A week of ruins and ruined lives in Ukraine

There is life amid the ruins in Ukraine, but there are so many ruins, and life is so fraught.

In the course of the last week, Associated Press photographers captured images of a man peering upward through the hole in a roof of a hospital damaged during shelling in Donetsk; of another, his arms opened wide as he looks up at the wreckage of his Bakhmut home, damaged in Russian night shelling; of boys playing in the shadow of a wrecked apartment building in Irpan.

But there also are lives in ruins. An elderly woman, evacuated from the Lysychansk area, cries out just before departing by train for western Ukraine.

An elderly woman who has been evacuated from the Lysychansk area cries moments before departing by train to western Ukraine from the Pokrovsk railway station, Friday, June 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Women wrapped in Ukrainian flags smile in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, June 10, 2022. With war raging on fronts to the east and south, the summer of 2022 is proving bitter for the Ukrainian capital. The sun shines but sadness and grim determination reign. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Even as smiling young women wrap themselves in the Ukrainian flag or brandish bundles of cotton candy, even as Kyivans seek relief in comedy clubs, their country’s soldiers deploy anti-tank mines to ward off Russian advances. And Russian soldiers sweep through Mariupol, the city in eastern Ukraine they conquered after reducing it to ruble.

A war that began in winter has extended through spring. A vast field of wheat unfolds behind two Russian soldiers, standing guard as foreign journalists participate in a tour of southeastern Ukraine organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. And wildflowers on the outskirts of Kyiv blossom behind the skull and crossbones, displayed on a sign that warns of landmines.

Death is never too distant — a puddle of blood amid the debris after a Russian air raid in Lysychansk; a body pulled from a mass grave near Bucha.

But defiance is ever present, as well. In Kyiv, a woman stands astride a Russian tank. With one hand, she waves the Ukrainian flag. With the other, she wields a rifle.

A woman brandishes a Ukrainian flag on top of a destroyed Russian tank in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, June 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

An elderly woman who has been evacuated from the Lysychansk area, sits in an evacuation train in Pokrovsk, in eastern Ukraine, Friday, June 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

A journalist holds up a photograph of a Ukrainian serviceman found in the ruins of the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal, in Mariupol, in the territory which is under the control of the Government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, Monday, June 13, 2022. This photo was taken during a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (AP Photo)

A young woman smiles while holding a bundle of cotton candy at a square in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, June 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

People leave at the end of a stand-up comedy show in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, June 11, 2022. The war in Ukraine isn't remotely funny, but Ukrainians are learning to laugh about the awfulness of it all. Not because they want to, but because they have to, to stay sane. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A Russian soldier steps through a curtained opening at the Philharmonic Chamber in Mariupol, in the territory which is under the control of the Government of the Donetsk People's Republic, in eastern Ukraine, Sunday, June 12, 2022. This photo was taken during a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (AP Photo)

A man examines the roof of a hospital damaged during shelling in Donetsk, which is under the control of the Government of the Donetsk People's Republic, in eastern Ukraine, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, June 14, 2022. This photo was taken during a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (AP Photo)

Children play near a building destroyed during Russian attacks in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, June 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Posters of Ukrainian heroes lay on a table in a labyrinth of the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal where Ukrainian troops were based in Mariupol, in a territory which is under the control of the Government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, Monday, June 13, 2022. This photo was taken during a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (AP Photo)

A man rides a bicycle past a building destroyed in Russian attacks in Borodyanka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, June 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A woman covers her ears after a Russian air raid in Lysychansk, Luhansk region, Ukraine, Thursday, June 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A Russian soldier inspects a labyrinth of the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal, in Mariupol, where Ukrainian troops were based in Mariupol, in a territory which is under the control of the Government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, Monday, June 13, 2022. This photo was taken during a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (AP Photo)

Russian soldiers guard an area next to a field of wheat as foreign journalists work in the Zaporizhzhia region in an area under Russian military control, southeastern Ukraine, Tuesday, June 14, 2022. The Zaporizhzhia region has been under control of the Russian forces since the early days of the Russian military action in Ukraine. This photo was taken during a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (AP Photo)

A local resident opens his arms as he looks at his damaged house following Russian night shelling, in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, June 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - A member of an extraction crew walks near a body found in the woods during an exhumation of a mass grave near Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, June 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A danger sign warning about land mines is posted in a field blanketed with wildflowers near Lypivka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 14, 2022. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is spreading a deadly litter of mines, bombs and other explosive devices that will endanger civilian lives and limbs long after the fighting stops. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Surrounded by a security detail, French President Emmanuel Macron, center, visits Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Thursday, June 16, 2022. The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania arrived in Kyiv on Thursday in a show of collective European support for the Ukrainian people as they resist Russia's invasion, marking the highest-profile visit to Ukraine's capital since Russia invaded its neighbor. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)

The remains of a destroyed tank sits abandoned on a road in Lypivka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A man sleeps as he hides from Russian shelling in a living house basement in Lysychansk, Luhansk region, Ukraine, Thursday, June 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Blood covers debris after a Russian air raid on a building in Lysychansk, Luhansk region, Ukraine, Thursday, June 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Women attend a Mass at St. Volodymyr's Cathedral during Orthodox Pentecost in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, June 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

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Lead photo: A Ukraine special operations unit carries anti-tank mines to bury on a forest track  to prevent Russian troops from advancing toward their trenches, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Text from AP News story, AP PHOTOS: A week of ruins and ruined lives in Ukraine

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