Bloodied, bruised... but unbroken: Grit and courage of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians wounded by Russian artillery is captured in moving images of the war
The grit and courage of Ukraine's soldiers and civilians wounded by Russian artillery has been captured in hundreds of astonishing images since the war broke out.
Despite insisting otherwise, Russian forces have continued to strike civilian targets in Ukraine. Inevitably, the human cost of Vladimir Putin's war has continued to rise.After 12 long days of fighting, Ukraine has said at least 400 civilian deaths have been recorded - of which 38 were children - and 800 wounded. The true figures are believed to be much higher.
But the numbers do not tell the full story of the horror that is unfolding, or of the thousands or ordinary people performing heroic acts of bravery to help each other in their country's time of need.
KHARKIV: In this shocking photograph, an injured Ukrainian woman is seen in a Kharkiv hospital with stiches across her face and several cuts caused by shelling. She looks at the camera through a black eye and a swollen face covered in blue dye
MARIUPOL: Ambulance paramedics move an injured man on a stretcher, wounded by shelling in a residential area, at a maternity hospital converted into a medical ward and used as a bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 1, 2022
KYIV: Medical workers provide medical assistance to an Ukrainian serviceman wounded during the fighting with Russian troops near the Ukrainian capital, March 4, 2022
MARIUPOL: Medical workers operate on people injured by shelling in a residential area at a maternity hospital converted into a medical ward in Mariupol, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Each day the invasion of Ukraine continues, new images of injury and death are broadcast to the world from cities and towns under attack by Russia's forces.
In one shocking photograph, an injured Ukrainian woman is seen in a Kharkiv hospital with stiches across her face and several cuts caused by shelling.
She looks at the camera through a black eye and a swollen face, covered in blue dye.
Other images show paramedics desperately fighting to stem the bleeding of patients sprawled out on stretchers, having been rushed in from the fighting.
Evacuees are shown thrown to the floor by explosions - their suitcases scattered around them. Elderly women are shown lying in pools of blood in their own homes. Young men are shown wrapped in bandages with shrapnel wounds on their faces.
With each passing day, more families are devastated, more loved ones are left anxiously waiting for news, and the human toll continues to climb.
MARIUPOL: Ambulance paramedics treat an elderly woman wounded by shelling before transferring her to a maternity hospital converted into a medical ward in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022
IRPIN: Evhen, a Ukrainian serviceman, who was wounded in his shoulder during shelling in Irpin receives medical help prior being transferred to the hospital
IRPIN: A wounded soldier rests at a military hospital in the town of Irpin, on March 4, 2022
But the pictures also show incredible feats of human bravery and kindness, and have inspired the world to rally in support of every-day Ukrainians.
Despite the threat of immanent attack, paramedics are pictured treating injuries, driving ambulances and pushing stretchers through war zones.
Doctors and nurses are shown in wards with several patients, working tirelessly to save the lives of those injured in the fighting, despite hospitals coming under attack.
Strangers are pictured helping others in the streets, holding them upright or carrying them to safety through the rubble of their cities.
Ukrainian soldiers are often shown to be the first on the scene, crouching over people on the ground. At the same time, paramedics are pictured treating soldiers - many of whom will have signed up to fight in recent weeks.
KHARKIV: People help a wounded woman in the aftermath of a Russian shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 01 March 2022
IRPIN: Two men help another injured man evacuate from Irpin that came under heavy shelling
IRPIN: Yuriy, who who was shot in the leg while evacuating civilians from the shelled city of Irpin receives first aid on March 6, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine
On Monday, at least 21 civilians, including two children, were killed in a Russian air strike on a residential street in Ukraine's northeastern city of Sumy late on Monday, the regional prosecutor's office said in a statement on Tuesday.
The bodies were recovered by emergency services early on Tuesday in searches that are ongoing, it said.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said 13 people died in the bombing of a bakery in Kyiv - also on Monday - and on Sunday, 50 children with cancer had to be moved after a missile hit a paediatric hospital in the city.
The U.N. human rights office says it has confirmed 474 civilian deaths in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24. The office said Tuesday that the number of confirmed civilian injuries now stands at 861.
The U.N. office uses strict methodology and only reports casualties it has been able to verify.
It acknowledges that the real figures are much higher, in part because intense fighting has delayed its receipt of information and many reports still have to be corroborated.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, who released the Ukraine's latest fatality estimates, also said Russian military actions have killed 38 children and wounded more than 70.
But the estimates 'are definitely incomplete,' he said in a video address.
He also said Russian strikes have destroyed more than 200 Ukrainian schools, 34 hospitals and 1,500 residential buildings.
Meanwhile, attacks on hospitals, ambulances and other health care facilities in Ukraine have increased rapidly in recent days and the country is running short of vital medical supplies, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
IRPIN: Ruslan from the Territorial Defense gets medical help for a wound received during shelling near Irpin on March 6, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine
KYIV: Medical workers provide medical assistance to an Ukrainian serviceman wounded during the fighting with Russian troops near the Ukrainian capital, in a hospital on March 4
MARIUPOL: A Ukrainian serviceman and a civilian carry a wounded man who was injured by shelling in a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, Thursday, March 3, 2022.
KYIV: A doctor examines a wounded Ukrainian soldier following an overnight shelling, at a hospital in Brovary near Kiev (Kyiv), Ukraine, March 1, 2022
KYIV: A medical worker attends to a wounded man at a hospital in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1, 2022
KYIV: Medical workers provide medical assistance to an Ukrainian serviceman wounded during the fighting with Russian troops near the Ukrainian capital, in a hospital in Kyiv on March 4, 2022The UN agency confirmed on Monday that at least nine people had died in 16 attacks on health care facilities since the start of a Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. It did not say who was responsible.
The WHO's senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood, told a news briefing that the tally included incidents where ambulances had been commandeered for purposes other than emergency healthcare.
'We will continue to update those numbers. They've been increasing quite rapidly over the past few days,' Smallwood said.
The agency is working to rapidly provide medical supplies to Ukraine, where oxygen, insulin, personal protective equipment, surgical items and blood products are running low, Europe regional director Hans Kluge told the briefing.
The supply of oxygen, children's vaccines, especially against polio amid an outbreak, and mental health expertise are among the WHO's top priorities for the region, he said.
In a separate statement, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said countries neighbouring Ukraine which are hosting Ukrainian refugees should include them in their vaccine programmes against a range of diseases,
They should prioritise vaccinating against COVID-19 and polio and also against measles, as the current inoculation coverage is insufficient to prevent measles outbreaks, the ECDC said in a statement.
'Crowding in bomb shelters and reception centres could facilitate the start of a measles outbreak, particularly as spring coincides with the natural seasonality of the disease,' the agency added.
Meanwhile, the United Nations said Russia's invasion of Ukraine has forced two million people to flee the country.
KYIV: A Ukrainian serviceman who received leg wounds receives medical help on March 6, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine
KHARKIV: A wounded woman is seen after an airstrike damaged an apartment complex in city of Chuhuiv, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine on February 24, 2022
KHARKIV: A man helps a wounded elderly woman to a building's basement for shelter, after Russian troops shelled the area in the second largest Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, in the east of the country on March 6, 2022
He also claimed that Ukrainian forces have killed more than 11,000 Russian troops.
'Russian invaders fire on humanitarian corridors through which civilians are trying to escape,' he said, without saying where.
Russian officials did not comment Tuesday and have only acknowledged several hundred deaths among Russian forces.
Russia again broke a ceasefire to shell evacuation routes out of the besieged city of Mariupol as desperate civilians.
The latest ceasefire violation came as President Volodymyr Zelensky said a child had died of thirst in the blockaded port city, which is running low on food, water and medicine amid the biggest ground war in Europe since World War II.
Late Monday, Russia named Mariupol as one of four cities where humanitarian corridors would be opened after also shelling a route out of the city on Sunday.
Yellow buses with a red cross on them were seen arriving in the city today, but reports said Moscow's forces had once again shelled the humanitarian routes.
Ukraine foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko reported the shelling near Mariupol on Tuesday - the fourth day in a row Russia has disrupted evacuations.
'8 trucks + 30 buses ready to deliver humanitarian aid to Mariupol and to evac (evacuate) civilians to Zaporizhzhia. Pressure on Russia MUST step up to make it uphold its commitments,' he urged.
Another corridor was set to opened out of Sumy in Ukraine north-east.
Buses packed with people began a procession along a snowy road in Sumy on Tuesday, as evacuees held their breath hoping Moscow's forces would keep their word and allow them to pass safely.
Previous attempts to lead civilians to safety have crumbled with renewed attacks, with Ukraine accusing Russia of breaking ceasefire agreements by continuing to launch strikes on cities despite the evacuations.
Zelensky has called for the expansion of the corridors for evacuees, and more support from the Red Cross.
It was announced today that the German federal prosecutor's office is looking into possible war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.
The prosecutor's office said Tuesday it has launched a so-called 'structural investigation' - a preliminary investigation against persons unknown which entails looking for evidence leading to possible suspects who could be prosecuted.
It's unclear whether or when a prosecution of any suspect would actually be launched and what the chances are of any defendant eventually being brought to court in Germany.
Germany applies the principle of universal jurisdiction for serious crimes.
In a groundbreaking verdict in January, a German court convicted a former Syrian secret police officer of crimes against humanity for overseeing the abuse of detainees at a jail.
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