'They bomb us because they can't beat us': Kharkiv civilians suffer as Russia runs out of options
CBC
The city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest, was a bustling metropolis just a month ago. Chic eateries and sleek shopping malls sat alongside elegant neo-baroque architecture in what had been a rapidly developing urban centre.
Now, large areas of the city resemble Stalingrad more than Stuttgart, as Kharkiv falls victim to what locals and experts say is a Russian strategy of targeting civilians.
Entering the city from the south, there are initially few signs of the war, save the military barricades and checkpoints at regular intervals.
Downtown Kharkiv is a different story: windows and storefronts blown out by artillery shelling, other buildings demolished entirely by airstrikes or cruise missile hits.
Along Kharkiv's central Moskovsky Avenue, an apartment building scorched by rocket artillery fire sits across from a massive crater in a parking lot, the result of an airstrike the day prior to CBC's visit on Saturday.
"The rockets hit yesterday, and there was a huge fire in the apartment building," said Oleg Tornenko, a 55-year-old resident of the building.
"[The Russians] want people to leave here. They're trying to force them out."
While most Russian shelling of Kharkiv to date has occurred during the evening, strikes in daylight hours have picked up in recent days, locals say.
"The last two or three days, they're bombing us during the day," said Elena Yelagina, a 62-year-old museum director who lives in the city centre.
"Not only by plane, but Grads (vehicle-mounted rocket launcher) and Smerch (rocket artillery), even Iskanders (ballistic missiles). I can already tell them apart just by the sound."
The timing of the strikes appears designed to maximize civilian casualties and instill terror in the local population.
"This strike was at 8 a.m.," said Dmitri Yakovlev, a 26-year-old police officer, of the strike that hit the Moskovsky Ave. apartment building.
"Very often [Russian] shelling starts just after the curfew ends at 6 a.m. People go to queue for humanitarian aid, and they hit them."
The strikes have been constant, and without apparent military goals.
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