Much of the international community has been watching on with horror as images of beam across the world and spread across social media.
Ukrainian citizens have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries, or find a place to shelter underground.
The Ukrainian government has banned men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country, in case they are needed to bear arms.
These are some of the most powerful photos to have emerged from the frontlines of the crisis so far.
A woman reacts next to her house following a rocket attack in Kyiv, Friday February 25, 2022. Source: AP / Emilio Morenatti/AP
A man reacts at the body of a relative outside a destroyed building on the eastern town of Chuguiv, February 24, 2022 Source: AFP / ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images
A woman in a house badly damaged by shellfire in Gorlovka, February 24 2022. Credit: Alexander Ryumin/TASS via Getty
The debris of a house in the aftermath of Russian shelling outside Kyiv on Thursday, February 24, 2022. Source: AP / Efrem Lukatsky/AP
Traffic jams are seen as people leave Kyiv, Thursday, February 24, 2022 Source: AP / Emilio Morenatti/AP
People rest in the Kyiv subway, using it as a bomb shelter in Kyiv, Thursday, February 24, 2022 Source: AP / Emilio Morenatti/AP
People take shelter in basements of their buildings damaged by bullets and cannonballs at Schastia town of Luhansk on February 22, 2022. Source: Anadolu / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A woman with her daughter waits for a train as they try to leave Kyiv, Thursday, February 24, 2022. Source: AP / Emilio Morenatti/AP
Police officers inspect an area after an apparent Russian strike in Kyiv, Thursday, February 24, 2022. Source: AP / Emilio Morenatti/AP
