AP photos from Ukraine in 2024 convey wartime horror and hope

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Firefighters extinguish a fire after a Russian attack on a residential neighborhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Yevhen Titov)

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A man falls down to death from a burning apartment window after Russia’s guided air bomb strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

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A woman cries during the funeral ceremony of Ihor Kusochek, Ukrainian soldier of the Azov brigade in Bobrovytsia, Chernihiv region, Ukraine, Friday Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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Olha Faichuk, 79, kisses her neighbor as she is evacuated from her home, which was heavily damaged by a Russian airstrike in Lukiantsi, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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Ukrainian soldiers of the 3rd assault brigade fly an FPV exploding drone over Russian positions in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Aug. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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A Ukrainian serviceman in protective suit demonstrates grenade launcher to women during a training course for national resistance for local population in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Friday, Sept.13, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

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Natalia Sheleshei, 39, with her children Yehor, 12, and Anastasia, 5, wait for the return of Serhii at their apartment in Kyiv, Ukraine on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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A boy dives into the water during training in Kyiv’s Liko Diving School, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

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Security guards search captured Russian soldiers with a metal detector at the prisoner of war detention center in Ukraine’s Lviv region, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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A man lies on the ground as he watches his burning house destroyed by a Russian airstrike in Vovchansk, Ukraine, on Saturday, May 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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Children wearing traditional outfits wait before performing songs during a show of traditions for Masnytsia, a holiday that originates in pagan times, celebrating the end of winter, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

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Emergency services work at the site of Okhmatdyt children’s hospital hit by Russian missiles, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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A shell-shocked Ukrainian soldier of the Azov brigade sits at the stabilization point after arriving from the front line, near Toretsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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Mother and teacher prepare the girls to practice in a ballet studio in a bomb shelter in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

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A man crosses a street downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

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People bid farewell and lay flowers in the coffin of fallen Ukrainian serviceman Vadym Popelniuk, born in 1991, during a religious service in Independence Square in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

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An elderly man plays chess with a boy training him to perfect his game in Taras Shevchenko Park, in Kyiv Ukraine, Sunday, April 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

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Local residents sit on a bench near the building damaged by a Russian airstrike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Yevhen Titov)

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People mourn near the coffins of Yaroslav Bazylevych’s family members during the funeral service in the Garrison Church in Lviv, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Mykola Tys)

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Yulia Ponomarenko kisses her newborn baby Marianna, at the maternity hospital №7 in Odesa, Ukraine, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024 (AP Photo/Nina Lyashonok)

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Stanislav, an injured Russian prisoner of war, lies in bed at the detention center in Ukraine’s Lviv region, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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A Ukrainian tank passes by a burning car near the Russian-Ukrainian border, Sumy region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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A Ukrainian serviceman hugs his comrade after returning from captivity during a POWs exchange in Sumy region, Ukraine, Friday, May 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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The crowd reacts as the performer who goes by the name ‘the Coma Coma’, and an active serviceman of the Hroza battalion, performs during the Kvartyrynka music festival in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

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A Ukrainian serviceman of the 110th brigade pets dogs on his position at the frontline on Pokrovsk direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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A damaged monument to Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin stands in a central square in Sudzha, Kursk region, Russia, Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. This image was approved by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry before publication. (AP Photo)

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Rescuers help elderly residents to leave their damaged home after Russia’s guided air bomb hit an apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

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Vladyslava Kulinich, right, Tetiana Nosova, who have the clown names Lala and Zhuzha, prepare to perform at Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anton Shtuka)

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Cadets turn on their flashlights to commemorate 659 Ukrainian children, who were killed during the war with Russia, in a military lyceum on World Children’s Day in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

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Crows fly above multi-storey apartment buildings during a blackout in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A man falls to his death from the window of a burning apartment after a Russian air strike. Two girls in pink tutus join a ballet class in a bomb shelter.

The grisly evidence of war is everywhere in Ukraine, where, for a third year, soldiers and civilians are enduring the Russian army’s onslaught.

AP photographers have traveled across the country, capturing the agony and the life-affirming joy witnessed in the conflict.

Bombs and missiles have turned residential neighborhoods into fiery infernos, while relentless attacks have destroyed homes, hospitals and schools.

Evacuations in front-line areas tear apart Ukrainian communities. The elderly are wrenched away from their longtime homes and neighbors.

AP photos have evoked the grief and the poignancy of funerals for fallen soldiers and for families killed by the Russian shelling. Open coffins, including those of children, provide a glimpse of the tragedy.

The United Nations accuses Russia of numerous human rights violations in Ukraine. They include aiming at civilian targets, devastating attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, and the forced transfer and deportation of children.

Not PARSE.LY: Ukraine

NATO chief warns that Putin wants long-term confrontation with Europe after Ukraine

France’s Macron and Poland’s Tusk insist Ukraine must be at the heart of any potential peace talks

Russian forces edge closer to a key eastern Ukraine city in ‘intense’ fighting, officials say

By the end of October, the UN estimated that the war had killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians and injured almost 27,000.

Despite the suffering and hardship, civilians carry on with some everyday activities that wouldn’t be out of place in peacetime.

In northeastern Ukraine, about 20 young girls assemble for ballet lessons at the Princess Ballet Studio, where the windowless room doubles as a bomb shelter amid almost hourly air raids.

Children leap into the water at Kyiv’s Liko Diving School. Another boy looks thoughtful as he learns chess strategy from an elderly man in one of the Ukrainian capital’s public parks.

Clowns perform at a children’s hospital. Young people wave their arms and dance at a festival concert featuring an active serviceman in Ukraine’s Hroza battalion.

Yet, amid the bleakness and destruction, life goes on. At maternity hospital №7 in Odesa, Yulia Ponomarenko kisses her newborn baby Marianna.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine