On Monday, The New York Timesreported on a family trying to escape the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv — and were killed by Russian munitions as they tried to cross a disabled bridge.
"On Sunday, as Ukrainian refugees were milling near the entrance to the structure, calculating their odds of making it safely over the Irpin River, a family laden with backpacks and a blue roller suitcase decided to chance it," reported Lynsey Addario and Andrew Kramer. "The Russian mortar hit just as they made it across into Kyiv. A cloud of concrete dust lofted into the morning air. When it settled, Ukrainians could be seen running madly from the scene. But not the family. A mother and her two children lay still on the roadway, along with a family friend."
As the report noted, this came the same day that Vladimir Putin reiterated his denial that Russian forces were targeting civilian refugees trying to escape from battle zones — even though "only a handful of Ukrainian troops were near the bridge when mortar shells began raining down." Furthermore, "The soldiers there were not engaged in combat but in helping refugees carry their children and luggage toward the capital."
Putin has repeatedly claimed that his invasion of Ukraine is merely a security operation to protect the so-called "independent republics" in the east of the country, founded by separatist rebels backed by the Kremlin.
In recent weeks it has become reports have emerged that even many younger Russians are rejecting state TV in favor of outside news telling the real story; Putin's regime is now banning the use of key social networks disseminating the information.