A Russian force advancing on Kyiv fired mortar shells on Sunday at a battered bridge used by evacuees fleeing the fighting, sending panicked civilians running and leaving three members of a family dead on the pavement. Crowds of hundreds have clustered around the damaged bridge over the Irpin River since Saturday. Ukrainian forces had blown up the bridge earlier to slow the Russian advance. Only a dozen or so Ukrainian soldiers were in the immediate area of the bridge on Sunday, not fighting but helping carry civilians’ luggage and children. To cross a hundred yards or so of exposed street on the side of the bridge closer to Kyiv, people seeking to flee to the capital formed small groups and made a run for it together. Soldiers ran out, picked up children or luggage, and ran for cover behind a cinder block wall. The mortar shells fell first 100 or so yards from the bridge, then shifted in a series of thunderous blasts into a section of street where people were fleeing.A New York Times team, including the photojournalist Lynsey Addario; a security adviser; and Andriy Dubchak, the freelance journalist who filmed the scene; witnessed the moment that civilians were fired upon
A New York Times team, including Andriy Dubchak, the freelance journalist who filmed this scene, the photojournalist Lynsey Addario and a security adviser, witnessed the moment that civilians were fired upon in Irpin, just outside Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. As the mortars got closer to the stream of civilians, people ran, pulling children, trying to find a safe spot. But there was nothing to hide behind. A shell landed in the street, sending up a cloud of concrete dust and leaving one family — a mother, a father, a teenage son and a daughter who appeared about 8 years old — sprawled on the ground. Soldiers rushed to help, but the woman and children were dead. The father still had a pulse but was unconscious and severely wounded.
via nytimes: Russian forces fire on evacuees, leaving at least 3 people dead outside Kyiv