Events in Kharkiv, February–May 2022, updated May 25.

I'll try to post updates here about what's happening in Kharkiv, and may also add material from previous days.

As a first example, a video from March 4


Update, March 6.
Actually, these events happened earlier, but I couldn't post anything because we had no internet after the substation was hit.

First, some photos sent by a friend. He bought an apartment here for his daughter and was planning to renovate it, but unfortunately. Luckily, his daughter was living with them and wasn't hurt.
There are actually more photos, but I'll just show a couple.
I'm about 3 km from the site of the attack.



This is a building in a nearby area. I can't say exactly where it is, but this is the aftermath of an air raid. There's also a video of a strike on another building; the plane made two passes.


And this photo I took myself. The building on the left was hit a few days ago. The damage is on the other side, but something hit an apartment there. As far as I know, there were casualties too.
There's a building opposite, with signs of fires visible on the left and right. Those are also the result of strikes. But note that the hits were on the other side of the building, facing the Russian border. For those who don't know, Kharkiv is close to Russia.


Of course, someone might tell me that there must be some military units or strategic facilities there.
No. Saltivka is a huge residential district, essentially a bedroom community. It was the largest in the USSR and, as far as I know, is still the largest in the CIS. If you're interested, read about it, but in short, there are no military units or defense plants here. In fact, there are hardly any ordinary businesses either.
What there is:
1. residential buildings
2. schools and kindergartens
3. clinics and hospitals
4. shops and markets
5. Europe's largest market, Barabashovo Market, is also here—and it was hit too.

Today I saw a very clear video of what's happening not far from me and wanted to ask Russians something.
Do you remember the terrorist attacks in your cities? Do you remember how many people were hurt? Were you scared? Did your fellow citizens suffer?
Now look at what your leaders have done to a city on the scale of your own St. Petersburg—that is, Ukraine's second-largest city.
And this is just some of the damage in one district of one city in the country. I'm not even talking about the damage to the city center and other districts; maybe I'll show that later.

This isn't my video, but it captures the situation very well.


Another video, this time showing central Kharkiv. A reminder: this is a Russian-speaking city, close to the border.
As for the “Nazis,” spit in the face of anyone who believes there's anyone here to denazify. And as you can see in the video, the strategic targets are shops, educational institutions, and homes...


A message from the IT Army to Russians and others, about identifying Russian soldiers killed on Ukrainian territory


Another video from northern Saltivka. I don't know the exact date, but it was probably around mid-April.


Video from Kharkiv, not filmed by me.
Before the war, more than 1.5 million people lived in the city, but look how few people are out on the streets now. That doesn't mean everyone has left. Quite the opposite: people are coming back, but they try to avoid going outside unless they have to.


People are gradually returning to Kharkiv. One resident drove through the districts near my home and showed the overall situation. I can say there are clearly more people on the streets now.
I think this video will be useful for those who are far from our city right now.


Yesterday marked exactly three months since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, and therefore three months of Russian forces shelling my city. The shelling varies in intensity, but unfortunately it hasn't stopped altogether :(
On a well-known pro-Russian forum, with an equally pro-Russian moderator—I'll tell you about him and his unquestionably “honest” and “impartial” moderation some other time—I was told: “Look, that blogger from Kharkiv shows that almost nothing there has been damaged.”
That's not quite true. The city is large; it's not the village of Big Vasuki. Some districts have suffered less, others more. Northern and Eastern Saltivka, Rohan, Horizont, Danylivka, Zhukovskoho have been hit very hard. But of course they'll point to places where things are more or less okay and say, “There are no Russian troops here.” No, you won't get off the hook. Your shells, missiles, and mines have landed there, repeatedly.