Scared Ukrainian children have been pictured being led down into metro systems to shelter from Russian shelling as air raid sirens sound in somber echoes of World War Two.
Russia launched a full-scale attack on its neighbour in the early hours of Thursday morning with a massed assault by land, sea and air which is the biggest by one state against another in Europe since 1945.
Attempts at diplomacy and threats of sanctions proved futile as Vladimir Putin announced that Russian troops would enter the east of Ukraine.
He said his aim was to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine, claiming any hindrance would be met by "such consequences that you have never encountered in your history."
Shelling began soon after on Kyiv and other cities around the country forcing people to shelter in the metro system in scenes that Europeans hoped would never be repeated after WWll.
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Worried Ukrainian children could be seen huddling nervously together unaware what was happening.
Kids from Number One school in the city of Druzhkivka were taken down single file into the metro and some carried by adults, reported the BBC.
They were images similar to those in London during the Blitz from September 1940 to May 1941 when children sheltered with their family as Nazi planes dropped bombs overhead.
There were similar scenes in other metro systems around Ukraine including Kharkiv where children have been learning about safety and evacuation drills before the attack took place.
"We have started giving those drills for children more often to prevent situations such as children getting injured, or, God forbid, death," civilian defence specialist Oleksandr Shevchuk said last Monday.
"We ... let them try on our uniforms, bulletproof vests and helmets. Show them what explosive items can be, so that they can become aware of situations that may happen to them."
Student Nazar said: "This is quite relevant, given the situation that is generally developing between Ukraine and Russia. Yes, scary, very scary."
Metro stations in Kyiv have been transformed into shelters amid fears that the city could fall to Russian troops by the weekend.
The Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 137 Ukrainian civilians and military personnel had died so far along with 316 injured since the invasion started.
He said that “enemy sabotage groups” had already entered Kyiv and ordered all males aged 18 to 60 to conscript in the army and forbade them from leaving the country.
