In besieged towns and cities around Ukraine on Saturday, smoke rose from destroyed buildings and burned-out cars. Soldiers patrolled deserted, debris-filled streets. And hospitals struggled to treat the injured, provide shelter and deliver babies.
Meanwhile, the exodus of refugees from the country continued. There were tearful goodbyes at train stations, and tears of joy when some family members were united across the border in Poland.
Among the images captured by Associated Press photographers on Day 17 of the war there were also pictures of defiance — from a welder working on tire-deflating spikes to a refugee with fingernails painted the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
Soldiers walk on a path as smoke billows from the town of Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
A man plays with a child before she boards a Lviv bound train, in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
A Ukrainian welder builds a tire deflation stringer spike system in Lviv, western Ukraine, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Women and children sit on the floor of a corridor in a hospital in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A woman on a Lviv bound train cries while she bids goodbye to a man in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Smoke from shelling rises as a wreath of flowers is placed at a cemetery in Vasylkiv south west of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Tatianna, left, who fled the war from Ukraine reunites with her daughter Katerina who is living in Poland as she arrives at the Przemysl train station, southeastern Poland, on Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A Ukrainian serviceman walks near the position he was guarding in Mariupol, Ukraine, Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Refugees that fled the war in Ukraine, with their pets and belongings wait at the Przemysl train station, southeastern Poland, on Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
A tram damaged by shelling sits at a tram depot, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Marienko)
Refugees fleeing the war from neighboring Ukraine sit in the waiting room of the Suceava railway station, in Suceava, Romania, Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
Medical workers hold a newborn girl Alana close to her mother after a cesarian section at a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022. Alana’s mother had to be evacuated from another maternity hospital and lost some of her toes after it was shelled. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A refugee with painted fingernails for Ukraine holds a suitcase while waiting at the Przemysl train station, southeastern Poland, on Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
A fire burns at an apartment building after it was hit by the shelling of a residential district in Mariupol, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Refugee that fled the war in Ukraine rest at the Przemysl train station, southeastern Poland, on Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
Poland’s soldier helps a refugee who fled the war from Ukraine at the Medyka border crossing in Poland, on Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A resident passes by cars burnt in the Russian shellfire as he flees from his hometown on the road towards Kyiv, in the town of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Refugees that fled the war in Ukraine wait at the Przemysl train station, southeastern Poland, on Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
Ukrainians pick clothes inside a cinema turned aid center in Lviv, western Ukraine, Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Refugees fleeing the war from neighboring Ukraine switch platforms at the Suceava railway station, in Suceava, Romania, Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)