Life goes on in Kharkiv despite relentless Russian attacks

While most opt to be safe underground, others take their chances above ground

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In the war-ravaged city of Kharkiv, where the echoes of air raid alerts are commonplace, an unlikely sound filled a dimly lit underground garage on a recent morning: the soaring voices of soprano and baritone singers.

Every few moments, the singers were interrupted by the impassioned commands of their director, Mr Oleksii Duhinov, as he paced a makeshift stage during a rehearsal for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage Of Figaro.

"You're standing like a stone!" he shouted at a baritone, grabbing his shoulders as he urged him to gesticulate more while singing. Nearby, fellow performers watched with amusement, seated on rows of black plastic chairs on a grey concrete floor.

This was the new stage of Kharkiv's National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, now operating dozens of feet underground in a garage where lorries once delivered costumes and scenery.

The grand auditorium several floors above, which once held 1,500 people, has been largely empty since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

When the opera reopened in April 2024, it moved all performances to the garage, which has the advantage of doubling as a bomb shelter. The adaptation is necessary for survival amid relentless Russian assaults on Kharkiv, which is just 40km from the border with Russia.

"This is our new reality," Ms Veronika Koval, a mezzo-soprano who is in The Marriage Of Figaro, said outside the opera house as air raid sirens blared in the background. "It's war, but no one is going to stop us from living because of that."

More than 30 months of fighting has taught Kharkiv how to live amid the constant threat of bombings. In the latest attack, on Sept 15, at least 41 people were wounded when a missile struck an apartment building in the city, according to the regional authorities.

They also said that a 94-year-old woman was killed in the attack.