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Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
For weeks, a Russian invasion had been feared, but once the sweeping attacks began on Thursday, hitting seemingly every corner of Ukraine, the war became unavoidably tangible for its people, a hovering cloud of darkness that once seemed unimaginable in the post-Cold War era.
Hearing the booms of missile explosions and air attacks, and reports of battles that had killed both civilians and soldiers, some vowed to fight the intruders however they could. Most also realized, though, that life defying Russia’s overwhelming might was likely to be unsettled and treacherous.
In parts of Ukraine, people cleaned out grocery stores. They rushed the A.T.M.s to get their savings while they could. Many thousands waited in impossible lines for bus tickets or sat in their cars in monstrous traffic jams, all seeking to head west, ideally to NATO-protected Poland. Others took up arms in volunteer militias or donated blood to their fellow citizens.