Thread by @latimes

This is Ukraine now.

Eight years of fighting over the country’s breakaway Russian-backed eastern region have morphed into a vicious war for its existence.

Kyiv is virtually encircled. Kharkiv suffers a daily pummeling from shells and missiles.

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Swaths of the nation’s south have already fallen into Russian hands, as have parts of the east. A nuclear plant has been attacked; Russian shells rain on civilians, many of whom now sleep by the thousands in basements and subways.

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The violence has forced a mass exodus of more than a million people to neighboring European countries. Some fled by cars & buses, & others walked miles in 30-degree weather while relatives waited at border crossings.

But, there are fewer safe places.

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Russia announced a new cease-fire Monday to allow civilians to escape 4 Ukrainian cities. But, there is deep distrust.

2 previous cease-fires hardly got off the ground before Ukrainian officials said continued Russian shelling rendered them meaningless.

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In the village of Markhalivka, 13 miles southwest of Kyiv, an airstrike left a rubble-filled crater and killed six people — including a 12-year-old girl.

“Never in my life did I imagine this situation, and from Russia,” her father, Igor Majayev, said.

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A 500-mile drive through the country to outrun the start of the Russian blitz — from Shchastia in the disputed Donbas region to Kharkiv & back to the capital — underscores not only the challenges facing Moscow’s onslaught, but also the cost to Ukrainians.

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Many others said they were determined to protect their homes.

But Julia, who gave only her first name for reasons of safety, gave a simpler reason why she and her husband were still in Makariv: “We didn’t have time.”

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