How many buildings have been destroyed in Ukraine? How many limbs have been lost, how many children have been abused, how many refugees have had to flee? How many mothers and fathers, sons and daughters have been killed in 100 days?
How many dreams have been shattered?
There are no figures in a war that began at the end of winter, continued during the first and it is possible that it will last for the next seasons. The conflict unleashed by the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, defies statistics. This is a story best told with the stark images of human suffering and resistance.
In the 100 days of the war, Associated Press photographers have captured the terror: of people throwing themselves to the floor of a Mariupol hospital as bombs rain down around them, or of a crowd of refugees huddled under a bridge. They have immortalized the grieving tears of survivors and families torn apart by war.
They have shown us the joy of a soldier kicking a ball in the middle of the massacre and another leading an improvised choir. We have been shown the chilling image of a car driving on a road, seen through the sights of a Ukrainian sniper. We have been shown a landscape strewn with ruined buildings and the remains of Russian tanks.
And many bodies. Corpses in trenches, half-buried on hillsides, placed on sidewalks and lying in pools of blood or being carried in coffins. A dead soldier placed with his arms crossed on a metal barrier. An outstretched arm on the ground.
It is a country that has been transformed in the blink of an eye. A hundred days ago, the bathtubs were used to take a bath, now it is the place where a girl and her dog hide from the bombs.
What will it be like in 100 days?
