War in Ukraine. The horrors of war by Kyiv Oblast

Two boys walk towards a playground past apartment buildings destroyed in Russian attacks in Borodyanka, Ukraine. Borodyanka was occupied by Russian troops at the beginning of their full-scale invasion last year.

A woman takes a selfie with Banksy’s artwork on the wall of a building damaged by Russian attacks in Borodyanka, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Borodyanka was occupied by Russian troops at the beginning of their full-scale invasion last year.

A man plants sunflowers in his garden near a damaged Russian tank and its turret in the village of Velyka Dymerka, in Brovary Raion (district) of Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 17, 2023.

A Ukrainian police officer stands in front of a partially destroyed building after an air strike in the town of Rzhyshchiv, in Ukraine’s Kyiv region on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

A cyclist rides on a bicycle past a house destroyed by shelling in Hostomel near Kyiv, on 19 March 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Matvii Sotnichenko, 4, runs near a destroyed building in Horenka, outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 5, 2023.

Oleh Mnozhynska, 82, stands in his house destroyed by an airstrike, in Irpin, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.

A destroyed bridge in Irpin, in Kyiv Region, Ukraine, February 18, 2023.

A Ukrainian national flag flies in front of a destroyed residential building in Borodianka, Kyiv Region, Ukraine, February 18, 2023.

A Ukrainian national flag flies near buildings destroyed by a Russian military strike in Borodianka, Kyiv Region, Ukraine February 15, 2023.

A woman stands on top of a crater next to a destroyed house after a Russian rocket attack in Hlevakha, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023.

Site of a helicopter crash in Brovary, Ukraine, January 18, 2023.

Sunflowers, a beloved symbol of Ukraine, and a family of storks adorn the shattered walls of Irpin's Central House of Culture. With the Ukrainian government lacking the funds for widespread reconstruction, many residents are forced to restore their own homes and make use of any functioning public facilities.

Local resident Mykola Kobzarenko inspects the remains of his garage, destroyed during a Russian drone strike, in the village of Stari Bezradychi, Obukhiv district of Kyiv Region, Ukraine, December 19, 2022.

Servicemen watch as a bombed building is dismantled in Borodyanka, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022.

Evacuees living in container housing in Bucha brave freezing temperatures and power cuts. Ukrainian civilians who have fled Russian-occupied cities in the east, along with local Bucha residents who have lost their homes, do their best to cope with temporary modular housing. But with electricity frequently cut off, they improvise for sources of heat while their children bundle up and try to do homework before the next outage.

A man pushes his bike next to destroyed residential buildings in Borodyanka, near Kyiv, on December 4.

Men connect a homemade light with a battery to illuminate the pitch ahead of a soccer game during a blackout in Irpin, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022. For soccer lovers in Ukraine, Russia's invasion and the devastation it has wrought have created uncertainties about both playing the sport and watching it. For Ukrainians these days, soccer trails well behind mere survival in the order of priorities.

Rescuers work at a site of a residential building destroyed by a Russian missile attack in Vyshhorod near Kyiv, Ukraine, November 23, 2022.

A plate with frozen food is seen in the apartment of Tetiana Reznychenko. Her apartment has no electricity, heating, or water and is on the fifth floor of a building destroyed by a Russian military strike in the Ukrainian village of Horenka.

Local residents shovel snow as a work of world-renowned graffiti artist Banksy is displayed on the wall (L) of a destroyed building in the Ukrainian village of Horenka, which was heavily damaged by fighting in the early days of the Russian invasion, November 19, 2022.

A work of graffiti artist Banksy at the wall of destroyed building in the town of Borodianka, Ukraine, November 12, 2022.

Kateryna Tyshchenko, accompanied by her 9-year-old half-sister Yuliia Zaika, stands outside her prefabricated accommodation which was built next to her destroyed house in the village of Moshchun near Kyiv, Ukraine, November 8, 2022.

A cat sits in the remains of the destroyed house of Vadym Zherdetsky in the village of Moshchun, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Nov. 4, 2022.

A view of a fuel depot hit by Russian missile in the town of Kalynivka, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) southwest of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. Environmental damage caused by Ukraine’s war is mounting in the 8-month-old conflict, and experts warn of long-term health consequences for the population.

Catherine, 70, looks out the window while holding a candle for light inside her house during a power outage, in Borodyanka, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022. Airstrikes cut power and water supplies to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians on Tuesday, part of what the country's president called an expanding Russian campaign to drive the nation into the cold and dark and make peace talks impossible.

A man rides a bicycle in front of a building destroyed by attacks in Borodyanka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, June 12, 2022.

A woman walks down a street in front of destroyed buildings in Borodianka, Kyiv Region, Ukraine, August 26, 2022.

A fisherman watches smoke rise after Russian forces launched a missile attack on a military unit in the Vyshhorod district on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, July 28, 2022.

Residents wait to receive humanitarian aid in front of a building that was damaged during Russian shelling in Borodyanka on June 21.

Vadym Schvydchenko stands next to his truck recentely damaged by a mine on a dirt track near Makariv, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 14, 2022. The detonation of the 7.5-kilogram (16-pound) explosive charge blew Vadym Schvydchenko and his daughter's toy clean out of the cabin. The truck — and his livelihood — went up in flames.

A man rides a bicycle in front of a building destroyed by attacks in Borodyanka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, June 12, 2022.

A man stands looking at a building destroyed during attacks, in Borodyanka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, June 4, 2022.

A man stands sheltering from the rain at a bus stop near destroyed building during attacks in Irpin, outskirts Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, June 2, 2022.

Damaged buildings ruined by attacks are seen in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, May 26, 2022.

A boy plays in front of houses ruined by shelling in Borodyanka, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022.

Residents take out their belongings from their house ruined by the Russian shelling in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, May 21, 2022.

Firefighters attempt to put out a fire at a chemical warehouse that has come under fire. Brovary, Kyiv region.

Flowers in the rubble: Ukrainian woman sees a sliver of hope. Anna Shevchenko, 35, reacts next to her home in Irpin, near Kyiv, Tuesday, May 3, 2022. The house, built by Shevchenko's grandparents, was nearly completely destroyed by bombing in late March during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In her beloved flowerbed, some roses, lilies, peonies and daffodils survived. "It is new life. So I tried to save my flowers," she said.

Women clean inside a damaged building at the Vizar company military-industrial complex in Vyshneve, Ukraine, on April 15. The site, on the outskirts of Kyiv, was hit by Russian strikes. (Vyshneve is a city 2 km south of Kyiv in Ukraine. It is in the Bucha Raion of Kyiv Oblast.)

General view of a room in an administrative building in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where Ukrainian National Guard servicemen were held as hostages since the start of Russian invasion, on April 8.

Borodyanka, Kyiv region, Ukraine. April 08, 2022: destroyed building after russian occupation

Instead of the city - ruins and garbage dumps: what Borodyanka looks like after the retreat of Russian troops.

Destruction is seen in Borodianka on April 5. Borodianka was home to 13,000 people before the war, but most fled after Russia's invasion. What was left of the town, after intense shelling and devastating airstrikes, was then occupied by Russian forces.

A woman walks amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine.

A boy looks at a destroyed Russian tank in Bucha.

Local residents ride bicycles past flattened civilian cars in the town of Bucha.

Bodies are being collected in the hope they can eventually be identified.

A Ukrainian police officer runs while holding a child as the artillery echoes nearby, while fleeing Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine.

Local women carry food found at a supermarket, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in the town of Irpin, in Kyiv region, Ukraine March 29, 2022.

Ukrainian servicemen carry rocket-propelled grenades and sniper rifles as they walk towards the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, on March 13, 2022.

A woman reacts as she stands in front of a house burning after being shelled in the city of Irpin.

An elderly woman hides under a blanket after she being evacuated from Irpin on March 8.

A firefighter works to extinguish flames after a chemical warehouse was reportedly hit by Russian shelling near Kalynivka, Ukraine, on March 8.

A woman is carried by Ukrainian soldiers while fleeing the town of Irpin, Ukraine on March 6.

An elderly lady is assisted to cross the Irpin river on an improvised path under a bridge, that was destroyed by Ukrainian troops designed to slow any Russian military advance, while fleeing the area on March 5.

54-year-old Igor Mazhaev in the ruins of his house. As a result of the shelling, Igor lost his wife and 12-year-old daughter. The village of Markhalivka (Fastiv district of the Kyiv region).

A man walks past destroyed buildings in the town of Borodianka

Emergency crews work at the scene where several houses have been damaged by an explosion, following an air strike in Bila Tserkva, Kyiv.

A residential building destroyed by shelling is seen in Borodyanka, Ukraine, on March 3. Russian forces have shown a 'willingness to hit civilian infrastructure on purpose,' a senior US defense official told reporters.

Trying to flee the besieged city of Irpin, Ukraine, a man crosses what is left of a bridge that was destroyed to stop the advancing Russian tanks.