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IMAGE: Galina Ivanenko, 77, sits in the central square in Izium. She never left the city because she was taking care of handicapped family members.
Izium was occupied by Russians since April 1, causing major destruction and death to the small city.
In recent weeks, Ukrainian forces reclaimed villages east and south of Kharkiv, as Russian forces have withdrawn from areas they occupied since early in the war. Photograph: Paula Bronstein /Getty Images
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IMAGE: Oleg Belik, 55, walks by a destroyed hospital after getting medical care for his foot. Photograph: Paula Bronstein /Getty Images
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IMAGE: A volunteer distributes food to residents in the town of Izium, recently liberated by Ukrainian forces. Photograph: Umit Bektas/Reuters
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IMAGE: Destroyed houses and cars. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters
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IMAGE: A man walks through the ruins of a building destroyed by recent shelling in the city of Kadiivka in the Luhansk region. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
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IMAGE: Men remove debris of a building destroyed by recent shelling. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
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IMAGE: Ukrainian soldiers hold national flags over coffins with the bodies of Bohdan Senyshyn, Maksym Shpennyk and Ihor Kasianov, recently killed in battles against Russian troops during their funeral in Lviv. Photograph: Pavlo Palamarchuk/Reuters
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IMAGE: A soldier gestures from a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters
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IMAGE: Locals ride past an exploded missile on the main road in the town of Balakliia. Photograph: Umit Bektas/Reuters
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IMAGE: A man stomps on a Russian flag in the town of Kupiansk. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout/Reuters
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IMAGE: Ukrainian soldiers repair a Russian tank captured during a counteroffensive operation near the Russian border in the Kharkiv region. Photograph: Sofiia Gatilova/Reuters
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IMAGE: A member of the Ukrainian National Guard uses a metal detector to checking an area recently liberated from the Russians. Photograph: Sofiia Gatilova/Reuters
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com