Photos: Mariupol in crisis as maternity hospital bombed by Russia

Mariupol is in crisis. Russia has bombarded the city of 400,000 for a week, and efforts to establish a humanitarian corridor — a safe passage out for civilians — have so far failed. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of shelling the evacuation route, effectively trapping people inside Mariupol who have already been cut off from water and electricity and cellphone service for days. Food and medicine are running out, adding to a situation the United Nations has described as “dire.”

The crisis is still unfolding, but images and videos from the city show the harm already wrought in the two weeks since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Associated Press photojournalists Mstyslav Chernov and Evgeniy Maloletka captured images of a man rushing a wounded toddler into a Mariupol hospital Friday, and they captured the hospital workers trying, and failing, to save 18-month-old Kirill. They captured the grief of Kirill’s mother, and his mother’s boyfriend, and the hospital workers who now must prepare for triage. “Show this to Putin,” a doctor said, according to Maloletka and Mstysalv.

Marina Yatsko, left, runs behind her boyfriend Fedor, who is carrying her 18-month-old son Kirill into a Mariupol hospital on March 4.

Medical workers try to save 18-month-old Kirill.

Medical staff react after trying unsuccessfully to save Kirill’s life.

On Wednesday, five days later, a Russian strike destroyed a maternity hospital in Mariupol.

Ukrainian emergency workers and volunteers carry an injured pregnant woman away from a maternity hospital in Mariupol that was destroyed by shelling on March 9. The AP reported on March 14 that the woman, whose identity has not yet been verified, and her baby subsequently died.

An injured pregnant woman walks down the stairs to make her way out of the destroyed hospital.

These scenes are repeated across Ukraine. In Kyiv, thousands are still trying to flee, as skirmishes and shelling continue on the outskirts of the city, in places like Irpin. In Kharkiv, heavy shelling has destroyed homes, and forced residents underground, into subways.

The full toll of the war so far is difficult to know, but the United Nations has estimated more than 1,300 civilian casualties, as of March 8. More than 470 civilians have died, the UN said, though the actual figure is likely much higher. Almost 2 million civilians have escaped to Poland, Moldova, and Romania in two weeks, making this Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II. Most are women and children, as the men stay in Ukraine to fight.

Becky Bakr Abdulla, an adviser to the Norwegian Refugee Council who is currently based in Poland, said that most refugees she spoke to told her they fled Ukraine without a plan. And yet, she added, “there was no sign of them thinking that they would be able to return anytime soon.” —Jen Kirby

A member of a Territorial Defense unit guards a barricade close to the eastern frontline in Kyiv on March 5.

A Ukrainian serviceman takes a shooting position as he looks at approaching vehicles in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on March 9.

Members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Force stand guard next to anti-tank structures blocking the streets of central Kyiv on March 6.

A woman shelters behind a building as smoke and flames rise from a chemical warehouse that was hit by Russian shelling on the eastern front line near Kalynivka village in Kyiv on March 8.

A young girl sits in an improvised bomb shelter in Mariupol on March 7.

People queue up to receive a hot meal in a Mariupol bomb shelter on March 7.

A woman hugs her cat inside a subway wagon in a Kyiv underground metro station used as a bomb shelter on March 8.

Two people help another evacuate from Irpin as the city comes under heavy shelling on March 6.

Civilians walk past the burned-out shell of a car as they flee Irpin on March 8.

Irpin residents evacuate as Russian forces advance and continue to bombard the town with artillery on March 6.

Irpin residents flee heavy fighting via a destroyed bridge as Russian forces enter the city on March 7.

A family runs over the tracks as they race to board a Lviv-bound train, in Kyiv on March 3.

Aleksander, 41, presses his palms against the window as he says goodbye to his 5-year-old daughter at the Kyiv train station on March 4.

A family on an evacuation train says goodbye to a young man staying behind at the central train station in Odesa on March 6.

Children look out of the window of an unheated Lviv-bound train, in Kyiv on March 3.

A woman gestures as she looks out the window of a train carrying women and children fleeing fighting in Bucha and Irpin on March 4.

A crowd of people push to get on a train to Lviv at the Kyiv station in Ukraine on March 7.

People crouch and comfort each other aboard a train in Lviv as they prepare to leave the country on March 7.

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