Devastating Photos of People Trying to Escape the War in Ukraine

Over the weekend thousands more Ukrainians attempted to escape major cities as Russian invaders ignored ceasefires, shelled residential areas and attacked families as they fled.

On Saturday, Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti captured a crowd under a destroyed bridge as they made their way across the Irpin River in the outskirts of Kyiv.

Two planned ceasefires to help evacuate civilians from Irpin, a city just north west of Kyiv, and in the southern city of Mariupol, both failed and those fleeing across bombed landscapes – including children, the elderly and disabled – were hit with heavy gunfire and missiles.

On Sunday Ukraine criticised a plan by Russia to open refugee corridors that led into Belarus and Russia as “immoral”.

So far the UN estimates 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees have fled to neighbouring countries. The UN’s latest figures estimate more than 1,000 civilian casualties including 351 confirmed dead.