Jarkov has become these days again in a immense battlefield, in which it is being impossible to count the number of daily burstswhich are heard from the outskirts but also from different parts of the city. The situation in the strategic Ukrainian city, the second in population in the country, has worsened with the reactivation of the russian offensive in the region of the same name, now more than a week ago. The shots are heard with particular intensity in the nights -the time between eleven at night and midnight is one of the favorites for the most thunderous outbursts-, although, every day with greater frequency, also in broad daylight.
The population of Kharkiv, many of whom have returned to the city in recent weeks, have thus come to terms with what military sources say only to microphone off. The situation is particularly worrying in the north of the region, in towns like Ruska Lozova -about 20 kilometers from the city of Kharkov-, still in Ukrainian hands but suffering constant mortar attacks, cannons Y artillery, according to Ukrainian sources. But Russian troops are also harassing in the southeast, among others around the Pechenihy reservoir -which until now has formed the border between the already occupied territories and the Ukrainian front line-, as well as to the south of this area. And, similarly, the attacks are also affecting Chuguyev, a city to a forty kilometers southeast of Kharkiv by the road leading to busy Izium.
The Russian Army “is pushing more and more, and now about 30% of the region is in your hands & rdquor ;, a Ukrainian military source synthesizes this journalist. “Every day they bomb and every day people die&rdquor ;, explains another official from the administration of the Chuguyev region, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
With this, the warning from the authorities is to avoid commuting unnecessary out of Kharkov and pay attention to the air raid sirens, which, with the Ukrainian counteroffensive in mid-May -which seemed to have slowed down the Russian advance-, had stopped ringing so frequently. Even so, every day the city itself wakes up with new buildings destroyed and calcined. Some, for civil use; others, suspected to be used by troops who are defending the area.
very skeptical
In this climate, the Kharkovites are highly skeptical that hostilities will cease short term, or even after the summer. Now there are no major supply problems in the city -gasoline, which became scarce a month ago, is easily available-, but the nervousness and the fatigue by the conflict is also reflected in the many young men trying to dodge the soldiers deployed around the city to recruit new citizens for war.
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The regular Army, the national guard and battalions of special units are the ones that defend the unoccupied areas to the northeast and the city of Kharkov. Among them is in kraken battaliona Kharkiv unit that works with the ukrainian army and that in its ranks it has former members of the nationalist Azov battalion. “Now our counteroffensive has stalled. Attacking is always harder than defending. It’s time to receive new weapons and training & rdquor ;, says Vikingo, code name of one of the spokespersons of this group.
The number of casualties on both sides It is uncertain. But the deceased accumulate over the days. In a vacant lot in Kharkov, Aleksándr, one of those in charge of the ukrainian army unit whose task is to collect the deceased Russian soldiers on the battlefields, explains in front of black bags that their work serves “to exchange them for their dead comrades & rdquor ;. War, sometimes, too it is pragmatic.