chemical and biological weapons labs with U.S. support. White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the claim “preposterous” and said it could be part of an attempt by Russia to lay the groundwork for its own use of such weapons against Ukraine.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said fighting continued northwest of Kyiv. Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol were being heavily shelled and remained encircled by Russian forces.
Russian forces are placing military equipment on farms and amid residential buildings in the northern city of Chernihiv, Ukraine’s military said. In the south, Russians in civilian clothes are advancing on the city of Mykolaiv, a Black Sea shipbuilding center of a half-million people, it said.
The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, is building up defenses in cities in the north, south and east, and forces around Kyiv are “holding the line” against the Russian offensive, authorities said.
On Wednesday, some of Ukraine’s volunteer fighters trained in a Kyiv park with rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
“I have only one son,” said Mykola Matulevskiy, a 64-year-old retired martial arts coach, who was with his son, Kostyantin. “Everything is my son.”
But now they will fight together: “It’s not possible to have it in another way because it’s our motherland. We must defend our motherland first of all.”
In Irpin, a town of 60,000, police officers and soldiers helped elderly residents from their homes. One man was hoisted out of a damaged structure on a makeshift stretcher, while another was pushed toward Kyiv in a shopping cart. Fleeing residents said they had been without power and water for the past four days.
Regional administration head Oleksiy Kuleba said the crisis for civilians is deepening in and around Kyiv, with the situation particularly dire in the suburbs.
The situation is even worse in Mariupol, where efforts to evacuate residents and deliver badly needed food, water and medicine failed Tuesday because of what the Ukrainians said were continued Russian attacks.
The city took advantage of a lull in the shelling Wednesday to hurriedly bury 70 people. Some were soldiers, but most were civilians.
The work was conducted efficiently and without ceremony. No mourners were present, no families to say their goodbyes.
One woman stood at the gates of the cemetery to ask whether her mother was among those being buried. She was.
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Associated Press journalists Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and Felipe Dana and Andrew Drake in Kyiv contributed along with other reporters around the world.
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