Kharkiv

In Kharkiv, life threads through air-raid sirens as a city adapts to war’s long grind Kharkiv moves with a calm that belies its proximity to the frontline. Air-raid alerts roll across the snow and concrete, their whirling tone carried by loudspeakers and phones, yet buses, trams and the metro keep time. Pedestrians navigate the city’s broad, winter-bright boulevards as if the sirens were just another layer of weather. Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kharkiv has become a study in endurance. City…

Kharkiv, Ukraine — On a frigid Friday morning, as children climbed the steps from Lyceum No. 105 — an underground school purpose-built to shield them from Russian airstrikes — municipal crews were out in force. They hacked at ice, scooped slush, and scrubbed sidewalks clean. The joke among Ukrainians about Kharkiv’s devotion to well-groomed streets survives even here, under constant threat from the sky. The city authorities have had little rest since February 2022. Vladimir Putin’s forces have pounded Ukraine’s…

KHARKIV, Ukraine — A Russian-launched Shahed drone struck a residential building in Kharkiv just before 4 a.m., damaging the apartment of a local pensioner, as three areas of the city came under missile and drone attack in the early hours, RTÉ News reported from the scene. Margarita Belkina, a resident of the building, said the blast shattered the sense of relative calm her neighborhood had felt since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. “It’s scary now because this district has not been hit since the start of the…

‘Giselle’ underground: Kharkiv’s ballet keeps dancing as war grinds on KHARKIV, Ukraine — In a city battered by missiles and winter blackouts, the Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre has found its stage a few floors below ground. The company’s last performance in its grand auditorium above street level took place on Feb. 23, 2022. Hours later, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and tried to seize Kharkiv. What followed remade the life of one of Ukraine’s leading ballet companies: shattered…

A recent Russian airstrike on an apartment complex in Kharkiv, which stands as Ukraine's second-largest city, resulted in the tragic death of a child and left 29 others injured, according to Kharkiv Regional Governor Oleg Synegoubov in a statement on Telegram. Situated roughly 30 kilometers from the Russian frontier, Kharkiv has endured relentless bombardments throughout the ongoing conflict, which has now spanned over two and a half years. Earlier, Governor Synegoubov reported that rescue efforts were underway for at…