Russia terrorises Ukraine as Trump toys with Zelensky

Russian troops have pushed into the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk - and immediately begun the casual commission of war crimes, with the murder of at least three civilians who were trying to flee the invaders.

- SAM KILEY

In footage shared with The Independent, an elderly woman lies on the verge of a road by a level crossing not far from the railway tracks on the outskirts of the city. She is wounded, and still. A few yards away, a body lies on its back – inert, dead. Nearby, another victim lies collapsed next to the bicycle they had loaded with supplies before desperately bumping the wheels over the rails as the enemy approached. Slow and awkward, he or she must have been an easy target for Vladimir Putin's vanguard.

Another body, male, in blue jeans, is sprawled on the tracks themselves, while smoke curls from the ruins of a nearby home. One ray of light in the grim scene is an unknown man rescuing the injured woman and carrying her out of range of Russia's gunmen. These images were captured by a Ukrainian drone over Pokrovsk, which has been a tactical priority for Russia for more than a year - thousands of soldiers on both sides have perished in the battle that will now become a house-to-house conflict as the city is reduced to rubble.