By Serhiy Petrov
The defense of Kharkiv has now been going for two months, and every day of those two months the muscovites have been shelling the city with artillery of different calibers. For two months, the city has been living in wartime conditions: absence of public transport, air-raid blackouts, the constant weighing of pros and cons. Today—a holiday—was quiet, probably the quietest of the last two to two and a half weeks.
At the same time, the day wasn’t calm at all elsewhere in the region. Many cities were attacked, resulting in deaths and injuries.
The night of Velykden (Easter) in Kharkiv wasn’t quiet. Many neighborhoods were shelled by the ruscists, albeit not too intensely. Overall, the day passed in relative calm: there were singular attacks on some neighborhoods (primarily Saltivka) in the morning, after which there was no active shelling. Only in the evening did the muscovite shelling resume with low intensity. They shelled Pivnichna Saltivka, other parts of Saltivka, Oleksiyivka, the southeast periphery of the city (shelling intensity was low in all the neighborhoods). Whether it was an Easter break or something else, Kharkiv residents got to take a little break from the constant cannonade. Nevertheless, one person was killed and three were wounded as a result of the muscovite shelling.
Muscovite shelling of the suburbs is continuing. Settlements of the Derhachi Hromada were shelled, as was Zolochivska Hromada, particularly the town of Zolochiv (a man was wounded) and the village of Kalynove, where as a result of the shelling two houses were destroyed and four damaged. A woman was killed by the shelling in Kalynove.
Chuhuiv was shelled today, resulting in a number of damaged and destroyed houses, one person killed, and three wounded, including a child (subsequently the number of wounded grew to six). The ruscists also shelled the town of Malynivka (seat of the Malynivka Hromada), where three were wounded (we later learned that five people were wounded).
There weren’t many people out in the streets of Kharkiv. Most residents stayed home. But there were desperate folks in some neighborhoods, who were barbequing and celebrating in that manner. Personally, I don’t have any information about the level of city resident participation in church services, but as far as I know, few attended.
The situation is difficult elsewhere in the region. Battles are ongoing in the Sloviansk direction (the Dovhenke village area of the Izium Hromada) and the Barvinkove direction (in the area between Velyka Komyshuvakha and Barvinkove itself, which is being shelled, as well as near the village of Pashkove; both villages are part of the Barvinkove Hromada). The muscovites have also shelled two villages of the Barvinkove Hormada: Podolivka (a school was destroyed) and Arkhangelivka (residential houses were damaged). Luckily, the shelling didn’t kill or wound anyone in the villages.
The volunteer spirit for mutual support has risen in the temporarily occupied territories of the Kharkiv region. Volunteers in Velykyi Burluk are helping deliver food and medicine to those struggling financially and raising money to fund the effort independently, all while declining ruscist humanitarian aid. People in Kupyansk are helping the elderly with water deliveries—at least industrial water, since there’s no functioning central water supply. The occupiers are surprised by people helping each other at this scale, because they’re not used to anything like this in moscovia. We are amazingly different from muscovites, even when it comes to things as basic as helping each other. And this is one of the reasons behind our success in defending our own country in the most difficult conditions of a wide-scale invasion.
Meanwhile, according to Ukrainian intelligence, false information is being spread in the occupied territories, stating that the muscovites have already taken Kharkiv and that it was Ukraine who turned off the electricity. The ruscists are also implementing payments in rubles, strengthening control over networks, and deploying equipment of the muscovite mobile carrier Megafon.
They’ve created a real concentration camp in Vovchansk, on the territory of the manufacturing plant that they emptied (this apparently refers to the Vovchansk Aggregate Plant, which was one of the establishments of Ukraine’s defense industry). There, people are being tortured and forced to collaborate with the occupiers or “mobilize” (translator: join the Russian army). Attempts to mobilize the male population of Izium (where more than 10,000 people remain, according to City Council officials) have been unsuccessful due to people ignoring these activities.
Heavy fighting is ongoing in the Joint Forces Operation zone. The muscovites have solidified their presence in the town of Zarichne of the Lyman Hromada and are attempting to conduct storming activities in the direction of the city of Lyman. They’re also attacking toward the village of Yatskivka of the Lyman Hromada, from the Borova direction in the direction of Sviatohirsk. At the same time, battles are ongoing for Rubizhne and Popasna, as well as near Sieverodonetsk. The ruscists are attacking Avdiyivka and Maryinka. Two children were killed by occupier shelling in the Ocheritinska Hromada. Fighting is also ongoing near Vuhledar and Velyka Novosilka in the Donetsk region, as well as near Huliaipole in the Zaporizhzhya region.
The muscovites are bombarding Azovstal in Mariupol using artillery of all calibers and air strikes, including by strategic aircraft. There are civilians there, but there’s no discussion of humanitarian corridors. Furthermore, muscovite TV showed an Oleksandr Chuprin, who supposedly used to work as a shift lead at the plant, and who described the network of tunnels under it to the muscovites. If such a person really exists, what he’s done constitutes treason.
An attack on a gathering of ruscist troops near the village of Kyselivka in Chornobaivska Hromada caused equipment and personnel losses for the occupiers, who retreated toward the village of Chornobaivka, where, according to (Oleksiy) Arestovich, some of the ruscists in an airport came under artillery fire. This also helped Ukrainian forces regain control of eight settlements in the Kherson region.
Meanwhile, the muscovites are preparing to attack Kryvyi Rih, according to the city’s military head, Oleksandr Vilkul, and Ukrainian defense forces are preparing to fight off these attacks.
In Kherson, the muscovites are getting ready to hold their pseudo referendum. City residents are trying to leave, but the occupiers are blocking the exits.
The moscovia territories bordering Ukraine are once again in a state of agitation. Governor of the Belgorod region announced that there was another attack on the village of Holovchino, where Ukrainian intelligence found a base for muscovite equipment damaged in combat.
This next one is funny and sad at the same time. One of the POWs from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine (from Horlivka), a hurriedly mobilized teacher of the muscovite language, spoke Ukrainian with his wife, saying that he used Ukrainian at home but switched to muscovite in public. He was asked whether or not he sees contradictions in the protection of muscovite speakers requiring mobilization of Ukrainian speakers, whom the occupiers are sending to kill Ukrainians. The question was left unanswered. That’s muscovite-speaking Donbass for you.
Today’s Darwin Award, in literal sense, goes to the collaborator Valeriy Kirsanov, who served as a spotter in the shelling of the Mariupol neighborhood Skhidnyi by muscovite multiple launch rocket systems on January 24, 2015. The attack left 31 people dead and 117 wounded. And now, this collaborator has been killed by gifts from “ruZZkiy mir” (“russian world”): muscovite shelling.
Let us believe in our troops and the Armed Forces of Ukraine! Let us support each other. And we know that everything will be, Ukraine!
