'Every day could be my last': Life continues in Kharkiv under constant threat of Russian bombs

In Kharkiv this spring, air-raid sirens have sounded for hours a day. The city, Ukraine's second largest, was hit 76 times last month. Residents wonder when it will end

Kharkiv, 30 kilometres south of the Russian border, withstood the military's advance in the early days of its invasion in 2022, and was emboldened when Ukrainian forces recaptured 12,000 square kilometres of the region later that fall, pushing Russian forces back over the border. Working alongside him, 32-year-old Roman Miroshnichenko stacks the burned metal. He picked up the temporary work after being recently released from the front line in Donetsk for a two-month break.

NATO officials and defence analysts believe Russia doesn’t currently have enough troops along the northeast front to try to capture Kharkiv. Meanwhile, Ukraine is building trenches through the farms, fields and forests on the outskirts of the city. Looking toward Russia from the top of an apartment high-rise in Kharkiv. The border is only about 20 kilometres away.

The country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is adamant that Ukraine will take back all of its territory, including parts of Donetsk and Luhansk that have been controlled by Russian backed separatists since 2014, and Crimea which Russia illegally annexed. In Kharkiv’s central park, a 130-hectare sprawling green space filled with playgrounds, cafes and walking paths, city employees mow the manicured lawns as an air-raid alert rings out through the city.

Video from security cameras show people, including children, crouching down during the strike. A group playing soccer on a field ducked and then quickly ran into a nearby building. None of her friends have left Kharkiv, but many have. After the war, she doesn’t believe everyone will come back. During early months of the war, the apartments were bombarded, and today many stand empty, some with gaping holes, blown out windows and the scorch marks from fires sparked by aerial attacks.

Source: Education Headlines (educationheadlines.net)

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