{"id":34189,"date":"2024-04-24T09:43:45","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T09:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/24\/kharkiv-is-unbreakable-a-battered-city-carries-on\/"},"modified":"2024-04-24T09:43:45","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T09:43:45","slug":"kharkiv-is-unbreakable-a-battered-city-carries-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/24\/kharkiv-is-unbreakable-a-battered-city-carries-on\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Kharkiv Is Unbreakable\u2019: A Battered City Carries On"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/24\/multimedia\/24Ukraine-Kharkiv-01-kbtj-promo\/24Ukraine-Kharkiv-01-kbtj-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\u2018Kharkiv Is Unbreakable\u2019: A Battered City Carries On\" title=\"\u2018Kharkiv Is Unbreakable\u2019: A Battered City Carries On\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The espresso machine was warming up and Liliia Korneva was counting cash at the coffee shop in Kharkiv where she works when a powerful Russian bomb detonated nearby, sending up a deafening explosion and knocking her to the floor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI can\u2019t describe in words how it felt, it was terrifying,\u201d said Ms. Korneva, 20. She was not hurt, though the courtyard where the bomb fell was destroyed and a man riding a bicycle nearby was killed, according to city officials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Just a day later, the cafe was open again. Kharkiv, Ukraine\u2019s second largest city, is open for business, too, despite a sustained bombing campaign that is among the most devastating of the entire war and growing fears that Russia might launch a renewed offensive aimed at taking the city.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Russian attacks have destroyed all three major power stations, but residents continue to live and work with only a few, often unpredictable, hours of electricity each day. More than 100 schools have been damaged or destroyed but classes go on, deep underground in subway stations. Dozens of fire and paramedic stations have been blown up, putting first responders in daily jeopardy but failing to deter them from their jobs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhen a rocket hits, within three to four hours, all the glass is cleaned up, all the central roads are cleared,\u201d said Andrii Dronov, the 39-year-old deputy chief of the Kharkiv Fire Department. \u201cBy morning, it looks like nothing happened and there were no explosions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the attacks intensify, though, there are real questions about how much longer Kharkiv, 25 miles from the Russian border, can hold on without more robust air defenses. Since March, Russia has been bombarding it for the first time with one of the deadliest weapons in its arsenal: powerful guided bombs known as glide bombs, dropped from warplanes, that deliver hundreds of pounds of explosives in a single blast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a strategy to intimidate people, a strategy to make people leave their homes, to make people evacuate,\u201d Kharkiv\u2019s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said during a recent interview, conducted at a secret location since his office is a target. \u201cIt\u2019s the destruction of the city itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since January, Ukrainian officials said, more missiles have struck Kharkiv, currently home to 1.3 million people, than at any time since the first months of the war. The Ukrainian authorities have ordered the mandatory evacuation of villages to the east of the city as violence along the border escalates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Russia\u2019s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, last week became the highest ranking Kremlin official <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.understandingwar.org\/backgrounder\/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-april-19-2024\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">to signal that Moscow<\/a> has designs on seizing Kharkiv, saying it \u201cplays an important role\u201d in President Vladimir V. Putin\u2019s stated desire to create a \u201csanitary zone\u201d along the Russian border. Military analysts have noted a marked increase in military activity in the area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It remains unknown if Russia is seriously considering an attack from the north. It may simply be trying to stretch Ukrainian troops by forcing them to bolster defenses along a new front in the north, while also seeking to stoke public panic in Kharkiv.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For city residents, the speculation only adds to the anxiety of living under daily bombardment. They watched on Monday as Russia struck the city\u2019s main television tower with a missile in broad daylight, sending the top of the nearly 800-foot-tall main mast crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust and twisted metal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the major cause of alarm these days is the glide bombs, which are big bombs that Moscow has in abundance, outfitted with wings and guidance systems. The Russians have recently modified the bombs to fly more than 60 miles, putting Kharkiv and other population centers within range for the first time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At least 15 guided bombs have targeted Kharkiv in the past three weeks, Ukrainian officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dwindling supplies of air defense weapons have made Ukrainian towns and cities more vulnerable in recent weeks, a situation Kyiv hopes will begin to be remedied by the $60 billion military assistance package that President Biden is expected to sign this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the meantime, residents try to maintain a sense of order to cope with the chaos and uncertainty of war. The crater in the courtyard outside Ms. Korneva\u2019s coffee shop, for instance, has been filled, shattered windows boarded up, splintered trees cut down and a playground repaired. She is making espressos again, albeit for fewer clients.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last week, New York Times journalists traveled around the city with paramedics and firefighters, observing daily life and talking to residents and local officials. Widely ranging emotions were evident. There is no simple way to explain what it feels like to live every day with the threat of death, when a missile fired from Russia can strike anywhere in the city in less than a minute.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNo one knows if they will see the morning,\u201d the mayor said. \u201cBut despite everything, we live, we work, and we love our city very much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There is no exodus from Kharkiv like that in the first weeks of the war, when artillery thundered day and night and the population \u2014 two million before the war \u2014 fell to 300,000. After the Russians were driven out of most of the Kharkiv region during <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/09\/10\/world\/europe\/ukraine-offensive-izium-donbas.html\" title=\"\">Kyiv\u2019s counteroffensive<\/a> in the fall of 2022, more than one million people returned, local officials say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI felt a strong homesickness,\u201d said Anna Ivanova, 19, a student who fled to Finland but returned after the Russians were driven back. \u201cHere, I had my plans, dreams and aspirations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A rocket recently smashed into the house of her mother\u2019s friend. Rather than flee, the friend moved in with her mother, and they have no plans to leave. \u201cI\u2019ll use a well-worn phrase,\u201d Ms. Ivanova said. \u201cKharkiv is unbreakable, although people are visibly exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Amil Nasirov, the 29-year-old lead singer of a popular band called Kurgan &amp; Agregat, said, \u201cIt\u2019s terrifying to live, to enjoy life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">You hear the explosions at night, he said, then you look at what was hit in the light of day. \u201cAnd you think, it\u2019s nearby, not far from me, like 700-800 meters away,\u201d he said, \u201cand you think, \u2018Wow, this is insane.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He had just attended a premiere of a new Ukrainian film \u2014 \u201cRock, Paper, Grenade,\u201d a coming-of-age story in 1990s Ukraine \u2014 before a sold-out audience. The mall where the film was screened was ravaged by a missile strike in March 2022. Rebuilt and now powered by generators, it was bustling with families on a recent Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Aside from the wail of air alarms, which are constant and often ignored, it could have been any plaza in any peaceful European city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe most horrifying thing is that people get used to it,\u201d Mr. Nasirov said. \u201cShelling starting from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. What is this? And why should we get used to it?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The most extensive destruction remains in the northeastern neighborhood of Saltivka, where the front line briefly settled in the war\u2019s early days. The shattered apartment blocks serve as evidence of the devastation Russian ground forces inflicted before pulling back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But almost no corner of Kharkiv has been spared violence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The boulevards in the old city center are lined with a mesmerizing tapestry of architectural styles, where 18th-century neoclassical design is intertwined with Soviet-era constructivist buildings that eschewed decorative designs. Now, elaborate facades are pockmarked with shrapnel. Stark concrete buildings are scorched by fire. One house can stand largely untouched, while a building next door is demolished.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dina Chmuzh, a local artist, paints the words of Ukrainian poets past and present on the wooden boards that now cover so many blasted out windows. She likened the boards to a kind of armor. \u201cThe city seems to be trying to shield itself,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Chmuzh said that knowing the history of Kharkiv could bolster the population\u2019s resolve. The city was a center of the Ukrainian nationalist movement in the early 20th century and also the site of bloody campaigns by Stalin to snuff out the desire for independence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEven when you feel you can\u2019t endure it anymore, you can still draw strength endlessly, even through this pain,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Liubov Sholudko contributed reporting from Kharkiv.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/24\/world\/europe\/ukraine-kharkiv-russia-glide-bombs.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The espresso machine was warming up and Liliia Korneva was counting cash at the coffee shop in Kharkiv where she works when a powerful Russian bomb detonated nearby, sending up a deafening explosion and knocking her to the floor. \u201cI can\u2019t describe in words how it felt, it was terrifying,\u201d said Ms. Korneva, 20. She [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/24\/multimedia\/24Ukraine-Kharkiv-01-kbtj-promo\/24Ukraine-Kharkiv-01-kbtj-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14816,24426,122,25346,37696],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34189"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34191,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34189\/revisions\/34191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}