For weeks, a Russian invasion had been expected by some Ukrainians and merely sequestered in the mind’s recesses by others. But once the sweeping attacks began on Thursday, hitting seemingly every corner of the country, the war became unavoidably tangible for Ukrainians — a hovering cloud of darkness that once seemed unimaginable in the post-Cold War era.
Hearing the booming sounds of missile explosions and air attacks, and reports of battles that took the lives of civilians as well as soldiers, some put up a defiant face and vowed to fight the intruders however they could. Most also realized, though, that Russia had the advantage of overwhelming might, and that life in Ukraine was very likely at best to be unsettled and even treacherous for some time to come.
In parts of the country, people cleaned out grocery stores. They rushed the A.T.M.s to get their savings while they could. Many thousands, the front end of an expected flood of refugees, waited in impossible lines for bus tickets or sat in their cars in monstrous traffic jams, all seeking to head west, ideally to NATO-protected Poland.
The rest of the population could only wait to see what the Russians, who seemed to be laying a military noose around the capital of Kyiv, would do next. New York Times photographers and those of other news organizations are spread around Ukraine and have provided visual documentation of a populace coping with the initial stages of a national military invasion, struggling with newfound uncertainty and fear.
Below, Ukrainian soldiers at the entrance to Kharkiv, in the shadow of huge blue and yellow letters spelling the city’s name.
A Ukrainian military position outside Kharkiv.
Ukrainian emergency services officers in Kharkiv trying to remove the body of a rocket they said was fired by Russian forces on Friday.
A residential building was hit by missiles in Kyiv on Friday.
Cleaning up debris after a residential building was struck by missiles in Kyiv.
The remnants of a downed aircraft in Kyiv.
Social media videos and news footage from Friday depict the scope of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the toll it is taking on its citizens.
People seeking safety from bombings in subway cars and in the halls of the subway station in Kharkiv.
Ukrainian refugees leaving the Polish village of Medyka on a mini bus after crossing the Ukraine-Poland border on Friday.
Ludmyla Viytovych with her daughters Sofia and Solomea at a makeshift reception center at the train station in Przemysl, Poland. Mrs.Viytovych is traveling toward Vienna where her family lives.
Refugees from Ukraine waiting for transportation upon their arrival in Medyka at the pedestrian border crossing.
Military volunteers loading magazines with ammunition at a weapons storage facility after the Ukrainian government announced it would arm civilians to resist the Russian invasion.
Military volunteers receiving weapons in Fastiv.
Thursday
The aftermath of a strike on a military airport on Thursday in Chuguyev, near Kharkiv.
Families boarding evacuation trains in Kramatorsk on Thursday evening, bound for Kyiv and Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine.
The remnants of a munition piercing an apartment near Kharkiv.
Lining up to withdraw cash in Severodonetsk.
Video: Families fleeing Thursday’s attack in Kyiv were stuck in traffic for miles on the capital’s longest avenue, as they tried to escape the advancement of Russian troops.
Ukrainian military vehicles on the side of the road outside Severodonetsk.
Covering a body after bombings in Chuguiv.
Packing up belongings from an apartment to move farther away from shelling in Kramatorsk.
The crash site of a Ukrainian Armed Forces aircraft that was shot down in the Kyiv region, according to the State Emergency Service.
Praying at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery on Thursday in Kyiv.
Russian attacks damaged radar arrays and other equipment at a Ukrainian military site outside Mariupol.
Waiting for trains out of the city at the main station in Kramatorsk.
Dusk in Kyiv on Thursday. Russian forces were advancing on the city, a U.S. Defense Department official said.
