Life goes on underground in Kharkiv after two months of Russian bombing

Life continues to go on underground in bombed-out Kharkiv where hundreds of families have been sheltering for two months.

Photographs from metro stations in Ukraine’s second-largest city yet again show the perseverance of the human spirit despite the sounds of missiles hitting streets and residential blocks.

Pensioners can be seen lining up for food, while others rest on blankets placed directly on the cold, granite floor. Some are lucky to have found wooden pallets.

Train carriages have also been adapted to house people and this is where many celebrated Orthodox Easter on Sunday.

Children hiding in stations showed what defiance looks like by putting on an exhibition of portraits of modern day Ukrainian superheroes – a medic and a soldier.

Above ground, much of Kharkiv, which was a home to 1.4 million people, now resembles an obliterated ruin.

Photo from Kharkiv metro. Happy Easter from #Ukraine️ pic.twitter.com/uhdfvAJ8Ex

Children, hiding in the #Kharkiv metro, turned one of stations into the improvised gallery #RussianUkrainiaWar pic.twitter.com/WeNY60atsg

One resident, staying underground, told ITV News she endures purely for her son.

‘My son gives me the power. He is my strength… it’s for him, for his sake,’ Yulia said.

‘What choice do I have… I can’t show him my fear, I have to reassure him everything will be okay.’

While Russian forces have suffered defeat in Kyiv, Kharkiv continues to be under intense shelling as Vladimir Putin attempts to block off the Donbas.

Ukraine’s general staff said today that Russia’s offensive continued in the region with Moscow’s troops trying to advance towards a village called Zavody.

It comes after four civilians were killed and nine were wounded during shelling in the city on Monday, Oleh Synegubov, the region’s governor told the country’s public broadcaster.

Earlier today, spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Shtupun said: ‘In the Slobozhansky direction, Russian enemy groups from the sixth Combined Arms Army of the Western Military District, the coastal troops of the Baltic and Northern Fleets continue to partially block Kharkiv and fire on it.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Source: Read Full Article