HORROR pictures show the moment a column of refugees came under attack by a Russian artillery barrage in Ukraine.
At least eight people were killed when the mortar fire came raining down while men, women and children attempted to flee from Irpin near Kyiv.
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Dozens of people were left running for their lives in the assault on the city which has already come under heavy bombardment from Russia.
And this latest attack on civilians comes as Russia again broke a ceasefire agreement for the second time in two days in Mariupol.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence confirmed that Putin’s forces had promised to let people escape – but once again Russian shelling resumed before refugees could leave.
Officials said this afternoon: “For the second day in a row, a ceasefire agreement to enable the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol failed.
“The ceasefire was scheduled between 10am and 9pm local time, but the agreement was violated within hours of its planned implementation.”
In some of the most harrowing images of the conflict so far, a whole family were hit as a shell fell in the middle of the evacuee route in Irpin.
It is understood the mum, teenage son and little daughter – who was around 8 – were killed in the strike.
Pictures in the aftermath show bodies draped under sheets with their precious suitcases alongside of them.
And other pictures – which The Sun Online has chosen not to publish – show four bodies sprawled on the roadside as two soldiers tend to them.
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Around them are strewn their bags – and a green carrier which appears to be containing their pet dog, who was barking after the strike.
The pet carrier and the remains of the people’s belongings are later seen piled up next to the roadside as their bodies lie still beneath the covers.
It is the latest atrocity committed by Vladimir Putin in his senseless, horrific and bloody war on Ukraine.
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Other images show fires burning as terrified civilians duck for cover with what few belongings could carry in shopping bags and suitcases.
Irpin – which is around 15 miles from the centre of Kyiv – has been besieged by the Russians since Friday.
Putin’s army continues its grinding advance towards the capital – which remains Putin’s main objective.
It comes as:
Two weeks ago these people would have had normal lives – and now they have been forced to leave their homes and flee.
Russia yesterday breached their own ceasefire agreement within hours of it being rolled out – leaving 200,000 people trapped in Mariupol.
And elsewhere, Putin’s men have been accused of dropping 500kg bombs on civilians in Chernihiv.
Video also showed rocket launchers firing in Peremoha some 40 miles from the capital – and they appeared to be firing towards Kyiv.
And in Irpin the brutal bombardment also continues.
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Photos show a mum in a red hoodie running with her hand clutching her daughter who is wearing a dinosaur jacket as smoke rises behind them.
Elsewhere, a dad clutches his child sporting a pink pom pom hat as fires burn in Irpin.
Photos show civilians are left sprawled on the ground as they cower from the incoming fire.
And one video shows the moment a shell falls just a few feet away from a militiaman, sending civilians fleeing for lives.
Pictures from the aftermath show Ukrainian soldiers tending to the wounded – with two people lying on the ground surrounded by their suitcases and a pet carrier.
The shelling of Irpin is just the latest outrage committed by Russia in a war which has been received international condemnation.
It comes as Russian bombings of Kyiv and its surrounding towns intensify after they failed to capture to the capital in last week’s shock invasion.
People fleeing from Irpin and Bucha said their resolve to stay broke when Russian warplanes started circling overhead and dropping bombs on Friday.
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“Warplanes. They are bombing residential areas — schools, churches, big buildings, everything,” accountant Natalia Dydenko said after a quick glance back at the destruction she left behind.
The 58-year-old was one of thousands of people walking with their children and whatever belongings they could carry down a road leading toward central Kyiv and away from the front.
“It began two days ago. It wasn’t as heavy before, but two days ago it started getting really heavy,” Natalia said.
People have been trying to get to the remains of a bridge leading to Kyiv over the Irpin River which Ukrainian forces blew up last week to stall the Russian advance.
Ukrainian soldiers with assault rifles swinging off their shoulders have helped wheelchair-bound pensioners and mothers with prams cross a few wooden planks tossed over the river on Saturday.
Thousands of people massed in stony silence under the shattered remains of the original concrete bridge while awaiting their turn to pass.
A group of soldiers was digging anti-tank missile launchers into foxholes on the Kyiv side of the river.
Another group was preparing new supplies of shoulder-launched missiles and Kalashnikovs that could be ferried back across the wooden planks toward the front.
Galina Vasylchenko decided to flee when Russian fighters bombed her home.
“We were waiting it out. But yesterday, when a plane flew by and dropped something on us, we simply had to run,” she said.
Russian warplanes have struck and killed dozens in the central town of Chernihiv and the eastern city of Kharkiv in the past week.
Now analysts fear Kyiv’s heritage – as well as a plethora of churches that answer to the Moscow patriarchate – could be razed by Russian jets.
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The town of Bucha had witnessed the first fighting and parts of the area are now all but cleared to the ground.
That same level of violence is now raining down on Irpin.
A supermarket and petrol station were destroyed on Friday while soldiers ushered residents on buses out of the town.
Thousands more piled their belongings into cars and tried to get out of Irpin but were hit by a queue of cars three miles long.
It comes as 1.45 million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion began ten days ago, according to the U.N.-affiliated Organization for Migration in Geneva.
It predicted the total number of refugees could swell to 4million, to become the biggest such crisis this century.
Most have arrived in Poland and other neighbouring European Union countries, with the bloc granting people fleeing Ukraine temporary protection and residency permits.
Some are starting to make their way to countries further afield.
More than 100,000 have reached Slovakia, with many planning to continue to Czech Republic.
Hundreds arrive daily by train in the German capital, Berlin and further away in Italy, 10,000 refugees have arrived, 40 percent of them children.
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Meanwhile, as the onslaught continues Ukraine claims that Russia has lost 11,000 troops and more than 2,000 army vehicles.
And yesterday, Russia is believed to have lost nine aircraft and had a number of pilots captured.
It comes as Britain’s Chief of the Defence Staff said Russia had “got itself into a mess” over the invasion of Ukraine.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme that morale in the Russian forces was low and that the Kremlin had lost more troops in a week than the UK did in 20 years in Afghanistan.
“We do know that some of the lead elements of Russian forces have been decimated by the Ukrainian response,” he said.
But Sir Tony warned Russia could ramp up its aggressive tactics as forces continue to stall in the battlefield.
“I think there is a real risk because Russia is struggling with its objectives on the ground in Ukraine – and we’ve seen from Russia’s previous actions in Syria and in Chechnya – where it will turn up the violence, it will lead to more indiscriminate killing and more indiscriminate destruction,” he said.
“We have to keep applying the pressure to Russia that this is outrageous and that the sense that because your invasion isn’t going very well, that you just become more and more reckless in applying violence is totally unacceptable.”
Russia is being strangled by Western sanctions with Putin raged were almost a “declaration of war” against them.
And he also warned that anyone who attempts to enforce a no fly zone over Ukraine will be considered to have entered the conflict.
Russia also issued a direct threat to Britain tonight saying it “will not forget” support for Ukraine and warning of “tough retaliation”.
And VISA and Mastercard have announced they are suspending operations in Russia in what’s seen as a massive blow to the country’s economy.
The move will see credit and debit cards issued by Russian banks null and void outside the country.
