Kharkiv. Chronicles of the Attack on the City. Day 12 (07.03.2022)

By Serhii Petrov

The night began with an air raid and shelling. The hottest was in Saltivka and Oleksiyivka. In Saltivka the strikes and shells went all the way to the Novoslatovsky market – near TRK Ukraina, which is already on the border between the microdistrict and Saltivka settlements (private or two-, three-storey buildings). In Oleksiyivka and Pavlovo Pole, the artillery hit high-rise buildings and student dormitories. Russian planes arrived and bombed the Malyshev plant (minor damage) and the Kharkiv armored plant in Ivanivka.

The bombing also severely damaged the area around the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred Maidan, home to architectural monuments dating back to the early 19th century. The buildings of the Court of Appeal, the Kharkiv District Prosecutor’s Office and the military commandant’s office were damaged, and some houses were destroyed. Yaroslav the Wise Street, where many administrative buildings are located, was also damaged during the airstrike, and Kharkivska Yurka / The Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University is nearby (the building is a loss, because it is a monument, but this stupid insitution, where they still teach according to Soviet standards, is not).

The Slovo building, a monument of architecture and history of national importance, was also damaged during the shelling. The building was built with the funds of Ukrainian writers where they lived and worked, and has been destroyed for good… This house is a symbol of the Ukrainian Executed Renaissance. We will definitely restore it after the victory in the war over Russia!

In the morning the shelling and air raids continued. The residential district of Saltivka was shelled the most. It continues to be razed to the ground. like no other area of the city. Yes, the artillery flew all the way to Krasnodarska Street, which is the “border” between Saltivka and Nemyshlya. There were also shellings in the neighborhoods of: Oleksiyivka, Pavlove Pole, Rohan, HTZ, the Zhukovsky settlement and Pyatihatki.

In the afternoon, the shelling of the city almost stopped. But in the evening they intensified again (did the talks fail?). In general, Kharkiv residents have already noticed the regularity – as the next talks take place, the pigs will go mad and fire at the city with triple fury. It was something like this this morning…

Humanitarian problems are exacerbated in the Saltivka and Oleksiyivka neighborhoods: damaged infrastructure is increasingly failing – the electricity is not working, there may be problems with the water supply and heat. Municipal workers patch up the infrastructure as much as they can, for which I thank them sincerely. But this week will be cold with frost and will be difficult for those living in these areas, especially in the damaged buildings.

In general, the city is gradually getting used to the situation, but another problem becomes clear – how long it will last, because some people will soon run out of money, and there is no work and cannot be – the city is paralyzed by shelling and damage to infrastructure, and no public transport at all. Some people are thinking of leaving the city to find work and a better life elsewhere. Almost half of the population has already left the city.

The war continues. Russians are trying to attack (but with small forces compared to the first few days), burning the city with artillery and air strikes, but Kharkiv is strengthening its defenses and increasing its strength, gradually improving the city’s security (in areas where there is no shelling).

The Russians are brazen to the point that in exchange for ending the humanitarian catastrophe they proffered the leadership of the regional state administration to surrender the city and region to the invaders. They(the Muscovites) were told directly to go where the “Russian warship” went- that is: “GO FUCK YOURSELF”. And Russia offered a humanitarian corridor to Belgorod with a departure then to any place in Muscovy. A bunch of buses were driven from Moscow to the border (Nekhoteevka checkpoint), but no Ukrainian refugees are visible. Well, that is, they do not exist. If anything, I do not mind Russian supporters going to Russia – with the obligatory taking of their fingerprints and a note in their documents stating “collaborator”. Well, why not?

The most difficult situation is in Izyum, a city located on the highway from Kharkiv to Slovyansk. Its control could denote the overhanging of the northern group of OOS troops in the Donetsk region. Serious battles are taking place outside the city. The central part of the city was actually destroyed during the air raids and shelling. Many buildings were destroyed. There is no light, no gas, no utilities, no food or medicine, and communication problems. In fact, a humanitarian catastrophe has already occurred in the city. It is impossible to leave the city due to constant shelling. Anyone who has ever traveled through the city understands why control over it and its environs is control over the southern part of Kharkiv and the gates to Donetsk.

Yesterday, on Masliana, in the city of Pervomaisky in the Kharkiv region, a straw effigy was burned. Despite the fact that the city is one of the most pro-Russian until February 24. Muscovites with their own hands are rapidly creating a Ukrainian nation that will hate them for centuries. This is a phenomenal geopolitical success. Protests continue in the Muscovite-occupied cities of Kherson, Zaporizhia, and Luhansk regions. The protests took place under machine gun fire from Muscovite soldiers, and wounded among protesters in various cities and towns. It is heroism to go out against the machine guns with Ukrainian flags, it is the spirit of freedom and the real Resistance Movement against the Russians. I thank the patriotic people from these cities for their resistance to the occupier. And even in Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region unknown patriots burned the Muscovite MTLB.

Today, the Darwin Award is given to a pro-Moscow MP and simply a collaborator and enemy: Yevhen Shevchenko, who two weeks ago said he would not leave Ukraine and was detained by the SBU today while trying to flee to a hated European country, Poland. God, they are all predictable and cynical

We believe in and support our army – the Armed Forces, the National Security Service, the Defense Forces, and volunteers. doctors, rescuers and utilities. We thank them for another day. And we are working hard for our victory over our eternal enemy!

How to support us?

donate You can help us by sending money to PayPal of our Chair nataliyazubar@maidanua.org or to the account of our Organization Maidan Monitoring Information Center https://maidan.org.ua/en/supportmmic/.
About Сергій Петров 249 Articles
історик, аналітик Інформаційного Центру "Майдан Моніторинг" (сайт "Майдан"), громадський активіст, редактор української Вікіпедії