In pictures: Destruction and fear as war hits Ukraine

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Russian forces have launched a military assault on neighbouring Ukraine, crossing its borders and bombing military targets near big cities.

Image source, Ukrainian State Emergency Service / Reuters
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In a handout picture from the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, rescuers work at the crash site of a Ukrainian Armed Forces' Antonov aircraft, shot down in the Kyiv region.

Image source, TASS / Getty Images
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A security booth knocked over at the Perekop checkpoint, connecting the Crimean peninsula to the Ukrainian mainland.

Image source, AFP
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Ukrainian servicemen get ready to repel an attack in the Lugansk region.

Image source, Getty Images
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A man shows the result of shelling by Russian troops in a residential area in Piatykhatky, Kharkiv, north-eastern Ukraine.

Image source, Getty Images
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Bloodstains are seen on the stairs in a residential building following shelling in Piatykhatky.

Image source, Getty Images
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Damage caused by shelling in Piatykhatky.

Image source, Victoria Vota
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Civilians shelter in a metro station in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in a photo taken by Victoria Vota. "We are trying to stay strong," she said.

Image source, AFP
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Black smoke rises from a military airport in Chuhuiv, near the north-eastern city of Kharkiv.

Image source, AFP
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A man sits outside a destroyed building in Chuhuiv, following bombings.

Image source, AFP
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A rocket is embedded in a road after recent shelling on the outskirts of Kharkiv.

Image source, Reuters
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People wait in a traffic jam as they attempt to leave the city of Kharkiv.

Image source, Getty Images
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Elsewhere in the country, another traffic jam forms as people try to leave the capital Kyiv.

Image source, Getty Images
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Crowds attempt to evacuate the capital by bus.

Image source, Reuters
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Others queue at the border crossing between Ukraine and Poland, in an attempt to flee the country.

Image source, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine / PA Media
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A CCTV image issued by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reportedly shows Russian military vehicles moving across the border from Crimea into Ukraine.

Image source, AFP
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Firefighters try to extinguish a fire after an airstrike hit an apartment complex in Chuhuiv.

Image source, Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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The firefighters climbed through wreckage to rescue civilians.

Image source, Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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A woman tends to her wounds after the airstrike.

Image source, Reuters
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Smoke is seen coming out of a military installation near the airport in the south-eastern city of Mariupol.

Image source, Reuters
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Ukrainian tanks move into Mariupol.

Image source, EPA / Interior Ministry Press Service
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A handout photo from the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's press service shows the aftermath of an explosion at a military unit building in Kyiv.

Image source, AFP
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Also in Kyiv, police and security personnel inspect the remains of a shell in a street.

Image source, AFP
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People watch the police and security personnel work from behind a cordoned-off area.

Image source, Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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Crowds gather at ATMs in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, as people try to withdraw money.

Image source, Reuters
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A Ukrainian military helicopter flies over a fuel station outside the city of Dnipro.

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