Walking stick in hand, the elderly woman gingerly crosses the wreckage of a bridge as she tries to flee her bombed home.
The harrowing image captures the terror faced by so many like her but also, the bravery shining through.
While many women have taken up arms and are fighting for their country, others are simply fighting to stay alive.
And as the onslaught continues, as the world marks International Women’s Day, Ukraine ’s mothers, daughters and sisters continue to show their strength and defiance.
The journey ahead for this woman will be long as she escapes, with others from the town of Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, after days of heavy shelling.
It is a journey many have already undertaken.
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Mariia Yevdokymova says she has cried only once since the war began.
For nine days, along with her mother, younger sister, father and 86-year-old great-grandmother, the third-year medical student from the historic port city of Odessa, held her nerve at home, determined to stay and face down the Russians.
But with growing fears of an aerial bombardment of the city where she grew up, on Saturday the family, with the exception of Mariia’s father who has stayed behind to fight, made the treacherous journey to the border.
“It has been difficult,” explains Mariia. “But we have to be strong. I have only cried once since the war began, when we got to Moldova.
"When we crossed the border and stopped hearing the bombs and the sirens. When we couldn’t hear those sounds any more I suddenly cried. I realised what had happened. Now though, I feel stronger again. I will be strong for my family and our country. Our future is very unclear but when all this is over, we will be back to rebuild.”
As the world marks International Women’s Day, the strength of Mariia and the women of Ukraine has been breathtaking.
The many stories of their acts of defiance, courage and compassion have brought people across the globe to a standstill, from the hundreds of thousands who have made exhausting and perilous journeys to bring their families to safety in bordering countries like Poland, Romania and Hungary, to the millions more striving to keep their loved ones safe at home as Russian shells and bullets rain down.
As Russian authorities clamp down on information, outlawing the very use of the word war in relation to their barbaric invasion of their next-door neighbour, Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska (CORR) is fighting to make sure ordinary people in Russia learn the truth.
In a powerful post to her 2.3 million Instagram followers as she shared heartbreaking pictures of Ukrainian children who have been killed in attacks, she wrote: “When people in Russia say that their troops are not hurting the civilian population, show them these pictures! Show them the faces of these children who weren’t even given a chance to grow up.”
She added: “Show these photos to Russian women - your husbands, brothers, compatriots are killing Ukrainian children!”
Right across the country and from many walks of life, women have taken up arms, bolstering the tens of thousands already working with Ukraine’s armed forces.
MP Kira Rudik tweeted a picture of herself holding a Kalashnikov the day after war broke out.
“I’m so angry right now,” she later said. “I’m a woman, I have to bear arms and fight the tyrannies of those who want to take what is ours. When you are very angry, there is no place for the fear, I will be afraid afterwards. Right now I will have to get very strong, train and make sure that we have all of the supplies we need.”
Fellow MP Lesia Vasylenko, whose three children have been evacuated from their home in the capital Kyiv, told how she kept her weapon with her at all times, saying: “I sleep with it, I work with it, I go to the bathroom with it, do I have a choice? No I don’t have a choice.”
Beauty Queen Anastasia Lenna, who represented her country in the 2015 Miss Grand International beauty contest, has also signed up to fight. She wrote on her Instagram page: “Nobody can stop new life! Nobody can stop us! Every day our woman bring new babies. Our nation is powerful and strong! I dedicate my time to volunteering for my country.”
And while many have made their way out of Ukraine to safety, others have made their way back to join the fight.
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Mother-of-two Yulia Peliukh-Korniichuk, who along with her husband moved to the Czech Republic in January for work, leaving their children in Ukraine with family, returned last week.
“I want to see my children,” said Yulia. “I want to see my mother.”
And while she vowed to take up arms to fight for her country, Yulia said conflict was not what she wanted.
“I want peace,” she said. “I don’t want war... I don’t want to die our soldiers (CORR), our Ukrainian soldiers. They are very brave. And also Ukrainian women are brave with them and I think that we will be OK. We will win.”
Preparations to fight were underway even before Russia’s invasion, with 79-year-old Valentyna Konstantynovska from Mariupol attending military training earlier in February.
Valentyna, who was taught how to use an AK-47 assault rifle by the Ukrainian national guard, said: “I’m ready to shoot if something happens. I will defend my home, my city, my children.”
Grandmother Raisa Smatko showed her support for the defence effort by preparing Molotov cocktails for the fighters. The retired economist said she was prepared to defend her part of Kyiv district against invaders, saying: “We are ready to greet them.”
With people using any and all means available to fight back against the Russians, Liubov Tsybulska, an advisor to the Ukranian government, reported that a woman had managed to bring down a Russian drone with a jar of pickled cucumbers launched from her balcony.
“Ukrainian women are strong and resourceful,” says Mariia. “Partly because of our Soviet Union past, where everyone had to work, it’s very common for Ukrainian women to be the matriarch, the leader in their family. Throughout my life I’ve been told to be strong and to work hard to succeed. We are tough, and all that will pay off for us. We are especially tough now.”
They are compassionate too.
Nataliya Ableyeva, 58, brought a stranger’s children to safety in Hungary where they were reunited with their mother after border guards stopped their father from leaving Ukraine. “Their father simply handed over the two kids to me, and trusted me, giving me their passports to bring them over,” she said.
Helping elsewhere of course are the emergency services, risking their lives to help both fighters and civilians.
Paramedic Valentyna Pushych paid the ultimate price when she was shot on her way to evacuate injured people from the outskirts of the capital. She was buried on Saturday.
Doctor Marina Kalabina was killed last week when her car came under fire as she took her wounded nephew to a hospital in the village of Kukhari in Kyiv.
And as Ukraine’s brave women each play their part, for now Mariia, whose great-grandmother lived through World War Two, is focused on her family and hopes to reach out soon to her young students still living under threat from Russia.
“We are all doing our best to support one another,” says Mariia. “Before we left Ukraine my family and I cooked broth and pies for the territorial defence and brought them clothes and blankets, whatever we could find to help.
"We have now left as things were getting so dangerous, but many of my students have stayed in Odessa. Last week I ran an online English class for them as a distraction from everything that was going on. It helped.
"Once I have secure internet again I will try to pick that up again. We need to stay focused and strong and remember who we are. Ukraine will come through this, soon I hope, and we have to be ready.”
A sense of Ukraine’s extraordinary spirit of strength and defiance was conveyed on day one of the war when footage of a woman walking fearlessly towards a heavily armed Russian soldier was shared on social media platforms around the world, as she demanded to know: “What the f*** are you doing in our land with all these guns?” calling Russian troops “occupiers” and “enemies”.
Stunned onlookers filmed as she fearlessly confronted the soldier in the port city of Henichesk, berating him as he and others tried to talk her down.
Using the powerful symbol of her country’s national flower as she challenged him, she said: “Take these seeds and put them in your pockets so at least sunflowers will grow when you all lie down here.”
That remarkable courage has carried on ever since, with President Zelensky’s wife Olena last week reflecting Ukraine’s dignity and unstoppable fighting spirit as she addressed her two million followers on Instagram.
“Today I will not have panic and tears,” she wrote. “I will be calm and confident. My children are looking at me. I will be next to them. And next to my husband. And with you.”
