‘No panic… no one is running away.’ Residents of Kharkiv defy threat of Russia’s advancing forces
CNN
Thirty miles to the north, Russian forces are invading again. But in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, life cracks on.
CNN visited Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, on May 10-11, 2024, to speak to people about the war. The visit coincided with a major Russian push across the border. Thirty miles to the north, Russian forces are invading again. But in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, life cracks on. Upstairs at the Che champagne bar on Sumska Street, girlfriends arrive in twos and threes, dressed to impress. They take photos of each other, backlit in pink and gold, and framed by floor-to-ceiling shelves of Moët & Chandon. “We are all 1654,” it says on the wall and on the sugar sachets, a reference to the year the city was founded. The last two years have been among the toughest. Just across the street from Che is the regional government headquarters. On March 1, 2022 - the sixth day of Russia’s war – CCTV caught the moment it was struck by two missiles. Today, the windows are boarded up, but the exterior is in surprisingly good order. A huge poster hangs over the front bearing words all Ukrainians know.
