Russia Is Trying to Force Ukrainians to Abandon Their Second-Biggest City

16 comments

1. *From Bloomberg reporters Daryna Krasnolutska, Jennifer Jacobs, and Alberto Nardelli:*

   Ukrainian and Western officials see Russia’s escalated bombardment of Ukraine’s No. 2 city as a way to force the evacuation of civilians, they said.

   Kharkiv, a northeastern city less than an hour’s drive from the Russian border, has been hit with an escalating barrage of missiles, drones and heavy guided bombs over the past month. The assault has battered power-generation infrastructure and left swathes of residential buildings in ruins.

   The city — whose pre-war population was about 1.5 million — has come under regular attack since Russia’s invasion began in 2022. But the Kremlin’s latest action looks like a coordinated effort to cut off supplies and create conditions that make the city uninhabitable, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

   The siege of Kharkiv is one of the main thrusts of Russia’s military operation, which has exploited Ukraine’s dwindling artillery supplies and air defense as well as a disadvantage on manpower. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops are also mounting a sustained attack on Ukraine’s energy system nationwide and making some advances across parts of the front line as Western officials fear Kyiv’s military may be nearing a breaking point.

2. Thank you, GOP, for helping Russia make my city, the best city on Earth for me, uninhabitable

3. Does anyone really believe that Russia can capture Kharkiv in the foreseeable future? It’s a Herculean task. So far Russia is usually losing more men to capture a city than the city’s prewar population.

4. Everyone begging the Americans in the comment section.

5. Anecdotal evidence, I know, but last Autumn I was in several cities in the east and center of Ukraine, and when I visited Kharkiv it looked very much like a ghost town. No people on the streets (in the evening on Friday), a lot of shops/restaurants/other businesses were closed in pretty much the city center. There were evidence of explosions everywhere. Very heartbreaking. And all of this was before the latest terrorism wave. I mean even Zaporizhzhia looked more alive

6. This seems like it would be rather difficult considering that wasn’t really possible even with the much more intensive bombing campaigns of WW2.

7. I know that my opinion would be considered hardcore but I genuinely think we should send troops, armaments, missiles and warplanes to control and defend the whole Ukrainian airspace AND shoot down anything flies. No matter if it’s Russian, they shouldn’t be there in first place.
   What are they going to do? Sending (and wasting) missiles on some European city?

8. Tell me again, the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luganks, that Russia is supposedly liberating from Ukrainian occupation… Tell me again wht does Kharkiv have to do with them. A city in a different Oblast. How does that narrative bends here? I’m all ears.

9. US is an unreliable partner, Putin easily pays some republican pockets to block aid.

   We as Europeans need to step up in our defense and invest in our military research programs and let the MAGA fascist turds isolate themselves as they want.

   We can be better without the US but we need to work for it

10. Send a missile to Tsarskoye Selo and see how they like it.

11. Ya, not happening.

    Unless they actually make an advance on that city.

12. It’s rather cruel that the west supported Ukraine long enough for them to lose a lot of lives. Why encourage them to fight this war? I think surrendering a couple of years ago would have been less painful than surrendering this year. 

13. Why Do You Fucking Write Like That

14. since when are civilians lives taken into account by russian army?

    civilians dying is a feature not a bug for them

    the only reason Harkiv is getting more bombarded now is because new russian wunderwaffe glide bombs can be lobbed relatively safely from out of reach of ukrainian air defense, which is already almost depleted

15. The only response a bully understands is tit-for-tat. Bomb Moscow, let the rich ruzzians feel the same pain as the innocent Ukrainians they murder.

16. No food, no water, no electricity.