Waiting, fearing, singing: A night sheltering in Ukraine

People sleeping in the Kyiv subway. In Ukraine's capital, many residents hurried underground for safety as Russian forces fired on the city and moved closer. Photo: Emilio Morenatti/AP

When the children start crying, the adults start playing Ukrainian folk songs, or make up fairy tales to chase away the fear. Food and water are sometimes scarce. Everyone hopes for peace.

These are the vagaries of life in makeshift shelters around Ukraine, where families try to protect the young and old and make conditions bearable amid the distant clatter of bullets, missiles or shells outside.