A monument of Taras Shevchenko, a Ukrainian poet and a national symbol, is covered with bags to protect it from Russian shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2022. The bronze, 16-meter high monument was placed in 1935, survived WWII and is considered one of the world's best monuments to Shevchenko. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
By The Associated Press
A 16-meter-high bronze monument to Taras Shevchenko, a national hero in Ukraine, survived World War II. Ukrainians have shielded it with countless layers of sandbags in hopes it also will survive Russian attacks.
Shevchenko’s right arm is outstretched, clenched with a fist at the end, while he holds the folds of his garments in the other hand. The monument in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv is one of many signs of Ukrainian resolve that has endured through 32 days.
Full Coverage: Photography In another part of the country at a battle-damaged shop, the words “Glory to Ukraine” are written next to graffiti depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Images captured by The Associated Press also show lonely walks among damaged buildings, piles of rubble and bullet-ridden vehicles. Others show collective grieving by both sides.
Five men leaning over a gravesite in the Yuzhne, Odessa region of Ukraine use rope to lower a casket holding the remains of Ukrainian serviceman Oleksiy Lunyov into the ground. Dozens look on, including one with his hands crossed in front and his head bowed, and another ready with a shovel of dirt to fill the grave of the man killed during a Russian missile attack.
In another photograph taken in Kara-Balta, west of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, a mother wearing a blue floral headscarf clenches a handkerchief and cries during a farewell ceremony for her son, Russian Army soldier Rustam Zarifulin.
A Ukrainian serviceman walks outside the regional administration building that was heavily damaged after a Russian attack earlier this month in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
A part of a mortar shell sticks out of the asphalt in Stoyanka, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
A woman sits inside a coffee shop in Lviv, western Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)
Graffiti depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin and the words "Glory to Ukraine" cover the blinds of a battle-damaged shop in Stoyanka, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Men lower the coffin of Ukrainian serviceman Oleksiy Lunyov into his gravesite in Yuzhne, Odessa region, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2022. Lunyov was killed during a Russian missile attack in Mykolaiv on March 18. (AP Photo/Max Pshybyshevsky)
A cat sits in a pet carrier as refugees fleeing the war from neighboring Ukraine pass the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland, Sunday, March 27, 2022. More than 3.7 million people have fled the war so far, Europe's largest exodus since World War II. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
A church is damaged after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
The mother of Russian Army soldier Rustam Zarifulin, who was killed fighting in Ukraine, cries surrounded by relatives during a farewell ceremony in his hometown of Kara-Balta, west of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Sunday, March 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Vladimir Voronin)
A Russian soldier killed during combats against the Ukrainian army lies in a corn field in Sytnyaky on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
The windshield of an abandoned truck is riddled by bullets in Stoyanka, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
A journalist walks amid the destruction after a Russian attack in Byshiv on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
