Exploding into a giant fireball, the cruise missile struck an impressive Soviet-era structure yesterday at 8:02 a.m. – engulfing local government offices and ravaging a nearby opera house, concert hall and university buildings.
The horrific attack – condemned by UkrainePresident of Russia Vladimir Green as “war.” crime“At least ten people were killed and more than 20 were injured as ceilings collapsed as all windows exploded in Europe’s second-largest town square.”
He left a large crater in this famous landmark of Kharkov – where only a few weeks ago I watched children skate happily while talking to people in a cafe about the threat of war.
Amid the dust, debris, and devastation lay the dead. Two bodies were side by side on the cobblestones near an abandoned car.
One was barefoot; the other, dressed in military-style clothing, had clenched fists.
This latest strike on the former capital of Ukraine, which was hit by a horrific bombing by Russian forces crossing the border less than 30 miles away, was loaded with the most grotesque symbolism.
For this square in the center of the city, where once stood the largest statue of Lenin in the country, it was renamed Freedom Square 31 years ago, when the nation shook itself from the shackles of Kremlin rule after the collapse of the Soviet empire.
The city’s 1.4 million people now suffer daily atrocities caused by another dictatorial regime in Moscow, while Russia is stepping up an attack that also shelled a hospital, school and residential areas yesterday.
“This is the price of freedom,” Zelenski said. “This is terror against Ukraine. There were no military targets in the square – nor are there any in those residential areas of Kharkov that are under rocket artillery fire.
A monitor showing a projectile hitting the district state administration building on Tuesday
The ensuing explosion when Kharkiv, the former capital of Ukraine, faced the sixth day of Russian bombing
The Russian-speaking city in northeastern Ukraine has suffered six days of bombardment by horrific hail from missiles and shells spilling on civilian infrastructure.
After Russian special forces, backed by armored vehicles, were repulsed by an attempt to take the city on Sunday, there are fears that their enraged commanders have resorted to using cluster bombs on apartment buildings to cause panic.
“It looks like a horror movie,” said Dmitry Kuzubov, 33, a website editor.
“The Russian occupiers are destroying my hometown, killing civilians. They bring destruction, unhappiness and pain. People hiding in basements and subways have almost forgotten what the sky looks like.
It is noteworthy that a tent camp in the central square, full of volunteers collecting aid for the fighters who came to the defense of Kharkov, came out of the attack unharmed.
“There were ten people in the tent just a few meters from where the rocket hit the square. It is a miracle that they survived, “said Marina Polyakova, who heads the charity.
“All the boys who were there not only survived, but were unharmed.”
Olena Znatkova, a single mother living near the destroyed government office, said she heard the sound of a rocket flying overhead, followed by the explosion.
“It was very strong. “What is happening here is terrible,” she said.
Olena, who works for the government and fled her home in Luhansk eight years ago with her daughter after Vladimir Putin sparked separatist riots, said supplies to the city were running out quickly.
“People are hiding in basements, so we can’t just go out to the store when there is constant shelling. Students sit trapped in dormitories without food, water or medical supplies.
The intensity of the attack on Kharkov destroys Putin’s claim that he is trying to save his fraternal nation.
“This is not a military operation, but a war aimed at killing the Ukrainian people,” said Igor Terekhov, mayor of Kharkiv.
View of the square in front of the damaged local town hall of Kharkiv after the central square of the second city in Ukraine was shelled by the advancing Russian forces
An attack earlier this week killed two parents and their three children after they were burned alive in their car.
Another attack killed a family of four who had fled their homes in search of water, the town’s mayor said.
“Kharkov has never experienced such devastating destruction in its modern history – it’s awful,” he said.
Emergency services have put out at least 24 fires in and around the city caused by shelling yesterday – including at a hospital in the New Bavaria district, named after German migrants who moved there in the 19th century.
There were eight deaths and eight injuries in the area amid allegations that a Russian plane was shot down during the attacks on Kharkov, which left 25 confirmed dead yesterday. City officials said more than 87 residential buildings were affected.
“We had a lot of people injured on the streets. The wounds were so severe that you wouldn’t even see one in a horror movie, “said a medic.
A video shared on social media shows a stunned man in front of a damaged school and kindergarten opposite his apartment, whose windows were broken by a shell falling between buildings.
Other footage from the New Bavaria district shows several burning houses.
“The shelling is intensifying every day,” said Maxim Bilik, 26, whom I met just weeks ago in a cafe in the square.
A computer expert, he now spends much of his time in shelters, engaged in his nation’s cyber warfare efforts against Russia.
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, one of Putin’s closest allies, has denied targeting civilians, saying his military is “taking every precaution” to save lives – despite ample evidence of attacks on apartment buildings. kindergartens, schools and hospitals.
Ukrainian volunteers evacuate from the town hall after Tuesday’s shooting
In 2014, when Russia had previously invaded Ukraine, there was an attempt by pro-Moscow rebels to seize Kharkiv in a similar style to what they had achieved in Donetsk and Luhansk by occupying the city administration’s buildings.
But it failed after the rebels were repulsed by forces loyal to Kyiv.
Speaking about those who were pro-Moscow, Natalia Zubar, a human rights activist in Kharkiv, said: “Now they have seen anger and hatred for the country rising like hell.”
Her family has lived in Kharkiv for six generations and she says the city will survive. “They can destroy buildings.”
But Kharkov survived World War II; it has experienced the Great Famine; survived Stalin’s repression. It will survive in memory, even if it is now completely destroyed.
Ekaterina Pereverzeva, 27, was one of those who fled the city at the start of the Russian attack. It took her four days to travel to the other side of Ukraine in search of safety.
But she still finds it impossible to escape the trauma, saying: “I looked at the map of the shelling and just lost it.
“There is at least one person I know who lives on every street that has been shelled, and I don’t know if they are dead or alive.”
As darkness fell last night, the sky was illuminated by another constant wave of brutal explosions throughout the city.