US weapons have started to arrive, but Kharkiv is still under daily bombardment.
In Kharkiv’s Number 18 cemetery, a field of hundreds of Ukraine flags covers the military section. By a rough count there are 1,200 graves of troops in this cemetery alone. There are new funerals every day.
“It is a sad place,” says the mayor, Ihor Terekhov. “We have paid a heavy price. We are still paying a heavy price.”
So what? More than two years after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the war in this European country is as ferocious as ever. Ukraine’s second city has for the past month been fighting off a renewed Russian offensive. Kyiv and Washington say the push has now stalled, but there are signs Moscow is regrouping.
- After Russia was humiliated in the opening stages of the war, Moscow has put the country on a war footing, sought help from allies like Iran, and doubled down.
- Russia’s larger forces, bigger population and massive production lines are starting to tell.
- US military aid was held up for months by partisan politics and resupplies are only now getting through. In the meantime Russia made advances along the 620-mile front.
By the numbers
500,000 – Russian troops killed or wounded since February 2022, according to Western intelligence estimates.
31,000 – Ukrainian troops killed, according to Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky. American estimates are far higher.
4.5 million – artillery shells forecast to be produced in Russia this year.
1.3 million – artillery shells that will be made in Europe and the US this year. Ukrainian frontline troops estimate Russia fires five shells for each of theirs.
A city at war. Nowhere in Ukrainian illustrates the ebb and flow of the war more clearly than Kharkiv. The city of 1.4 million is only 19 miles from the border and was attacked on the first day of the invasion. Swathes of the surrounding region were occupied.
Months later, Ukrainian forces pushed the invaders back. Kharkiv was getting back on its feet, when on 10 May, Russian troops attacked again from across the Russian border.
The mayor said: “In those times, in 2022, we had hope that the war would end very soon, but unfortunately it is continuing and we need to understand very clearly that we will keep fighting until we have a victory.”
Russian missiles, drones and bombs have rained down on the city and its surroundings. Kharkiv was hit 76 times by drones, missiles or bombs during May, according to city figures.
Terekhov says: “We now have more intensive strikes and hits to the city. Besides that, our enemy crossed the border and is in Kharkiv territory. That puts a mark on the emotions of the people.”
- The flight time of a s-300 missile from the Russian city of Belgorod is only 40 seconds – too short to give a warning.
- Kharkiv has 374 shelters for school children, but needs another 1,200.
Red lines relaxed. The assault on Kharkiv had a significant side effect. To defeat the push, Washington for the first time allowed Kyiv to strike Russian soil with Western-supplied weapons.
- Earlier this month Himars rocket artillery destroyed s-300/400 missile batteries which had been targeting the city. Kharkiv officials credit the strikes with a reduction in attacks in the first week of June.
- Russian momentum across the border is reported to have eased and the front line stabilised.
Yet Russian forces are still there and experience has taught the city’s residents that they could be back for another attempt. “Everyone is worried. We don’t know whether to leave our homes or to stay. But where would we go?” says Tatiana in the town of Zolochiv.
A renewed Russian offensive threatens Kharkiv, but so does stalemate. A frozen conflict is a win for Putin because it denies Ukraine its sovereignty – and to end the stalemate Ukraine needs weapons in quantities its allies simply aren’t providing.
What’s more… Having promised to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s in Arizona, the US is making some of them join a queue behind other countries’ air forces. 20 pilots are expected to be trained by the end of the year. A full squadron needs 40.
Photograph David Rose
