In Pics| Deaths, destruction and devastation: 6 months of Russia-Ukraine war

Six months back, Russia's President announced "special military operation" in Ukraine after months of simmering tensions.

Russian forces started attacking military facilities and later residential buildings in Ukraine.

As Russian bombs fell on Kyiv and its residents huddled in metro stations for shelter or crammed train stations to flee, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made clear he would go nowhere

Within hours of the invasion, Russia landed commandos at Antonov airfield, a cargo base just north of Kyiv, to secure an air bridge for a lightning assault on the capital.

In mid-May, an entire battalion of Russian troops was wiped out trying to cross the Siverskiy Donets River. Satellite photos showed dozens of destroyed armoured vehicles scattered across either bank.

In last six months, the world has seen hundreds of heartbreaking pictures from the war-hit country.

Ukraine President Zelenskiy went on to rally his country in nightly addresses, his combat fatigues, sparse stubble and casual but firm speaking style becoming symbols of Ukraine's resistance.

There are also moments of bold energy such as rifle-carrying woman waving a Ukrainian flag in the intensely blue sky as Kyiv monastery's tower rises in the background.

Inhabitants of Kyiv flee the city after pre-offensive missile strikes by the Russian armed forces and Belarus on 24 February

The body of a Russian serviceman lies half covered by snow next to a destroyed Russian military vehicle on the roadside outside Kharkiv on 26 February

Passengers cram on to a platform at the main railway station as they try to flee Kyiv on 4 March

Residents file past destroyed Russian military machinery in Bucha, retaken by the Ukrainian army, on 6 April