Russia-Ukraine war photos, videos show devastation as Putin regime amps up violence in urban areas

Russia-Ukraine war escalates on seventh day as shelling bombards second largest city of Kharkiv

Disturbing photos and videos have emerged from Ukraine on Wednesday as the second-largest city of Kharkiv continued to endure relentless shelling on the seventh day since Russian forces invaded.

The air assault on overpopulated urban areas of Ukraine continued even as Moscow said it would be ready to resume talks aimed at stopping the new devastating war in Europe.

In Kharkiv, with a population of about 1.5 million, at least six people were killed when the region’s administrative building on Freedom Square was hit with what was believed to be a missile. 

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A view of damaged regional police station building after a Russian missile attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 2, 2022 .  (State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A view of damaged regional police station building after a Russian missile attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 2, 2022 .  (State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Firefighters work to contain a fire in the complex of buildings housing the Kharkiv regional SBU security service and the regional police, allegedly hit during recent shelling by Russia, in Kharkiv on March 2, 2022.  ( SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images)

A view of damaged regional police station building after a Russian missile attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 2, 2022 .  (State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Firefighters work to contain a fire in the complex of buildings housing the Kharkiv regional SBU security service and the regional police, allegedly hit during recent shelling by Russia, in Kharkiv on March 2, 2022.  ( SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images)

The Slovenian Foreign Ministry said its consulate in Kharkiv, located in another large building on the square, was destroyed. The attack on the square — the nucleus of public life in the city — was seen by many Ukrainians as brazen evidence that the Russian invasion wasn’t just about hitting military targets. 

The bombardment blew out windows and walls of buildings that ring the square, piled high with debris and dust. Inside one building, chunks of plaster were scattered, and doors lay across hallways.

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A Russian strike also damaged the regional police and intelligence headquarters in Kharkiv, according to the Ukrainian state emergency service. It said three people were wounded.

The strike blew off the roof of the police building and set the top floor on fire, and pieces of the five-story building were strewn across adjacent streets, according to videos and photos released by the emergency service, according to The Associated Press. 

A man walks past the remains of Russian military vehicles in Bucha, close to the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Russia on Tuesday stepped up shelling of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, pounding civilian targets there.  (AP Photo/Serhii Nuzhnenko)

Smoke and flames are seen inside a damaged gym following shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Russian forces have escalated their attacks on crowded cities in what Ukraine’s leader called a blatant campaign of terror.   (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A man smokes a cigarette before leaving Poland to fight in Ukraine, at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, Wednesday, March 2, 2022.  (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

A journalist walks past a damaged gym following shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022.  (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

An armed man stands by the remains of a Russian military vehicle in Bucha, close to the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1, 2022.  (AP Photo/Serhii Nuzhnenko)

The Washington Post reported that a fierce firefight also ensued in Kharviv to drive away Russian "sabotage and reconnaissance groups" from a military hospital.

As President Biden delivered his first State of the Union address in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, a 40-mile convoy of hundreds of Russian tanks and other vehicles advanced slowly on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital city of nearly 3 million people, in what the West feared was a bid by Russian President Vladimir Putin to topple the government and install a Kremlin-friendly regime.

A Ukrainian volunteer carries camouflage nets at a distribution center in Lviv, western Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022.  (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Ukrainian volunteers sort donated foods for later distribution to the local population while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appears on television in Lviv, western Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022.  (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Ukrainian volunteers load food into a van to be distributed to the local population in Lviv, western Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022.  (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Ukrainian volunteers sort food donations for later distribution to the local population in Lviv, western Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Russia renewed its assault Wednesday on Ukraine’s second-largest city in a pounding that lit up the skyline with balls of fire over populated areas, even as Moscow said it would be ready to resume talks aimed at stopping the new devastating war in Europe.  (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Fire engines are pictured during the response effort to the shelling of Russian invaders outside the Kharkiv Regional State Administration building in Svobody (Freedom) Square on Tuesday, March 1, Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine.  (Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Civilians walk by Ukraine residents who use an underground metro station as bomb shelter in Kyiv on March 2, 2022.  (ARIS MESSINIS/STF/AFP via Getty Images)

People wait at a train station to board trains in an attempt to flee the fighting in Kyiv on March 2, 2022 in Kyiv, Turkey.  (Murat Saka/ dia images via Getty Images)

Another Russian airstrike hit a residential area in the city of Zhytomyr. 

Ukraine’s emergency services said Tuesday’s strike killed at least two people, burned three homes and broke the windows in a nearby hospital. About 85 miles west of Kyiv, Zhytomyr is the home of the elite 95th Air Assault Brigade, which may have been the intended target.

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So far, there have been at least 500 casualties and 136 confirmed dead. 

Roughly 874,000 people have fled Ukraine and the U.N. refugee agency warned the number could cross the 1 million mark soon. Countless others have taken shelter underground.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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