As Russia’s attacks on civilians have intensified, Ukrainians in towns outside Kyiv are fleeing their homes for the relative safety of the capital city.
Scores of people from the town of Irpin are making that harrowing journey, using a battered bridge — which had been intentionally blown up by Ukrainian forces to slow the Russian advance — to cross into Kyiv.
Ukrainian soldiers stationed along the bridge are helping carry children, the elderly and even pets across the rubble-laden path.
Over the weekend, photographers in the area captured scenes of panicked Ukrainians desperately trying to escape heavy Russian shelling along the evacuation route.
Not everyone survived. A photographer for the New York Times captured a chilling photo of four Ukrainian civilians, including two children, who were killed by Russian mortar fire as they were attempting to escape Irpin on Sunday.
Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Markushin said that at least eight civilians were killed along the route over the weekend. He said Russian forces were intentionally targeting civilians.
The United Nations on Tuesday said the exodus of refugees from Ukraine has topped 2 million. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights confirmed that there have been 474 civilian deaths in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, but cautioned that the actual number of casualties is likely much higher.
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