Ukrainians live moments of terror after Russian warplanes began to fly in circles and drop bombs on Friday, for which the people of Irpin and Bucha decided to flee their homes.

Heartbreaking footage of hundreds of people sheltering under a destroyed bridge as they flee Russian airstrikes underscores the terror people feel being caught in the middle of Russia’s conflict with Ukraine.

In the photos, residents of Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, huddle under the blown-up bridge to protect themselves from shelling, while Ukrainian soldiers with assault rifles help retirees in wheelchairs and mothers with prams to cross. some wooden boards were thrown into the river on Saturday, as published by The Sun, this Saturday.

“Fighter planes. They’re bombing residential areas: schools, churches, big buildings, everything,” accountant Natalia Dydenko said after a quick glance at the destruction left behind.

People have been desperately trying to reach the remains of a bridge leading to Kiev over the Irpin River that Ukrainian forces blew up last week to stop the Russian advance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Saturday that Ukraine’s statehood is in jeopardy and compared Western sanctions against Russia to a “declaration of war”, while a promised ceasefire in the port city of Mariupol collapsed amid scenes of terror in the besieged town.

With the Kremlin’s rhetoric growing increasingly fierce and a respite from the dissolution of fighting, Russian troops continued to shell the encircled cities and the number of Ukrainians forced to flee their country rose to 1.4 million, The Associated Press reported.

Heartbroken mothers mourned slain children, wounded soldiers were given tourniquets, and doctors worked by the light of their cell phones as desolation and despair washed over them. Putin continued to blame everything squarely on the Ukrainian leadership and criticized their resistance to the invasion.

Russian warplanes attacked and killed dozens in the central city of Chernihiv and the eastern city of Kharkiv last week.