As the crisis in Ukraine continues, heartbreaking photos of babies being welcomed to the world in bomb shelters have been shared on social media.
On Friday, Hanna Hopko, the former deputy head of Ukraine, shared a photo on Twitter of a mom holding her newborn daughter. Hopko said that the child was welcomed overnight amid violence in Kyiv, Ukraine's capitol city.
"Mia was born in shelter this night in stressful environment-bombing of Kyiv. Her mom is happy after this challenging birth giving," Hopko wrote. "When Putin kills Ukrainians we call mothers of Russia and Belarus to protest against Russia war in Ukraine. We defend lives and humanity!"
In the background of the photo, several people can be seen sitting against a wall holding blankets and other belongings.
Viktor Liashko, Ukraine’s Minister of Health, shared photos of two children born in a bomb shelter in Kherson, Ukraine. On Facebook, Liashko called the images the "face of war."
"Yesterday in Kherson, under the shelling, two boys were born ... Two new lives that already have War in their genetic code," he wrote.
Although he said the babies were born under "shelling and explosions," Liashko said that the healthy birth of the newborns births should serve as a symbol of Ukrainian resilience.
"Life goes on, we give birth to children and no one can defeat us!" he wrote.
Liashko's post included images of mothers holding their children in cramped bomb shelters and a photo of a doctor was cradling a baby as people crowded around him. Liashko wrote that that moment made him realize how "incredibly proud" he was of Ukrainian doctors.
"You are the same with the military, security and rescuers ... No hospital has closed down, everyone is working and providing medical care," he wrote. "No one was scared and all bravely look into the eyes of the enemy. ... The medical system continues to work, the ministry on its part is doing the possible and impossible to get everything necessary in hospitals."
Ukrainian hospitals have also been working overtime to make sure that moms could safely deliver their babies. Starobilsk Multidisciplinary Hospital in Luhansk Oblast shared a picture of a woman who welcomed a child as an airstrike allegedly occurred nearby.
On Thursday, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine. The violence has escalated as Russian troops attempt to take Kyiv. More than 80,000 civilians have fled to neighboring Poland, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of a "full scale storm" from Russian troops.
If the conflict continues, experts worry it could become the largest war in Europe since World War II.
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