AP

AP PHOTOS: Amid Ukraine war, seeking moments of normalcy

May 13, 2022, 9:08 AM | Updated: 10:07 am

People who fled from Mariupol wait to leave after being processed upon their arrival at a reception...

People who fled from Mariupol wait to leave after being processed upon their arrival at a reception center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, late Sunday, May 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

(AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A young girl hugs a beloved scraggly gray stuffed cat at a reception center for the hundreds of civilians evacuated from a Mariupol steel works plant after weeks of bombardment by Russian forces. Nearby, a young man kisses his real gray cat, the eyes of both man and pet closed in relief at their escape.

About 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers remained trapped this week in the tunnels of the Azovstal steel plant, including one service member of the Azov Special Forces Regiment who grimly posed for a photograph, the sleeve of his sweat shirt pulled back to reveal his missing left arm, blown off during the fighting against Russian forces.

This week’s Associated Press images continued to reveal the horrors and occasional lighter moments of the war, now in its eighth week since the Feb. 24 Russian invasion.

A father took a photo of his sons, 3-year-old Maksym and 16-year-old Dmytro atop a destroyed Russian tank Sunday on the outskirts of Kyiv, now again under Ukrainian control.

Police and volunteers exhumed the bodies of civilians killed by Russian shelling in the village of Stepaky, near Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, where brutal fighting continues. An elderly woman walked inside a metro station being used as a bomb shelter in Kharkiv, where sleeping bags and small tents lined the long underground platform alongside the train tracks.

An inconsolable widow draped in the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag wept at the coffin of her husband, 36-year-old Oleksandr Makhov, a well-known Ukrainian journalist who was killed while fighting with his country’s volunteer forces, at his funeral at St. Michael cathedral in Kyiv.

The war came dangerously close this week to a facility for the mentally and physically disabled in the village of Tavriiske, near the southeastern front line, where staff were trying to decide how to evacuate the 425 residents as the threatening boom of artillery fire punctuated the air.

Still, there were moments of determined resiliency and escape from war, if only briefly, as a young couple embraced in the quiet of a Kyiv park.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


              Stepan and Anastasia sit at a public park as the sun sets in Kyiv Ukraine on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
            
              Associate professor of Ukrainian literature Mykhailo Spodarets gives an online lesson from the basement of his house, used as a temporary shelter, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, May 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)
            
              A baby bed is seen inside an apartment building damaged by Russian shelling in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, May 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)
            
              Residents have their lunch in a facility for people with mental and physical disabilities in the village of Tavriiske, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. With around 425 residents, the institution is the largest such facility for people with disabilities in southeastern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
            
              A Ukrainian Su-25 jet flies release heat flares after an attack on Russian positions in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
            
              Maksym, 3, is photographed with his brother, Dmytro, 16, on top of a destroyed Russian tank, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine on Sunday, May 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
            
              A man, who left a shelter in the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal, walks to a bus between servicemen of Russian Army and Donetsk People's Republic militia in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, Friday, May 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)
            
              People who fled from Mariupol, some of them from the Azovstal steel plant, are processed upon their arrival by bus at a reception center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, late Sunday, May 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
            
              Police and volunteers exhume the bodies of civilians killed by Russian shelling in the village of Stepaky, close to Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
            
              Volunteer welders work on metal pieces at a facility producing material for Ukrainian soldiers in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, May 6, 2022. An old industrial complex in the southeastern Ukrainian riverside city of Zaporizhzhia has become a hive of activity for volunteers producing everything from body armor to camouflage nets, anti-tank obstacles to heating stoves and rifle slings for Ukrainian soldiers fighting the Russian invasion. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
            
              In this photo provided by Azov Special Forces Regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard Press Office, an Azov Special Forces Regiment's serviceman, injured during fighting against Russian forces, poses for a photographer inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (Dmytro 'Orest' Kozatskyi/Azov Special Forces Regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard Press Office via AP)
            
              Ukrainian servicemen carry an injured comrade on A stretcher to the hospital after an attack by Russian forces in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Monday, May 9, 2022.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
            
              The widow cries at the coffin of volunteer soldier Oleksandr Makhov, 36 a well-known Ukrainian journalist, killed by the Russian troops, at St. Michael cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, May 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
            
              A child and her family who fled from Mariupol arrive at a reception center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Sunday, May 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
            
              A destroyed house is seen in Malaya Rohan, a village retaken by Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, May 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
            
              Ivan Andreiev who fled from Mariupol with his family kisses his cat Leonardo upon his arrival to a reception center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Sunday, May 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
            
              A volunteer shapes metal plates with an angle grinder at a facility producing material for Ukrainian soldiers in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Saturday, May 7, 2022. An old industrial complex in the southeastern Ukrainian riverside city of Zaporizhzhia has become a hive of activity for volunteers producing everything from body armor to camouflage nets, anti-tank obstacles to heating stoves and rifle slings for Ukrainian soldiers fighting the Russian invasion. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
            
              Donetsk People Republic Emergency Situations Ministry employees clear rubble at the side of the damaged Mariupol theater in Mariupol, in a territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, May 12, 2022. (AP Photo)
            
              An elderly woman walks inside a metro station being used as a bomb shelter in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, May 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)
            
              A Ukrainian National Guard soldier sits inside a tank at a position near Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, May 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
            
              A Ukrainian emergency worker stands next to the bodies of Russian soldiers in the village of Vilkhivka, recently retaken by Ukrainian forces near Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, May 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
            
              People who fled from Mariupol wait to leave after being processed upon their arrival at a reception center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, late Sunday, May 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

AP

A demonstrator in Tel Aviv holds a sign calling for a cease-fire in the Hamas-Israel war on Nov. 21...

Associated Press

Hamas releases a third group of hostages as part of truce, and says it will seek to extend the deal

The fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was back on track Sunday as the first American was released under a four-day truce.

3 days ago

Men look over the site of a deadly explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, Oct. 18, ...

Associated Press

New AP analysis of last month’s deadly Gaza hospital explosion rules out widely cited video

The Associated Press is publishing an updated visual analysis of the deadly Oct. 17 explosion at Gaza's Al-Ahli Hospital.

6 days ago

Peggy Simpson holds a photograph of law enforcement carrying Lee Harvey Oswald's gun through a hall...

Associated Press

JFK assassination remembered 60 years later by surviving witnesses to history, including AP reporter

Peggy Simpson is among the last surviving witnesses who are sharing their stories as the nation marks the 60th anniversary.

7 days ago

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, chairs the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sunday, ...

Associated Press

Israeli Cabinet approves cease-fire with Hamas; deal includes release of 50 hostages

Israel’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a cease-fire deal with the Hamas militant group that would bring a temporary halt to a devastating war.

7 days ago

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump helps serve food to Texas Natio...

Associated Press

Trump receives endorsement from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott during a visit to a US-Mexico border town

Donald Trump picked up the Texas governor’s endorsement Sunday during a visit to a U.S.-Mexico border town.

9 days ago

Eric Trump, executive vice president of Trump Organization Inc., speaks to the media as he leaves f...

Associated Press

Lawyers in Trump’s civil fraud trial are ordered to clam up about judge’s communications with staff

Eric Trump testified Friday that he was relying on accountants to ensure the accuracy of financial statements.

26 days ago

Sponsored Articles

Follow @KTAR923...

The best ways to honor our heroes on Veterans Day and give back to the community

Veterans Day is fast approaching and there's no better way to support our veterans than to donate to the Military Assistance Mission.

Follow @KTAR923...

The 2023 Diamondbacks are a good example to count on the underdog

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the World Series as a surprise. That they made the playoffs at all, got past the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Wild Card round, swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS and won two road games in Philadelphia to close out a full seven-game NLCS went against every expectation. Now, […]

...

Desert Institute for Spine Care

Desert Institute for Spine Care (DISC) wants to help Valley residents address back, neck issues through awake spine surgery

As the weather begins to change, those with back issues can no longer rely on the dry heat to aid their backs. That's where DISC comes in.

AP PHOTOS: Amid Ukraine war, seeking moments of normalcy