A thousand days of war in Ukraine are captured in stunning images, many of them gruesome, some harrowing, some uplifting.
Since Russia’s large-scale invasion of its smaller neighbor on February 24, 2022, Europe’s largest armed conflict since World War II has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the fighting. Others have lost their families, their homes and their livelihoods.
The Russian military has repeatedly used missiles, drones and artillery to blow up civilian targets across Ukraine, with devastating consequences. The loss of homes and belongings, torn away in an instant, is traumatic.
In Ukrainian towns and cities, communities suddenly and bewilderingly find themselves in unfamiliar circumstances.
Russia’s destruction of Ukraine’s public infrastructure, including the national electricity grid, adds to the sense of vulnerability. At night, candles may provide the only light.
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been evacuated and migrated abroad.
Those who stayed often had to improvise. That sometimes meant digging mass graves, as in the besieged port city of Mariupol in 2022, where heavy Russian shelling prevented proper burial and brought despair.
The terrible toll of war is illustrated by the funerals of soldiers and civilians, including children, and the grief of those who attend.
Associated Press photographers have been on the ground documenting the war for nearly three years.
The AP photo of an injured pregnant woman being carried on a stretcher through the devastated Mariupol, only to die shortly afterwards with her baby, is one of the most harrowing and heartbreaking images of the war.
In 2023, the AP won two Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of the war in Ukraine, gaining recognition for its breaking news photography and the prestigious Public Service Award for its exclusive reporting from Mariupol.
Earlier this year, AP video journalist Mstyslav Chernov won the Oscar for best documentary for “20 Days in Mariupol,” a gripping first-person account of the early days of the Russian invasion.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
