Renewed Russian strikes take heavy toll on Kharkiv

The apartment at 24 Liubovi Maloi avenue was an eerie ruin. Its roof and outer walls had disappeared. In one corner, a row of suits hung in a wardrobe. There was a TV, a coffee cup, a maroon jacket on a peg. And a black-and-white photo album with old family snaps taken in communist times.

- Luke Harding, Artem Mazhulin

The flat's inhabitants - Svitlana Vlasenko and her grownup daughter, Polina - were not coming back. The Russian missile that fell on their building on a Friday night killed them and six of their neighbours. Twenty-six people were injured, two of them children.

The street in Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, was not near any military objects. It was a quiet place of flowerbeds, communal benches and a sandy play area for children. Residents walked their dogs in a resin-scented pine forest, which was also hit in the strike on 31 May by five S-300 rockets.

Since Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kharkiv has been under constant bombardment. Russian troops tried and failed to occupy the city. They retreated but were close enough to pound it with artillery. In September 2022, Ukrainian forces pushed the Russians back to the state border. On 10 May this year, the Kremlin staged a fresh incursion, seizing the town of Vovchansk and assaulting the hilltop village of Lyptsi.

At the same time, Moscow intensified its aerial attacks on Kharkiv, using drones and surface-to-air missiles. Taking the city remains a Russian objective. For now, Putin appears determined to break the resistance of its 1 million inhabitants by subjecting them to deadly and terrifying strikes. "They want to make Kharkiv a grey zone so we can't work or live or have fun," said Liliia Yakovleva, 27, an accountant.

Yakovleva lives across the square from where the attack took place. She said the first missile blew out her neighbour's windows. The second, a few minutes later, plunged into number 24, a five-storey private block. "The explosion threw bodies on the ground. I saw one was on fire," she said.

"For two years you think the war is near but it won't take you. You live your life. Then you understand the war can come for you at any time."