The thunderous burst of the first air attacks. Buildings on fire, reduced to debris. Terrified people hidden in basements. Shouts of despair and support hugs.
This was the reality of February 24, 2022, the first day of the large -scale invasion of Russia to Ukraine.
From the first explosions in the morning of that fateful day, Ukraine changed forever. At nightfall, the Ukrainians told their first dead and in many parts of the country they were under Russian occupation.
Others crowded in crowded trains, hurrying to escape the rapid advance of the Kremlin forces.
Uncertainty and fear floated in the air. No one knew if Ukraine could resist the onslaught of a much larger and better equipped Russian army.
Three years later, constant fear – for one’s life, for loved ones – is as relentless as that first day was.
The greatest armed conflict in Europe since World War II has charged tens of thousands of lives on both sides. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have died in fighting. Millions have fled from the country and many of them are not very prone to return.
Innumerable families have been decimated, forced to bury their loved ones, with their homes and shattered livelihoods. A fifth of the country remains under Russian occupation and there is no indications that kyiv can regain control of these territories.
Those who took arms to fight for Ukraine and have survived so far do not know what will hold tomorrow and when – if possible – they can return to their civil life.
And although the Ukrainians have adapted to living in war, that first day he remains recorded in his memory, dividing life in “before” and “after.”
This photo gallery, selected by the photography editor Tony Hicks, highlights some of the most shocking images of The Associated Press of that first day of war.
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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.
This article was published by The Associated Press on 2025-02-22 01:21:00
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