Twenty photographs of the week

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Russian airstrikes on Christmas Day, the aftermath of the fall of Assad, remembering the Indian Ocean tsunami and a Boxing Day swim in Scotland: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

• Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing

Damascus, Syria

Destruction in eastern Ghouta, once a rebel stronghold, which Syrian government forces laid waste to during the Assad regime

Photograph: Emin Sansar/Anadolu/Getty Images

Kyiv, Ukraine

Civilians are left traumatised by a ballistic missile attack on the city centre on Christmas morning, condemned by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as ‘inhuman’, as Russia targeted energy infrastructure across the country

Photograph: Vlada Liberova/Libkos/Getty Images

Kyiv, Ukraine

People wear traditional Ukrainian clothes as they mark Christmas Day in Kyiv

Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

Bethlehem

A worshipper prays in the Church of the Nativity, where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem

Photograph: Matias Delacroix/AP

Deir al-Balah, Gaza

People mourn over the covered bodies of Palestinian journalists killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike on al-Nuseirat refugee camp

Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

A wounded journalist makes a phone call from the floor of the general hospital. Two reporters and a police officer were killed when gangs opened fire on reporters who had gathered for a press conference to announce its reopening

Photograph: Jean Feguens Regala/AP

Chennai, India

A woman weeps for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on the Marina urban beach. Ceremonies were held across Asia on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy to remember the more than 220,000 people killed in the most deadly tsunami in history

Photograph: Mahesh Kumar A/AP

Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Syafriani, whose mother is still missing after the 2004 tsunami, sweeps in front of her house where two patrol boats washed ashore and remain preserved at the community’s wish

Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

Santa Cruz, US

A building that fell from a wharf floats in the mouth of the San Lorenzo River. California residents were warned to stay off waterside structures as 10-metre waves were expected to batter the northern Pacific coast

Photograph: Nic Coury/AP

Lobitos, Peru

Members of the state-owned Petroperu clean up an oil spill on La Capullana beach in the Lobitos district

Photograph: Malu Ramahi/EPA

Homs, Syria

Children stand atop a tank of Syria’s ousted government forces that was left on a street in an Alawite neighbourhood of Homs

Photograph: Léo Corrêa/AP

Al-Hasakah, Syria

A YPJ women’s defence unit fighter sharpens her weapon skills in a remote training camp. Kurdish female fighters are expanding their ranks on the frontlines and elsewhere in the fight against Islamic State and Turkish-backed militants in northeastern Syria

Photograph: Elke Scholiers/Getty Images

Tulkarm, West Bank

A mourner cries over the body of a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed, during their funeral

Photograph: Matias Delacroix/AP

Deir al-Balah, Gaza

A Palestinian woman holds her five-year-old niece who is suffering from malnutrition. A baby girl froze to death this week in the territory, while Israel and Hamas accused each other of complicating ceasefire efforts that could wind down the 14-month war

Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images

Khan Younis, Gaza

A girl watches as people inspect the site of reported Israeli bombardment on tents sheltering Palestinians displaced from Beit Lahia

Photograph: Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images

Moscow, Russia

Visitors tour Bunker-703, a recently declassified nuclear-resistant bomb shelter built in 1961

Photograph: Pavel Bednyakov/AP

Homs, Syria

A man sells fruit and vegetables in front of a damaged tank in the city

Photograph: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP/Getty Images

Nairobi, Kenya

Young girls line up to have their makeup done before the Christmas street ballet in Kibera, one of the city’s largest slums

Photograph: Brian Inganga/AP

Nairobi, Kenya

Muay Thai fighters at the Kibra youth initiative exhibition, which aims to promote boxing and martial arts and to help prevent crime and substance abuse in local communities

Photograph: Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images

Ayr, Scotland

Revellers take part in a Boxing Day swim

Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images