Agonies of War: Ukraine’s 1000 Days of Tapestry of Grief

Nov. 19, 2024 

Viewers discretion as some photos contain upsetting content.

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - As the Ukraine-Russia war marks its 1000th day, a harrowing tapestry of grief, resilience, and defiance unfolds across the nation.

With countless scenes of devastation and moments of hope etched into the world’s collective memory, Ukrainians continue to stand firm against an unyielding storm of violence.

A thousand days have passed since Russian forces launched their full-scale invasion, transforming vibrant cities into shattered landscapes and displacing millions.

Ukrainians have weathered this relentless onslaught with courage, captured in haunting images of everyday lives changed forever.

On March 5, 2022, desperate families crowded beneath a destroyed bridge over the Irpin River, seeking escape from advancing forces.

Elsewhere, in Kyiv, the impact of war was immediate and personal: Natali Sevriukova stood before the ruins of her apartment, devastated by a rocket attack just days into the invasion. Her shock was mirrored by millions who watched the conflict unfold.

The humanitarian crisis has grown over time. A poignant scene unfolded in February 2022, when an elderly woman shared a simple meal of bread at Lviv’s railway station, waiting among throngs of evacuees.

By May 2024, the heartbreak continued as Liudmila, 85, required assistance to board a bus during an evacuation from Vovchansk.

As relentless battles rage on, Ukrainian forces defend their land with determination.

In Kreminna, a BM-21 “Grad” rocket launcher fired at Russian positions in March 2023, an emblem of resistance. In contrast, soldiers returning from the front lines near Toretsk in September 2024 sat shell-shocked, haunted by the brutality they faced. 

Lives lost are mourned deeply. Anastasia Ohrimenko, 26, wept over her husband’s coffin in Bucha, and Valentyna Samoilenko clutched the body of her son in Irpin. 

Yet, the smallest victims are remembered, too—relatives gathered in Vinnytsia to bid farewell to four-year-old Liza, killed in a Russian attack. 

Under constant threat, communities adapt. In Kyiv, cadets trained in bomb shelters, equipped with gas masks on the first day of school. 

Civilians endured power outages and missile strikes, such as 70-year-old Catherine, who lit a candle in Borodyanka during a blackout. The remains of fierce battles—burnt vehicles, shattered homes, mass graves—stand as testaments to war’s horror. 

While the world watches, Ukraine’s story is one of unbreakable spirit.

From Mariupol’s buried victims to the defenders who refuse to yield, the nation endures, hoping for peace yet bracing for more trials. As war enters its thousandth day, Ukraine remains defiant, a land scarred but unbowed. 

People look at the gutted remains of Russian military vehicles on a road in the town of Bucha, close to the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. 

A shell-shocked Ukrainian soldier of the Azov brigade sits at the stabilization point after arriving from the front line, near Toretsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. 

Stanislav, an injured Russian prisoner of war, lies in bed at the detention center in Ukraine’s Lviv region, Thursday, April 25, 2024. 

Firefighters extinguish a fire after a Russian attack on a residential neighborhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. 

Valentyna Samoilenko reacts next to the body of her son Dmytro, 34, during his funeral in Irpin, near Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. 

Ukrainian military doctors treat their injured comrade who was evacuated from the battlefield at the hospital in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 9, 2023. 

Elena Holovko sits among debris while being helped outside her house that was damaged after a missile strike in Druzhkivka, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, June 5, 2022. 

Yana Stepanenko, 11, is carried by a doctor at a public hospital in Lviv, Ukraine, Friday, May 13, 2022. 

Elderly people are evacuated from a hospice in Chasiv Yar city, Donetsk district, Ukraine, Monday, April 18, 2022. 

A man runs while recovering items from a burning shop following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 25, 2022. 

An explosion erupts from an apartment building at 110 Mytropolytska St., after a Russian army tank fired on it in Mariupol, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022. On the 7th floor of the building two elderly women Lydya and Nataliya were stuck in their apartment because they couldn’t come down to the shelter. They were killed by this explosion. Two heavily burned bodies were buried by neighbors in front of the building. 

People take shelter underground following explosions in Lviv, western Ukraine, Saturday, March 26, 2022. 

Stanislav, 40, says goodbye to his son David, 2, and his wife Anna, 35, on a train to Lviv at the Kyiv station, Ukraine, Thursday, March 3. 2022. 

Dead bodies are put into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 as people cannot bury their dead because of the heavy shelling by Russian forces. 

Refugees fleeing war in neighboring Ukraine queue at the Medyka border crossing, Poland, Thursday, March 10, 2022.