A thousand days off war in Ukraine has been captured in stunning images, many of them terrifying, some of them poignant, others uplifting.

Since Russia’s all-out invasion of its smaller neighbor on February 24, 2022, Europe’s largest armed conflict since World War II has claimed tens of thousands of lives on both sides. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the fighting. Others have lost their families, homes and livelihoods.

The Russian military has repeatedly used missiles, drones and artillery to blow up civilian targets across Ukraine with devastating consequences. The loss of home and possessions, taken away in an instant, is traumatic.

All over Ukrainian cities, suddenly and confusingly, communities find themselves in unfamiliar circumstances.

The Russian destruction of Ukraine’s public infrastructure, incl the national electricity gridcontributes to the feeling of vulnerability. At night, candles can provide the only light.

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been evacuated and migrated abroad.

Those who stayed often had to improvise. This sometimes meant digging mass graves, as in the besieged port city of Mariupol in 2022 where heavy Russian shelling prevented proper burials and fueled despair.

The horrific toll of war is illustrated in funerals held for soldiers and for civilians, including children, and the grief of those who attend them.

For nearly three years, Associated Press photographers have been on the ground documenting the war.

The AP photograph of an injured pregnant woman being carried on a stretcher through devastated Mariupol, only for her and her child to die shortly thereafter, is one of the most disturbing and heartbreaking images of the war.

Year 2023, AP won two Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of the war in Ukraine, and received recognition for his recent photography as well as the prestigious public service award for his exclusive dispatches from Mariupol.

Earlier this year, AP video journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” a harrowing first-person account of the first days of Russia’s invasion, won the Oscar for best documentary.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at