AP PHOTOS: Hope amid a few surviving flowers in Ukraine city

Anna Shevchenko waters the few surviving flowers outside her destroyed home in the Ukrainian town of Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv. The house, built by the 35-year-old woman’s grandparents, was leveled during Russian bombing in late March.

But in her beloved flowerbed this week, some roses, lilies, peonies and daffodils survived, giving her hope. “It is new life. So I tried to save my flowers,” she said.

The house was left a pile of splintered wood, a closet filled with the family’s dust- and debris-covered clothing visible amid the destruction. In one day, the family lost their house and Shevchenko’s father lost his leg to an explosion as he tried to flee Irpin.

Shevchenko’s flowers were among signs of Ukrainian resilience and resistance during a week of devastating death and loss in the war. In Irpin alone, block upon block of homes were destroyed.

In Zaporizhzhia, Vera Velakanova and Lyudmila Vondarenko were among the many residents who gathered in cemeteries on Sunday, the day Ukrainians mark the day of the dead. The women ate lunch at a table amid the tombstones in the Kapustyanyy cemetery.Vera Velakanova, left, and Lyudmila Vondarenko eat some food at the Kapustyanyy cemetery during the day that Ukrainians mark as the day of the dead, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Sunday, May 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Sunday was also the day that some 100 women, children and the elderly were the first to be evacuated from a steel plant in the strategic port of Mariupol where they had been under Russian bombardment for weeks along with about 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers in the tunnels beneath the Azovstal steelworks. They arrived in Zaporizhzhia a day later.

The week was also marked by horrific images that offered a rare glimpse of the death and atrocities of the war. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which has been under sustained Russian attack since the beginning of the war in late February, bodies were everywhere.

Among them was the charred corpse of a man, unidentifiable, propped on an anti-tank barrier made of crossed I-beams outside the town, which has been under the control of both sides in recent days.

Elsewhere, the body of another man lay face down in an apartment as Russian bombardments continued in a village recently retaken by Ukrainian forces near Kharkiv.

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This gallery contains graphic content. Kateryna Hodza, 85, and her grandson Artem Dorschenko arrive at a reception center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, April 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A woman begs for alms to feed her dogs in Kyiv, on Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Kateryna Hodza, 85, takes a bus from a reception center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, April 29, 2022. They fled from Mala Tokmachka, in Zaporizhzhia region, as thousands of Ukrainian continue to leave Russian occupied areas. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A man carries bread and boxes with the letter Z, which has become a symbol of the Russian military, and a hashtag reading “We don’t abandon our own”, as other local civilians gather to get humanitarian aid, bread and water distributed by Donetsk People Republic Emergency Situations Ministry in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Friday, April 29, 2022. This photo was taken during a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (AP Photo)

People fleeing the village of Ruska Lozova wait at a screening point in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 29, 2022. Hundreds of residents have been evacuated to Kharkiv from the nearby village that had been under Russian occupation for more than a month. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Brides wait to attend a wedding ceremony of several pairs in the center of Berdyansk, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. This photo was taken during a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (AP Photo)

People sit in a bus during evacuation from Lyman, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian people attend a religious service to commemorate the fallen during the Russian occupation in Zdvyzhivka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)An elderly woman drinks tea at the basement of her house in Lyman, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A woman cries as relatives and activists take part in a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022, demanding international leaders to organize a humanitarian corridor for evacuation of Ukrainian military and civilians from Mariupol, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

The body of a man lies in an apartment as Russian bombardments continue in a village recently retaken by Ukrainian forces near Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

The mother of Oleksandr Mozheiko, 31, an Irpin Territorial Defense soldier killed by Russian army, cries at his grave at the cemetery of Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Sunday, May 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)A child plays with the steering wheel of a car as his family waits to be processed upon their arrival from Mariupol at a reception center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Monday, May 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)