Day 8: Grim reality of Russian invasion
A father's grief. A tender touch. A new country.
Ukrainians faced another grim day in the Russian invasion Thursday as the bombardment claimed more victims and destroyed buildings. Russian forces seized a strategic seaport and threatened to overtake a major energy hub even as the two sides negotiated corridors to safely evacuate citizens.
Residents poured out of the country by bus and train, sometimes in unheated cars, to cross the border to Poland or Romania. Some desperate to escape the bombings crowded rail stations and squeezed onto trains, not always knowing where they were headed.
The outgunned Ukrainians have put up stiff resistance, staving off the swift victory that Russia appeared to have expected. Volunteer fighters constructed barriers and taught others how to use weapons as the invasion entered its second week.