A MOTHER and her two children were among the dead yesterday as merciless Russian troops fired on families fleeing the carnage in Ukraine.
At least eight people were killed when missiles rained down on hundreds of terrified locals as they ran across a bridge to escape the bombardment of Irpin near Kyiv.
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And tens of thousands remained trapped in the besieged port city of Mariupol when Russian President Vladimir Putin broke a ceasefire for the second day running.
The despot also continued to try to strangle Ukraine by going after infrastructure as his troops destroyed an airport and closed in on a hydroelectric power plant and a nuclear site.
Shocking footage of the strike which killed the family, thought to be a girl aged eight and her brother with their mum, was recorded by reporters.
A dozen soldiers were helping people carry bags across a bridge over the River Irpin when they were forced to scatter by incoming missiles.
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A soldier was telling one journalist how heartbroken families had been trying to bring their dead children out of the town when the missile slammed into the road just yards away.
Medics dashed across the road to tend to the family but the mother and her two children were killed instantly.
Only the father and the family dog — barking in terror in a small carrier — survived.
Harrowing photos taken during the aftermath show bodies draped under sheets with their precious suitcases alongside them.
And other pictures show four bodies sprawled on the roadside as two soldiers tend to them.
World leaders condemned yesterday’s horrific scenes and Boris Johnson discussed the “barbaric attacks” in a call with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A No 10 spokesman said: “The leaders discussed the increasing threat Russia’s barbaric attacks pose to Ukrainian civilians and the Prime Minister underlined the UK’s determination to ensure Putin fails.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared: “We’ve seen very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians which would constitute a war crime.”
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Desperate residents in besieged Mariupol were struggling with a fifth day of no water or power after an evacuation failed, just as it did on Saturday.
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.”
Hopes of a mercy mission to rescue the 200,000 trapped were dashed when a temporary ceasefire collapsed for a second day.
The Red Cross appealed for a ceasefire amid “desperate scenes of human suffering” which has left dozens dead and thousands without food, medicines and heating as temperatures plunged to -3C.
Distraught relatives have no idea if loved ones are still alive after phone lines and the internet were cut.
Valentina Boyarkina, 51, said she had not heard from son Anton, 28, or her 84-year-old mum for more than a week.
The train stewardess sobbed at a makeshift refugee camp: “The last time we spoke she said there was no electricity, no water and no heating.
‘WAR CRIMES’
“People have to get water from springs but they know that if they go outside they could be shelled at any time.”
Vadym Boychenko, mayor of the Black Sea port, said: “They’re destroying us.”
Thousands continue to flee their homes in Europe’s biggest refugee exodus since World War Two.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said more than 1.5 million people had been driven out since the start of the war — with the number likely to hit four million by July.
He branded it a “senseless war” and added: “Unless there is an immediate end to the conflict, millions more are likely to be forced to flee Ukraine.
“International solidarity has been heart-warming.
“But nothing can replace the need for the guns to be silenced. Peace is the only way to halt this tragedy.”
The train station in Kyiv was packed with people desperate to escape as explosions rocked the city.
The station in Lviv, in the west, was also crammed as people queued through the night in a bid to make it to Poland.
It comes as:
Other images captured today show fires burning as terrified civilians duck for cover with what few belongings they 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 the deranged despot’s main objective.
Two weeks ago, Ukrainians were living normal lives. They have now been forced to flee their homes as shells rain down.
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. They appear to be aiming towards Kyiv.
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Photos from cities and towns show the anguish of those running for their lives.
A mum in a red hoodie was captured running with her little girl, 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.
One video shows the moment a shell falls just a few feet away from a militiaman, sending civilians fleeing for lives.
Russian bombings of Kyiv and its surrounding towns have intensified after the vile invaders failed to capture to the capital.
People fleeing from Irpin and Bucha said their resolve to stay broke when Russian warplanes started circling overhead and dropping bombs on Friday.
“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.
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“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 shell-shocked 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.
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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.
The town of Bucha had witnessed the first fighting and parts of the area are now all but razed 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.
As the onslaught continues Ukraine claims that Russia has lost 11,000 troops and more than 2,000 army vehicles.
In just a single day on Saturday, 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.
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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, which 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 has issued a direct threat to Britain saying it “will not forget” support for Ukraine and warning of “tough retaliation”.
