AP PHOTOS: Day 21: Ukraine war toll seen in drawing, tears

A child’s drawing hanging at a military checkpoint shows a person with a Ukrainian flag in one hand — and in the other, a large, black gun pointed at a green tank. A Ukrainian soldier wearing camouflage embraces a relative heading to Poland to flee the war. And an elderly Ukrainian woman wipes away tears during a funeral procession.

These are just a few of the images captured on Day 21 of the war in Ukraine, revealing violence, displacement and mourning. Across the country, Russia's deadly bombardment continued, even as political leaders from both sides projected optimism over efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting.

In the western Ukrainian city of Starychi, a crowd of people heard serviceman fire gun salutes at the funeral of Roman Mak and Mykola Mykutiuk, soldiers who were killed when Russian missiles on Sunday struck a military training base.

In Kharkiv, a woman carefully crossed a rubble-strewn street, holding for balance an umbrella in one hand, and a Ukrainian army volunteer's hand in the other.

And at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, refugees of the war looked on as a man played a piano with a peace sign painted on it.